Job 12

1 Then Job said [to his three friends],

Then Job answered,

2 “You (talk as though/You think) [SAR] that you are the people [whom everyone should listen to], and that when you die, there will be no more wise people.

"No doubt, but you are the people, and wisdom shall die with you.

3 But I have as much good sense as you do; I am (not less wise than/certainly as wise as [LIT]) you. Certainly everyone knows [RHQ] all that you have said.

But I have understanding as well as you; I am not inferior to you. Yes, who doesn't know such things as these?

4 My friends all laugh at me now. Previously I habitually requested God to help me, and he answered/helped me. I am righteous, a very godly man [DOU], but everyone laughs at me.

I am like one who is a joke to his neighbor, I, who called on God, and he answered. The just, the blameless man is a joke.

5 Those [like you] who have no troubles make fun of me; they cause those [like me] who are already suffering to have more troubles.

In the thought of him who is at ease there is contempt for misfortune. It is ready for them whose foot slips.

6 Bandits live peacefully, and no one threatens those who cause God to become angry; their own strength is the god [that they worship].

The tents of robbers prosper. Those who provoke God are secure, who carry their god in their hands.

7 “But ask the wild animals [what they know about God], and [if they could speak] they would teach you. [If you could] ask the birds, they would tell you.

"But ask the animals, now, and they shall teach you; the birds of the sky, and they shall tell you.

8 [If you could] ask the creatures [that crawl] on the ground, or the fish in the sea, they would tell you [about God].

Or speak to the earth, and it shall teach you. The fish of the sea shall declare to you.

9 All of them certainly know [RHQ] that it is Yahweh who has made them with his hands.

Who doesn't know that in all these, the hand of the LORD has done this,

10 He directs the lives of all living creatures; he gives breath to all [us] humans [to enable us to remain alive].

in whose hand is the life of every living thing, and the breath of all humankind?

11 And when we [SYN] hear what other people [like you] say, we [RHQ] think carefully about what they say [to determine what is good and what is bad], like we [SYN] taste food [to determine what is good and what is bad].

Doesn't the ear try words, even as the palate tastes its food?

12 Old people are [often] very wise, and because of having lived many years, they understand much,

With aged men is wisdom, in length of days understanding.

13 but God is wise and very powerful; he has good sense and understands [everything].

"With him is wisdom and might. He has counsel and understanding.

14 If he tears [something] down, no one can rebuild it; if he puts someone in prison, no one can open [the prison doors to allow that person to escape].

Look, he breaks down, and it can't be built again. He imprisons a man, and there can be no release.

15 When he prevents rain from falling, everything dries up. When he causes a lot of rain to fall, [the result is that] there are floods.

Look, he withholds the waters, and they dry up. Again, he sends them out, and they overturn the earth.

16 He is the one who is truly strong and wise; he rules over those who deceive others and those whom they deceive.

With him is strength and wisdom. The deceived and the deceiver are his.

17 He [sometimes] causes [the king’s] officials to no longer be wise, and he causes judges to become foolish.

He leads counselors away stripped. He makes judges fools.

18 He takes from kings the robes that they wear and puts loincloths around their waists, [causing them to become slaves].

He loosens the bond of kings. He binds their waist with a belt.

19 He takes from priests the sacred clothes that they wear, [with the result that they no longer can do their work], and takes power from those who rule others.

He leads priests away stripped, and overthrows the mighty.

20 He [sometimes] causes those whom others trust to be unable to speak, and he causes old men to no longer have good sense.

He removes the speech of those who are trusted, and takes away the understanding of the elders.

21 He causes those who have authority to be despised, and he causes those who are powerful to no longer have any power/strength.

He pours contempt on princes, and loosens the belt of the strong.

22 He causes things that are hidden in the darkness to be revealed.

He uncovers deep things out of darkness, and brings out to light the shadow of death.

23 He causes some nations to become very great, and [later] he destroys them; he causes the territory of some nations to become much larger, and [later] he causes them to be defeated and their people to be scattered.

He increases the nations, and he destroys them. He enlarges the nations, and he leads them captive.

24 He causes [some] rulers to become foolish/stupid, and then he causes them to wander around, lost, in an barren desert.

He takes away understanding from the chiefs of the people of the earth, and causes them to wander in a wilderness where there is no way.

25 They grope around in the darkness, without any light, and he causes them to stagger like [SIM] people who are drunk.”

They grope in the dark without light. He makes them stagger like a drunken man.