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12:1  Then Job answered and said:
12:2  No doubt you are the people with whom wisdom shall die!
12:3  But I have intelligence as well as you; I do not fall short of you; for who does not know such things as these?
12:4  I have become the sport of my neighbors: “The one whom God answers when he calls upon him, The just, the perfect man,” is a laughingstock;
12:5  The undisturbed esteem my downfall a disgrace such as awaits unsteady feet;
12:6  Yet the tents of robbers are prosperous, and those who provoke God are secure, whom God has in his power.
12:7  But now ask the beasts to teach you, the birds of the air to tell you;
12:8  Or speak to the earth to instruct you, and the fish of the sea to inform you.
12:9  Which of all these does not know that the hand of God has done this?
12:10  In his hand is the soul of every living thing, and the life breath of all mortal flesh.
12:11  Does not the ear judge words as the mouth tastes food?
12:12  So with old age is wisdom, and with length of days understanding.
12:13  With him are wisdom and might; his are counsel and understanding.
12:14  If he knocks a thing down, there is no rebuilding; if he imprisons, there is no release.
12:15  He holds back the waters and there is drought; he sends them forth and they overwhelm the land.
12:16  With him are strength and prudence; the misled and the misleaders are his.
12:17  He sends counselors away barefoot, makes fools of judges.
12:18  He loosens the belt of kings, ties a waistcloth on their loins.
12:19  He sends priests away barefoot, leads the powerful astray.
12:20  He silences the trusted adviser, takes discretion from the elders.
12:21  He pours shame on nobles, the waistband of the strong he loosens.
12:22  He uncovers deep things from the darkness, brings the gloom into the light.
12:23  He makes nations great and destroys them, spreads peoples abroad and abandons them.
12:24  He takes understanding from the leaders of the land, makes them wander in a pathless desert.
12:25  They grope in the darkness without light; he makes them wander like drunkards.