54 lines
2.2 KiB
Markdown
54 lines
2.2 KiB
Markdown
# Chapter 12
|
||
1 Then Job spoke again:
|
||
2 “You people really know everything, don’t you?
|
||
And when you die, wisdom will die with you!
|
||
3 Well, I know a few things myself—
|
||
and you’re no better than I am.
|
||
Who doesn’t know these things you’ve been saying?
|
||
4 Yet my friends laugh at me,
|
||
for I call on God and expect an answer.
|
||
I am a just and blameless man,
|
||
yet they laugh at me.
|
||
5 People who are at ease mock those in trouble.
|
||
They give a push to people who are stumbling.
|
||
6 But robbers are left in peace,
|
||
and those who provoke God live in safety—
|
||
though God keeps them in his power.
|
||
7 “Just ask the animals, and they will teach you.
|
||
Ask the birds of the sky, and they will tell you.
|
||
8 Speak to the earth, and it will instruct you.
|
||
Let the fish in the sea speak to you.
|
||
9 For they all know
|
||
that my disaster has come from the hand of the Lord.
|
||
10 For the life of every living thing is in his hand,
|
||
and the breath of every human being.
|
||
11 The ear tests the words it hears
|
||
just as the mouth distinguishes between foods.
|
||
12 Wisdom belongs to the aged,
|
||
and understanding to the old.
|
||
13 “But true wisdom and power are found in God;
|
||
counsel and understanding are his.
|
||
14 What he destroys cannot be rebuilt.
|
||
When he puts someone in prison, there is no escape.
|
||
15 If he holds back the rain, the earth becomes a desert.
|
||
If he releases the waters, they flood the earth.
|
||
16 Yes, strength and wisdom are his;
|
||
deceivers and deceived are both in his power.
|
||
17 He leads counselors away, stripped of good judgment;
|
||
wise judges become fools.
|
||
18 He removes the royal robe of kings.
|
||
They are led away with ropes around their waist.
|
||
19 He leads priests away, stripped of status;
|
||
he overthrows those with long years in power.
|
||
20 He silences the trusted adviser
|
||
and removes the insight of the elders.
|
||
21 He pours disgrace upon princes
|
||
and disarms the strong.
|
||
22 “He uncovers mysteries hidden in darkness;
|
||
he brings light to the deepest gloom.
|
||
23 He builds up nations, and he destroys them.
|
||
He expands nations, and he abandons them.
|
||
24 He strips kings of understanding
|
||
and leaves them wandering in a pathless wasteland.
|
||
25 They grope in the darkness without a light.
|
||
He makes them stagger like drunkards. |