“With Him are wisdom and might;
To Him belong counsel and understanding.

“Behold, He tears down, and it cannot be rebuilt;
He imprisons a man, and there can be no release.

“He makes counselors walk barefoot
And makes fools of judges.

“With Him are strength and sound wisdom,
The misled and the misleader belong to Him.

“Behold, He restrains the waters, and they dry up;
And He sends them out, and they inundate the earth.

“He reveals mysteries from the darkness
And brings the deep darkness into light.

“He makes priests walk barefoot
And overthrows the secure ones.

“He loosens the bond of kings
And binds their loins with a girdle.

“He pours contempt on nobles
And loosens the belt of the strong.

“He deprives the trusted ones of speech
And takes away the discernment of the elders.

“They grope in darkness with no light,
And He makes them stagger like a drunken man.

“He deprives of intelligence the chiefs of the earth’s people
And makes them wander in a pathless waste.

“Wisdom is with aged men,
With long life is understanding.

“Truly then you are the people,
And with you wisdom will die!

“He makes the nations great, then destroys them;
He enlarges the nations, then leads them away.

Then Job responded,

“I am a joke to my friends,
The one who called on God and He answered him;
The just and blameless man is a joke.

“Who among all these does not know
That the hand of the Lord has done this,

“Does not the ear test words,
As the palate tastes its food?

“The tents of the destroyers prosper,
And those who provoke God are secure,
Whom God brings into their power.

“But I have intelligence as well as you;
I am not inferior to you.
And who does not know such things as these?

“He who is at ease holds calamity in contempt,
As prepared for those whose feet slip.

“But now ask the beasts, and let them teach you;
And the birds of the heavens, and let them tell you.

In whose hand is the life of every living thing,
And the breath of all mankind?

“Or speak to the earth, and let it teach you;
And let the fish of the sea declare to you.