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Job 12

Job Answers His Critics

¹Then Job answered and said:

²“No doubt you are the people, And wisdom will die with you!

³But I have understanding as well as you; I am not inferior to you. Indeed, who does not know such things as these?

⁴“Iam one mocked by his friends, Who called on God, and He answered him, The just and blameless who is ridiculed.

⁵A lamp is despised in the thought of one who is at ease; It is made ready for those whose feet slip.

⁶The tents of robbers prosper, And those who provoke God are secure— In what God provides by His hand.

⁷“But now ask the beasts, and they will teach you; And the birds of the air, and they will tell you;

⁸Or speak to the earth, and it will teach you; And the fish of the sea will explain to you.

⁹Who among all these does not know That the hand of the Lord has done this,

¹⁰In whose hand is the life of every living thing, And the breath of all mankind?

¹¹Does not the ear test words And the mouth taste its food?

¹²Wisdom is with aged men, And with length of days, understanding.

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

¹⁴If He breaks a thing down, it cannot be rebuilt; If He imprisons a man, there can be no release.

¹⁵If He withholds the waters, they dry up; If He sends them out, they overwhelm the earth.

¹⁶With Him are strength and prudence. The deceived and the deceiver are His.

¹⁷He leads counselors away plundered, And makes fools of the judges.

¹⁸He loosens the bonds of kings, And binds their waist with a belt.

¹⁹He leads princes away plundered, And overthrows the mighty.

²⁰He deprives the trusted ones of speech, And takes away the discernment of the elders.

²¹He pours contempt on princes, And disarms the mighty.

²²He uncovers deep things out of darkness, And brings the shadow of death to light.

²³He makes nations great, and destroys them; He enlarges nations, and guides them.

²⁴He takes away the understanding of the chiefs of the people of the earth, And makes them wander in a pathless wilderness.

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

Job 12 (NKJV)

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Job

Chapter 12

12 of 42