Job 12:9-25

Amplified Bible

⁹
“Who among all these does not recognize [in all these things that good and evil are randomly scattered throughout nature and human life]
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 the ear not put words to the test,
Just as the palate tastes its food [distinguishing between the desirable and the undesirable]?
¹²
“With the aged [you say] is wisdom,
And with ^[a]long life is understanding.

Job Speaks of the Power of God

¹³
“But [only] with Him are [perfect] wisdom and might;
He [alone] has [true] 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;
Again, He sends the waters out, and they overwhelm and devastate the earth.
¹⁶
“With Him are might and sound wisdom,
The misled and the misleader are His [and in His power].
¹⁷
“He makes [great and scheming] counselors walk barefoot
And makes fools of judges.
¹⁸
“He loosens the bond of kings
And binds their loins with a loincloth.
¹⁹
“He makes priests walk barefoot,
And He overturns men firmly seated and secure.
²⁰
“He deprives the trusted ones of speech
And takes away the discernment and discretion of the aged.
²¹
“He pours contempt on princes and nobles
And loosens the belt of the strong [disabling them].
²²
“He uncovers mysteries [that are difficult to grasp and understand] out of the darkness
And brings black gloom and the shadow of death into light.
²³
“He makes nations great, and He destroys them;
He enlarges nations, and leads them away [captive].
²⁴
“He removes intelligence and understanding from the leaders of the people of the earth
And makes them wander and move blindly in a pathless waste.
²⁵
“They grope in darkness without light,
And He makes them stagger like a drunken man.”