• Job Chides His Accusers

  • 1 Then Job responded,
  • 2 “Truly then you are the people, And with you wisdom will die!
  • 3 “But I have intelligence as well as you; I am not inferior to you. And who does not know such things as these?
  • 4 “I am a joke to my friends, The one who called on God and He answered him; The just and blameless man is a joke.
  • 5 “He who is at ease holds disaster in contempt, As prepared for those whose feet slip.
  • 6 “The tents of the destroyers prosper, And those who provoke God are secure, Whom God brings into their power.
  • 7 “But just ask the animals, and have them teach you; And the birds of the sky, and have them tell you.
  • 8 “Or speak to the earth, and have it teach you; And have the fish of the sea tell you.
  • 9 “Who among all these does not know That the hand of the Lord has done this,
  • 10 In whose hand is the life of every living thing, And the breath of all mankind?
  • 11 “Does the ear not put words to the test, As the palate tastes its food?
  • 12 “Wisdom is with the aged, And with long life comes understanding.

  • Job Speaks of the Power of God

  • 13 “Wisdom and might are with Him; Advice and understanding belong to Him.
  • 14 “Behold, He tears down, and it cannot be rebuilt; He imprisons a person, and there is no release.
  • 15 “Behold, He restrains the waters, and they dry up; And He sends them out, and they inundate the earth.
  • 16 “Strength and sound wisdom are with Him. One who goes astray and one who leads astray belong to Him.
  • 17 “He makes advisers walk barefoot And makes fools of judges.
  • 18 “He undoes the binding of kings, And ties a loincloth around their waist.
  • 19 “He makes priests walk barefoot, And overthrows the secure ones.
  • 20 “He deprives the trusted ones of speech, And takes away the discernment of the elders.
  • 21 “He pours contempt on nobles, And loosens the belt of the strong.
  • 22 “He reveals mysteries from the darkness, And brings the deep darkness into light.
  • 23 “He makes the nations great, then destroys them; He enlarges the nations, then leads them away.
  • 24 “He deprives the leaders of the earth’s people of intelligence And makes them wander in a pathless wasteland.
  • 25 “They grope in darkness with no light, And He makes them stagger like a drunken person.