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12:1 Then Job responded, 12:2 "Truly then you are the people, And with you wisdom will die! 12:3 "But I have intelligence as well as you; I am not inferior to you. And who does not know such things as these? 12:4 "I am a joke to my friends, The one who called on God and He answered him; The just and blameless man is a joke. 12:5 "He who is at ease holds calamity in contempt, As prepared for those whose feet slip. 12:6 "The tents of the destroyers prosper, And those who provoke God are secure, Whom God brings into their power. 12:7 "But now ask the beasts, and let them teach you; And the birds of the heavens, and let them tell you. 12:8 "Or speak to the earth, and let it teach you; And let the fish of the sea declare to you. 12:9 "Who among all these does not know That the hand of the Lord has done this, 12:10 In whose 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 its food? 12:12 "Wisdom is with aged men, With long life is understanding. 12:13 "With Him are wisdom and might; To Him belong counsel and understanding. 12:14 "Behold, He tears down, and it cannot be rebuilt; He imprisons a man, and there can be no release. 12:15 "Behold, He restrains the waters, and they dry up; And He sends them out, and they inundate the earth. 12:16 "With Him are strength and sound wisdom, The misled and the misleader belong to Him. 12:17 "He makes counselors walk barefoot And makes fools of judges. 12:18 "He loosens the bond of kings And binds their loins with a girdle. 12:19 "He makes priests walk barefoot And overthrows the secure ones. 12:20 "He deprives the trusted ones of speech And takes away the discernment of the elders. 12:21 "He pours contempt on nobles And loosens the belt of the strong. 12:22 "He reveals mysteries from the darkness And brings the deep darkness into light. 12:23 "He makes the nations great, then destroys them; He enlarges the nations, then leads them away. 12:24 "He deprives of intelligence the chiefs of the earth's people And makes them wander in a pathless waste. 12:25 "They grope in darkness with no light, And He makes them stagger like a drunken man.