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Job answered:
2 “Doubtless you are the people,
and wisdom will die with you!
3 But I have understanding as well as you;
I am not inferior to you.
Indeed, who does not know such things as these?
4 “I have become a laughingstock to my friends,
by calling upon God, and He answered me—
the just and upright man who is laughed to scorn.
5 Men who are at ease have contempt for misfortune,
as though it is prepared for those whose feet are slipping.
6 The tents of robbers are safe,
and those who provoke God are secure,
although they carry their gods in their hands.
7 “But ask the animals, and they will instruct you,
or the birds of the air, and they will tell you;
8 or speak to the earth, and it will teach you,
or let the fish of the sea declare to you.
9 Which among all these does not know
that the hand of the Lord has done this?
10 In His hand is the life of every living thing,
and the breath of all mankind.
11 Does not the ear test words
as the tongue tastes food?
12 Wisdom is found among the aged,
and understanding comes with the length of days.
13 “Wisdom and strength belong to God;
counsel and understanding are His.
14 What He breaks down cannot be built again;
if He imprisons a man, there can be no release.
15 If He withholds the waters, they dry up;
when He sends them out, they overwhelm the earth.
16 With Him are strength and wisdom;
both the deceived and the deceiver are His.
17 He leads counsellors away stripped,
and makes fools of judges.
18 He loosens the shackles put on by kings,
and binds a cloth around their loins.
19 He leads priests away barefoot,
and overthrows the mighty.
20 He silences the mouths of trusted advisors,
and removes the discernment of the elders.
21 He pours contempt on princes,
and disarms the mighty.
22 He reveals mysteries from the darkness,
and brings the deepest darkness into the light.
23 He makes nations great, then destroys them;
He enlarges nations, then leads them away.
24 He takes away understanding from the leaders of the earth,
and causes them to wander in a pathless wasteland.
25 They grope in the dark without light,
and He makes them stagger like a drunkard.”