Verse 1
Job’s Reply to Zophar Then Job answered:
Verse 2
“Without a doubt you are the people, and wisdom will die with you.
Verse 3
I also have understanding as well as you; I am not inferior to you. Who does not know such things as these?
Verse 4
I am a laughingstock to my friends, I, who called on God and whom he answered– a righteous and blameless man is a laughingstock!
Verse 5
For calamity, there is derision(according to the ideas of the fortunate)– a fate for those whose feet slip!
Verse 6
But the tents of robbers are peaceful, and those who provoke God are confident– who carry their god in their hands.
Verse 7
Knowledge of God’s Wisdom“But now, ask the animals and they will teach you, or the birds of the sky and they will tell you.
Verse 8
Or speak to the earth and it will teach you, or let the fish of the sea declare to you.
Verse 9
Which of all these does not know that the hand of the LORD has done this,
Verse 10
in whose hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all the human race.
Verse 11
Does not the ear test words, as the tongue tastes food?
Verse 12
Is not wisdom found among the aged? Does not long life bring understanding?
Verse 13
“With God are wisdom and power; counsel and understanding are his.
Verse 14
If he tears down, it cannot be rebuilt; if he imprisons a person, there is no escape.
Verse 15
If he holds back the waters, then they dry up; if he releases them, they destroy the land.
Verse 16
With him are strength and prudence; both the one who goes astray and the one who misleads are his.
Verse 17
He leads counselors away stripped and makes judges into fools.
Verse 18
He loosens the bonds of kings and binds a loincloth around their waist.
Verse 19
He leads priests away stripped and overthrows the potentates.
Verse 20
He deprives the trusted advisers of speech and takes away the discernment of elders.
Verse 21
He pours contempt on noblemen and disarms the powerful.
Verse 22
He reveals the deep things of darkness, and brings deep shadows into the light.
Verse 23
He makes nations great, and destroys them; he extends the boundaries of nations and disperses them.
Verse 24
He deprives the leaders of the earth of their understanding; he makes them wander in a trackless desert waste.
Verse 25
They grope about in darkness without light; he makes them stagger like drunkards.