¹Then Job answered and said,

²“Truly, you constitute a people.

But your wisdom will die with you.

³But I also have intellect like you;

I am not inferior to you.

And who is not familiar with such things?

⁴I am an object of scorn to my neighbour

– One calling to God for him to answer him.

A just and integrous man is an object of scorn.

⁵A lamp is an object of contempt to the thoughts of him who is at ease,

Although it is prepared for those who are liable to stumble.

⁶The tents of the plunderers are at ease,

And those who provoke God have confidence

In what God brings in his hand.

⁷But ask, I pray, the beasts,

And each will teach you,

And the birds of the sky,

And they will inform you.

⁸Or speak to the earth

And it will teach you,

And the fish of the sea will recount it to you.

⁹Who does not know by means of all these

That the hand of the Lord has done this?

¹⁰– In whose hand the existence of every living being is,

And the spirit of all human flesh.

¹¹Does not the ear discern the sense of words,

And the palate taste food?

¹²In the elderly is wisdom,

And in great age is understanding.

¹³With him there is wisdom and mastery;

He has counsel and understanding.

¹⁴Behold, he demolishes a building

So that it cannot be built up.

¹⁵Behold, he shuts off water,

And it dries up,

And when he sends it again,

It overturns the earth.

¹⁶He has strength and insight;

He has dominion over him who goes astray

And him who leads astray.

¹⁷He leads counsellors stripped of honour,

And he makes a fool of judges.

¹⁸He dissolves the punishment inflicted by kings,

And he binds a girdle around their waist.

¹⁹He leads priests stripped of office,

And he overthrows the mighty.

²⁰He removes the eloquence of the confident orator,

And he deposes the discernment of the elders.

²¹He pours contempt on dignitaries,

And he loosens the girdle of the mighty.

²²He uncovers deep things from darkness,

And he brings the shadow of death into the light.

²³He makes nations great

Then brings them to ruin;

He lets nations expand

Then leads them back.

²⁴He removes reason from the chiefs of the various peoples of the earth

And causes them to wander in desolation,

Where there is no thoroughfare.

²⁵They grope in the dark,

Where there is no light,

And he causes them to wander

Like a drunkard.

Reference(s) in Chapter 12: v.14 ↔ Revelation 3:7.