1Then Job answered and said,
2No doubt but ye are the people,
3But I have understanding as well as you; I am not inferior to you:
4I am as one that is a laughing-stock to his neighbor,
5In the thought of him that is at ease there is contempt for misfortune; It is ready for them whose foot slippeth.
6The tents of robbers prosper,
7But ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee; And the birds of the heavens, and they shall tell thee:
8Or speak to the earth, and it shall teach thee; And the fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee.
9Who knoweth not in all these,
10In whose hand is the soul of every living thing,
11Doth not the ear try words,
12With aged men is wisdom,
13With [God] is wisdom and might; He hath counsel and understanding.
14Behold, he breaketh down, and it cannot be built again; He shutteth up a man, and there can be no opening.
15Behold, he withholdeth the waters, and they dry up; Again, he sendeth them out, and they overturn the earth.
16With him is strength and wisdom; The deceived and the deceiver are his.
17He leadeth counselors away stripped,
18He looseth the bond of kings,
19He leadeth priests away stripped,
20He removeth the speech of the trusty,
21He poureth contempt upon princes,
22He uncovereth deep things out of darkness,
23He increaseth the nations, and he destroyeth them:
24He taketh away understanding from the chiefs of the people of the earth,
25They grope in the dark without light; And he maketh them to stagger like a drunken man.