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12:1  Then Job answered and said:
12:2  “No doubt you are the people, and wisdom will die with you.
12:3  But I have understanding as well as you; I am not inferior to you. Who does not know such things as these?
12:4  I am a laughingstock to my friends; I, who called to God and he answered me, a just and blameless man, am a laughingstock.
12:5  In the thought of one who is at ease there is contempt for misfortune; it is ready for those whose feet slip.
12:6  The tents of robbers are at peace, and those who provoke God are secure, who bring their god in their hand.
12:7  “But ask the beasts, and they will teach you; the birds of the heavens, and they will tell you;
12:8  or the bushes of the earth, and they will teach you; and the fish of the sea will declare to you.
12:9  Who among all these does not know that the hand of the LORD has done this?
12:10  In his hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of all mankind.
12:11  Does not the ear test words as the palate tastes food?
12:12  Wisdom is with the aged, and understanding in length of days.
12:13  “With God are wisdom and might; he has counsel and understanding.
12:14  If he tears down, none can rebuild; if he shuts a man in, none can open.
12:15  If he withholds the waters, they dry up; if he sends them out, they overwhelm the land.
12:16  With him are strength and sound wisdom; the deceived and the deceiver are his.
12:17  He leads counselors away stripped, and judges he makes fools.
12:18  He looses the bonds of kings and binds a waistcloth on their hips.
12:19  He leads priests away stripped and overthrows the mighty.
12:20  He deprives of speech those who are trusted and takes away the discernment of the elders.
12:21  He pours contempt on princes and loosens the belt of the strong.
12:22  He uncovers the deeps out of darkness and brings deep darkness to light.
12:23  He makes nations great, and he destroys them; he enlarges nations, and leads them away.
12:24  He takes away understanding from the chiefs of the people of the earth and makes them wander in a pathless waste.
12:25  They grope in the dark without light, and he makes them stagger like a drunken man.