[1] Then Job responded,
[2] “Truly then you are the people, And with you wisdom will die!
[3] But I have intelligence as well as you; I am not inferior to you. And who does not know such things as these?
[4] I am a joke to my friends, The one who called on God and He answered him; The just and blameless man is a joke.
[5] He who is at ease holds calamity in contempt, As prepared for those whose feet slip.
[6] The tents of the destroyers prosper, And those who provoke God are secure, Whom God brings into their power.
[7] But now ask the beasts, and let them teach you; And the birds of the heavens, and let them tell you.
[8] Or speak to the earth, and let it teach you; And let the fish of the sea declare to you.
[9] Who among all these does not know That the hand of the LORD has done this,
[10] In whose hand is the life of every living thing, And the breath of all mankind?
[11] Does not the ear test words, As the palate tastes its food?
[12] Wisdom is with aged men, With long life is understanding.
[13] With Him are wisdom and might; To Him belong counsel and understanding.
[14] Behold, He tears down, and it cannot be rebuilt; He imprisons a man, and there can be no release.
[15] Behold, He restrains the waters, and they dry up; And He sends them out, and they inundate the earth.
[16] With Him are strength and sound wisdom, The misled and the misleader belong to Him.
[17] He makes counselors walk barefoot And makes fools of judges.
[18] He loosens the bond of kings And binds their loins with a girdle.
[19] He makes priests walk barefoot And overthrows the secure ones.
[20] He deprives the trusted ones of speech And takes away the discernment of the elders.
[21] He pours contempt on nobles And loosens the belt of the strong.
[22] He reveals mysteries from the darkness And brings the deep darkness into light.
[23] He makes the nations great, then destroys them; He enlarges the nations, then leads them away.
[24] He deprives of intelligence the chiefs of the earth's people And makes them wander in a pathless waste.
[25] They grope in darkness with no light, And He makes them stagger like a drunken man.”