Job 12

¹Then Job answered and said,

²No doubt but ye are the people, And wisdom shall die with you.

³But I have understanding as well as you; I am not inferior to you: Yea, who knoweth not such things as these?

⁴I am as one that is a laughing-stock to his neighbor, I who called upon God, and he answered: The just, the perfect man is a laughing-stock.

⁵In the thought of him that is at ease there is contempt for misfortune; It is ready for them whose foot slippeth.

⁶The tents of robbers prosper, And they that provoke God are secure; Into whose hand God bringeth abundantly.

⁷But ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee; And the birds of the heavens, and they shall tell thee:

⁸Or speak to the earth, and it shall teach thee; And the fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee.

⁹Who knoweth not in all these, That the hand of Jehovah hath wrought this,

¹⁰In whose hand is the soul of every living thing, And the breath of all mankind?

¹¹Doth not the ear try words, Even as the palate tasteth its food?

¹²With aged men is wisdom, And in length of days understanding.

¹³With God is wisdom and might; He hath counsel and understanding.

¹⁴Behold, he breaketh down, and it cannot be built again; He shutteth up a man, and there can be no opening.