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12:1  Then Job answered and said,
12:2  “Truly indeed you are the people, and wisdom will die with you.
12:3  I also have insight like you; I am not more inferior than you. And who does not know things like these?
12:4  I am a laughingstock to my friends: ‘He calls on God, and he answers him.’ A righteous, blameless man is a laughingstock.
12:5  Those at ease have contempt for the thought of disaster, but it is ready for those unstable of foot.
12:6  The tents of the destroyers are at peace, and there is security for those who provoke God, for those whom God brings into his hand.
12:7  “But ask the animals, and they will teach you, and the birds of the heaven, and they will tell you;
12:8  or ask the earth, and it will teach you, and the fishes of the sea will declare to you.
12:9  Who among all of these does not know that Yahweh’s hand has done this?
12:10  In whose hand is the life of all living things and the breath of every human being?
12:11  Does not the ear test words and the palate taste food for itself?
12:12  Wisdom is with the aged, and understanding is in length of days.
12:13  “With him are wisdom and powerful deeds, and to him belong counsel and understanding.
12:14  If he tears down, then it will not be rebuilt; if he shuts a man in, then he cannot be freed.
12:15  Look, if he withholds the water, then they dry up; and if he sends them out, then they overwhelm the land.
12:16  “Strength and sound wisdom are with him; the deceived and the deceiver are his.
12:17  He leads counselors away stripped, and he makes fools of judges.
12:18  He loosens the fetters of kings, and he binds a loincloth on their loins.
12:19  He leads priests away stripped, and he overthrows the members of ancient families.
12:20  He deprives the trustworthy of speech, and he takes away the discretion of elders.
12:21  He pours contempt on noblemen, and he loosens the girdle of the mighty.
12:22  “He uncovers mysteries out of darkness, and he brings deep shadow to the light.
12:23  He makes the nations great, then he destroys them; he expands the nations, then he guides them.
12:24  He strips away the insight of the heads of the earth’s people, and he makes them wander in a pathless wasteland.
12:25  They grope in the dark without light, and he makes them stagger like a drunkard.