^1. Then Job replied:

^2. "Doubtless you are the people, and wisdom will die with you!

^3. But I have a mind as well as you; I am not inferior to you. Who does not know all these things?

^4. "I have become a laughingstock to my friends, though I called upon God and he answered-- a mere laughingstock, though righteous and blameless!

^5. Men at ease have contempt for misfortune as the fate of those whose feet are slipping.

^6. The tents of marauders are undisturbed, and those who provoke God are secure-- those who carry their god in their hands. [1]

^7. "But ask the animals, and they will teach you, or the birds of the air, and they will tell you;

^8. or speak to the earth, and it will teach you, or let the fish of the sea inform you.

^9. Which of all these does not know that the hand of the LORD has done this?

^10. In his hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all mankind.

^11. Does not the ear test words as the tongue tastes food?

^12. Is not wisdom found among the aged? Does not long life bring understanding?

^13. "To God belong wisdom and power; counsel and understanding are his.

^14. What he tears down cannot be rebuilt; the man he imprisons cannot be released.

^15. If he holds back the waters, there is drought; if he lets them loose, they devastate the land.

^16. To him belong strength and victory; both deceived and deceiver are his.

^17. He leads counselors away stripped and makes fools of judges.

^18. He takes off the shackles put on by kings and ties a loincloth [2] around their waist.

^19. He leads priests away stripped and overthrows men long established.

^20. He silences the lips of trusted advisers and takes away the discernment of elders.

^21. He pours contempt on nobles and disarms the mighty.

^22. He reveals the deep things of darkness and brings deep shadows into the light.

^23. He makes nations great, and destroys them; he enlarges nations, and disperses them.

^24. He deprives the leaders of the earth of their reason; he sends them wandering through a trackless waste.

^25. They grope in darkness with no light; he makes them stagger like drunkards.