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

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

He leads counselors away stripped. He makes judges fools.

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

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

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

He leads priests away stripped, and overthrows the mighty.

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

Then Job answered,

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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