Job 12

Revised Geneva Translation

12 Then Job answered, and said,

² “Truly, you are the people. Wisdom must die with you.

³ “But I have understanding as well as you and am not inferior to you. Yea, who does not know such things?

⁴ “I am as one mocked by his friends, who calls upon God and He hears him. The just and the upright are laughed to scorn.

⁵ “He who feels ready to fall is like a lamp, ridiculed in the thoughts of the careless.

⁶ “The tents of robbers prosper. And those who provoke God are in safety. God has enriched them with His Hand.

⁷ “Ask, now, the beasts and they shall teach you, and the birds of the heaven and they shall tell you.

⁸ “Or speak to the Earth and it shall show you, or the fish of the sea and they shall declare to you.

⁹ “Who among all these is ignorant that the Hand of the LORD has done this,

¹⁰ “in Whose Hand is the soul of every living thing and the breath of all mankind?

¹¹ “Do not the ears discern the words and the mouth taste food for themselves?

¹² “Wisdom is among the ancient, and understanding is in the length of days.

¹³ “With Him is wisdom and strength. He has counsel and understanding.

¹⁴ “Behold, He will break it down, and it cannot be built. He shuts a man up, and he cannot be loosed.

¹⁵ “Behold, He withholds the waters, and they dry up. But when He sends them out, they destroy the Earth.

¹⁶ “With Him is strength and wisdom. Both he who is deceived and who deceives are His.

¹⁷ “He leads the counselors away barefoot and makes the judges fools.

¹⁸ “He loosens the bonds of kings and girds their loins with a girdle.

¹⁹ “He leads away the princes as prey and overthrows the mighty.

²⁰ “He takes away the speech from the faithful and takes away the judgment of the ancient.

²¹ “He pours contempt upon princes and makes the strength of the mighty weak.

²² “He discovers the deep places from darkness and brings forth the shadow of death to light.

²³ “He increases the people and destroys them. He enlarges the nations and brings them in again.

²⁴ “He takes away the hearts of the leaders of the people of the Earth and makes them wander in the wilderness, out of the way.

²⁵ “They grope in the dark without light. And He makes them stagger like a drunken man.