Job Presents His Case

¹ Then Job answered:

² “Truly then you are the people

with whom wisdom itself will die!

³ But I also have a mind;

I am not inferior to you.

Who does not know such things as these?

⁴ I am a laughingstock to my friends,

though I called on God, and He answered.

The righteous and upright man^* is a laughingstock.

⁵ The one at ease scorns misfortune

as the fate of those whose feet are slipping.

⁶ The tents of robbers are safe,

and those who provoke^* God are secure —

those who carry their god in their hands.

⁷ But ask the animals, and they will instruct you;^*

ask the birds of the air, and they will tell you.

⁸ Or speak to the earth, and it will teach you;

let the fish of the sea inform you.

⁹ Which of all these does not know

that the hand of the LORD has done this?

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

as well as the breath of all mankind.

¹¹ Does not the ear test words

as the tongue tastes its food?

¹² Wisdom is found with the elderly,

and understanding comes with long life.

¹³ Wisdom and strength belong to God;

counsel and understanding are His.

¹⁴ What He tears down cannot be rebuilt;

the man He imprisons cannot be released.

¹⁵ If He holds back the waters, they dry up,

and if He releases them, they overwhelm the land.

¹⁶ True wisdom and power belong to Him.

The deceived and the deceiver are His.^*

¹⁷ He leads counselors away barefoot

and makes fools of judges.

¹⁸ He loosens the bonds^* placed by kings

and fastens a belt around their waists.

¹⁹ He leads priests away barefoot

and overthrows the established.

²⁰ He deprives the trusted of speech

and takes away the discernment of elders.

²¹ He pours out contempt on nobles

and disarms the mighty.^*

²² He reveals the deep things of darkness

and brings deep shadows into light.

²³ He makes nations great and destroys them;

He enlarges nations, then disperses them.^*

²⁴ He deprives the earth’s leaders of reason

and makes them wander in a trackless wasteland.

²⁵ They grope in the darkness without light;

He makes them stagger like drunkards.