Job Chides His Accusers
12 Then Job responded,
2 “Truly then (A)you are the people,
And with you wisdom will die!
3 “But (B)I have intelligence as well as you;
I am not inferior to you.
And who does not know such things as these?
4 “I am a (C)joke to my friends,
The one who called on God and He answered him;
The just and (D)blameless man is a joke.
5 “He who is at ease holds calamity in contempt,
As prepared for those whose feet slip.
6 “The (E)tents of the destroyers prosper,
And those who provoke God (F)are secure,
Whom God brings (G)into their power.
7 “But now ask the beasts, and let them teach you;
And the birds of the heavens, and let them tell you.
8 “Or speak to the earth, and let it teach you;
And let the fish of the sea declare to you.
9 “Who among all these does not know
That (H)the hand of the Lord has done this,
10 (I)In whose hand is the life of every living thing,
And (J)the breath of all mankind?
11 “Does not (K)the ear test words,
As the palate tastes its food?
12 “Wisdom is with (L)aged men,
With long life is understanding.
Job Speaks of the Power of God
13 “With Him are (M)wisdom and (N)might;
To Him belong counsel and (O)understanding.
14 “Behold, He (P)tears down, and it cannot be rebuilt;
He (Q)imprisons a man, and there can be no release.
15 “Behold, He (R)restrains the waters, and they dry up;
And He (S)sends them out, and they inundate the earth.
16 “With Him are strength and sound wisdom,
The (T)misled and the misleader belong to Him.
17 “He makes (U)counselors walk barefoot
And makes fools of (V)judges.
18 “He (W)loosens the bond of kings
And binds their loins with a girdle.
19 “He makes priests walk barefoot
And overthrows (X)the secure ones.
20 “He deprives the trusted ones of speech
And (Y)takes away the discernment of the elders.
21 “He (Z)pours contempt on nobles
And (AA)loosens the belt of the strong.
22 “He (AB)reveals mysteries from the darkness
And brings the deep darkness into light.
23 “He (AC)makes the nations great, then destroys them;
He enlarges the nations, then leads them away.
24 “He (AD)deprives of intelligence the chiefs of the earth’s people
And makes them wander in a pathless waste.
25 “They (AE)grope in darkness with no light,
And He makes them (AF)stagger like a drunken man.
Footnotes
- Job 12:1
- Job 12:3
- Job 12:4
- Job 12:5
- Job 12:6
- Job 12:11
- Job 12:12
- Job 12:14
- Job 12:14
- Job 12:15
- Job 12:17
- Job 12:18
- Job 12:19
- Job 12:23
Cross references
- Job 12:2 : Job 17:10
- Job 12:3 : Job 13:2
- Job 12:4 : Job 17:6; 30:1, 9, 10; 34:7
- Job 12:4 : Job 6:29
- Job 12:6 : Job 9:24; 21:7-9
- Job 12:6 : Job 24:23
- Job 12:6 : Job 22:18
- Job 12:9 : Is 41:20
- Job 12:10 : Acts 17:28
- Job 12:10 : Job 27:3; 33:4
- Job 12:11 : Job 34:3
- Job 12:12 : Job 15:10; 32:7
- Job 12:13 : Job 9:4
- Job 12:13 : Job 9:4
- Job 12:13 : Job 11:6; 26:12; 32:8; 36:5; 38:36
- Job 12:14 : Job 19:10; Is 25:2
- Job 12:14 : Job 37:7
- Job 12:15 : Deut 11:17; 1 Kin 8:35; 17:1
- Job 12:15 : Gen 7:11-24
- Job 12:16 : Job 13:7, 9
- Job 12:17 : Job 3:14
- Job 12:17 : Job 9:24
- Job 12:18 : Ps 116:16
- Job 12:19 : Job 24:22; 34:24-28; 35:9
- Job 12:20 : Job 17:4; 32:9
- Job 12:21 : Job 34:19; Ps 107:40
- Job 12:21 : Job 12:18
- Job 12:22 : Dan 2:22; 1 Cor 4:5
- Job 12:23 : Is 9:3; 26:15
- Job 12:24 : Job 12:20
- Job 12:25 : Job 5:14
- Job 12:25 : Is 24:20
