Job 12

2 So you are the men who count,

and wisdom will die with you!

3 I have a heart in me too, the same as yours.

4 A righteous and blameless man has become a thing to laugh at.

5 It was all arranged: at a set time he would fall under other men,

and his houses would be stripped by the lawless.

6 And yet let no evil man be confident that he will go free —

none of those who provoke the Lord to anger,

as if there were to be no examination of them either.

7 But go and ask the four-footed beasts, and see if they will tell you;

ask the birds of the sky, and see if they will report to you.

8 Tell it out to the earth, and see if it will tell you;

the fish of the sea will lay it out for you.

9 Which of them all does not know that the hand of the Lord made these things?

10 The life of every living thing is in his hand,

and the breath of every man.

11 The ear is what tests words,

and the throat is what tastes food.

12 Wisdom is in length of days,

and knowledge in a long life.

13 With him are wisdom and power;

his are counsel and understanding.

14 If he throws down, who will build?

If he shuts a man in, who will open?

15 If he holds the water back, he dries the earth out;

and if he lets it go, he overturns the earth and destroys it.

16 With him are might and strength;

his are knowledge and understanding.

17 He leads counselors away as captives,

and drives the judges of the earth out of their minds.

18 He seats kings on thrones,

and ties the belt around their waists.

19 He sends priests away as captives,

and overturns the sovereigns of the earth.

20 He changes the speech of trusted men,

and he knows what the elders understand.

21 He pours dishonor out on rulers,

and heals the lowly.

22 He uncovers deep things out of the darkness,

and brings the shadow of death out into the light.

23 He leads nations astray and destroys them;

he lays nations flat and leads them along.

24 He changes the hearts of the rulers of the earth,

and sets them wandering on a road they never knew.

25 Let them feel their way in the dark and not in the light;

let them wander like a man who is drunk.