איוב יב

Then Job said in reply:

Indeed, you are the [voice of] the people,
And wisdom will die with you.

But I, like you, have a mind,
And am not less than you.
Who does not know such things?

I have become a laughingstock to my friend—
“One who calls to God and is answered,
Blamelessly innocent”—a laughingstock.

In the thought of the complacent there is contempt for calamity;
It is ready for those whose foot slips.

Robbers live untroubled in their tents,
And those who provoke God are secure,
Those whom God’s hands have produced.

But ask the beasts, and they will teach you;
The birds of the sky, they will tell you,

Or speak to the earth, it will teach you;
The fish of the sea, they will inform you.

Who among all these does not know
That GOD’s hand has done this?

In that hand is every living soul
And the breath of all humankind.

Truly, the ear tests arguments
As the palate tastes foods.

Is wisdom in the aged
And understanding in the long-lived?

Wisdom and courage are God’s,
As are counsel and understanding.

Whatever [God] tears down cannot be rebuilt;
Whoever is imprisoned cannot be set free.

When the waters are held back, they dry up;
When they are let loose, they tear up the land.

Strength and resourcefulness are God’s,
So are erring and causing to err.

[God] thus makes counselors go about naked
And causes judges to go mad;

Undoes the belts of kings
And fastens loincloths on them;

Makes priests go about naked
And leads temple-servants, a class of temple servants; in contrast to others “the mighty.” astray;

Deprives trusted ones of speech
And takes away the reason of elders;

Pours disgrace upon nobles
And loosens the belt of the mighty;

Draws mysteries out of the darkness
And brings obscurities to light;

Exalts nations, then destroys them,
And expands nations, then leads them away.

[God] deranges the leaders of the people
And makes them wander in a trackless waste.

They grope without light in the darkness,
Made to wander as if drunk.