Job 12

NEW JERUSALEM	NEW AMERICAN BIBLE
1 Job spoke next. He said:	1 Then Job replied and said:
2 Doubtless, you are the voice of the people, and when you die, wisdom wil die with you!	2 No doubt you are the intelligent folk, and with you wisdom shall die!
3 But I have a brain, as well as you, I am in no way inferior to you, and who, in any case, does not know al that?	3 But I have intelligence as well as you; for who does not know such things as these?
4 Anyone becomes a laughing-stock to his friends if he cries to God and expects an answer. Peoplelaugh at anyone who has integrity and is upright.	4 I have become the sport of my neighbors: "The one whom God answers when he calls upon him, The just, the perfect man," is a laughing-stock;
5 'Add insult to injury,' think the prosperous, 'strike the fel ow now that he is staggering!'	5 The undisturbed esteem my downfall a disgrace such as awaits unsteady feet;
6 And yet the tents of brigands are left in peace: those who provoke God dwel secure and so doesanyone who makes a god of his fist!	6 Yet the tents of robbers are prosperous, and those who provoke God are secure.
7 You have only to ask the cattle, for them to instruct you, and the birds of the sky, for them to informyou.	7 But now ask the beasts to teach you, and the birds of the air to tell you;
8 The creeping things of earth wil give you lessons, and the fish of the sea provide you an explanation:	8 Or the reptiles on earth to instruct you, and the fish of the sea to inform you.
9 there is not one such creature but wil know that the hand of God has arranged things like this!	9 Which of all these does not know that the hand of God has done this?
10 In his hand is the soul of every living thing and the breath of every human being!	10 In his hand is the soul of every living thing, and the life breath of all mankind.
11 Can the ear not distinguish the value of what is said, just as the palate can tel one food fromanother?	11 Does not the ear judge words as the mouth tastes food?
12 Wisdom is found in the old, and discretion comes with great age.	12 So with old age is wisdom, and with length of days understanding.
13 But in him there is wisdom, and power too, and good counsel no less than discretion.	13 With him are wisdom and might; his are counsel and understanding.
14 What he destroys, no one can rebuild; whom he imprisons, no one can release.	14 If he breaks a thing down, there is no rebuilding; if he imprisons a man, there is no release.
15 Is there a drought? He has withheld the waters. Do they play havoc on earth? He has let them loose.	15 He holds back the waters and there is drought; he sends them forth and they overwhelm the land.
16 In him is strength, in him resourcefulness, beguiler and beguiled alike are his.	16 With him are strength and prudence; the misled and the misleaders are his.
17 He robs a country's counsel ors of their wits, turns judges into fools.	17 He sends counselors away barefoot, and of judges he makes fools.
18 He undoes the belts of kings and knots a rope round their waists.	18 He loosens the bonds imposed by kings and leaves but a waistcloth to bind the king's own loins.
19 He makes priests walk barefoot, and overthrows the powers that are established.	19 and lets their never-failing waters flow away.
20 He strikes the most assured of speakers dumb and robs old people of their discretion.	20 He silences the trusted adviser, and takes discretion from the aged.
21 He pours contempt on the nobly born, and unbuckles the belt of the strong.	21 He breaks down the barriers of the streams
22 He unveils the depths of darkness, brings shadow dark as death to the light.	22 The recesses of the darkness he discloses, and brings the gloom forth to the light.
23 He builds nations up, then ruins them, he makes peoples expand, then suppresses them.	23 He makes nations great and he destroys them; he spreads peoples abroad and he abandons them.
24 He strips a country's leaders of their judgement, and leaves them to wander in a trackless waste,	24 He takes understanding from the leaders of the land,
25 to grope about in unlit darkness, lurching to and fro as though drunk.	25 till they grope in the darkness without light; he makes them stagger like drunken men.