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12:1  Iyov responded:
12:2  “No doubt you are [the only] people [that matter]; and when you die, so will wisdom.
12:3  But I too have a brain, as much as you, In no way am I inferior to you. Besides, who doesn’t know things like these?
12:4  “Anyone who calls on God, and he answers him, becomes a laughingstock to his friends — they make fun of an innocent, blameless man.
12:5  Those at ease have contempt for misfortune, for the blow that strikes somebody already staggering.
12:6  The tents of robbers prosper, [the homes of] those who anger God are secure, those who carry their gods in their hands.
12:7  “But ask the animals — they will teach you — and the birds in the air — they will tell you;
12:8  or speak to the earth — it will teach you — and the fish in the sea will inform you:
12:9  every one of them knows that the hand of Adonai has done this!
12:10  In his hand is the life of every living thing and the spirit of every human being.
12:11  Shouldn’t the ear test words, just as the palate tastes food?
12:12  Is wisdom [only] with aged men? discernment [only] with long life?
12:13  “With God are wisdom and power; he has [good] counsel and understanding.
12:14  When he breaks something down, it can’t be rebuilt; when he imprisons someone, he can’t be released.
12:15  When he holds back water, there is drought; when he sends it out, it overruns the land.
12:16  With him are strength and common sense; both the misled and those who mislead are his.
12:17  He leads counselors away captive, he makes fools of judges.
12:18  He removes authority from kings, then binds them up [as prisoners].
12:19  He leads cohanim away captive and overthrows those long in power.
12:20  Those who are trusted he deprives of speech, and he removes the discernment of the aged.
12:21  He pours contempt on princes and loosens the belt of the strong.
12:22  He discloses the deepest recesses of darkness and brings light into shadows dark as death.
12:23  He makes nations great and destroys them; he enlarges nations, then leads them away.
12:24  He removes understanding from a country’s leaders and makes them wander in trackless deserts.
12:25  They grope in unlit darkness; he makes them stagger like drunks.