Job 12
1 Then Job said [to his three friends],
Then answered Job, and said,
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.
Truly ye are indeed the [right kind of] people, and with you wisdom must die out.
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.
I also have sense like you; I do not fall short compared with you: and who possesseth not 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 as one laughed at by his friend, who calleth upon God, while he answered him: [yea, ] a laughing-stock though righteous and innocent.
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.
To the unfortunate there is given contempt— according to the thoughts of him that is at ease— prepared [also] for those whose foot slippeth.
6 Bandits live peacefully, and no one threatens those who cause God to become angry; their own strength is the god [that they worship].
Prosperous are the tents of robbers, and security is given to those that provoke God. to him who carrieth his god in his hand.
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.
Yet, do only ask of the beasts, and they will instruct thee; and the fowls of the heavens, and they will tell it thee;
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 she will instruct thee; and the fishes of the sea will inform thee
9 All of them certainly know [RHQ] that it is Yahweh who has made them with his hands.
Who knoweth not through all these that the hand of the Lord hath wrought this?
10 He directs the lives of all living creatures; he gives breath to all [us] humans [to enable us to remain alive].
[He] in whose hand is the soul of every living thing, and the spirit of all the bodies of men?
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].
Doth not the ear try words, as the palate tasteth food for itself?
12 Old people are [often] very wise, and because of having lived many years, they understand much,
So It with the ancients wisdom, and with [those of] length of days understanding,
13 but God is wise and very powerful; he has good sense and understands [everything].
That with him are wisdom and strength, his are 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].
Behold, he pulleth down, and there can be no rebuilding: he locketh [the prison] upon a man, and there can be no opening,
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.
Behold, he restraineth the waters, and they dry up; or he suffereth them to flow, 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 are strength and counsel: his are the deceived and the deceiver.
17 He [sometimes] causes [the king’s] officials to no longer be wise, and he causes judges to become foolish.
He leadeth counsellors away bereft of sense, and maketh the judges fools.
18 He takes from kings the robes that they wear and puts loincloths around their waists, [causing them to become slaves].
He looseth the bond of kings, and bindeth a girdle around their loins.
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 leadeth priests away bereft of sense, and the powerful he causeth to walk on crooked paths.
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 removeth the speech from trusty speakers, and taketh away the intelligence of the aged.
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 poureth contempt upon princes, and the belt of the mighty be looseneth.
22 He causes things that are hidden in the darkness to be revealed.
He layeth open deep things from the midst of darkness, and bringeth out unto 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 permitteth the nations to become great, and destroyeth them: he spreadeth out the nations, and leadeth them away.
24 He causes [some] rulers to become foolish/stupid, and then he causes them to wander around, lost, in an barren desert.
He taketh away the sense of the chiefs of the people of the land, and causeth them to wander astray in a wilderness when 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, and he causeth them to wander astray like a drunken man.
