Job 12

Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition	NEW JERUSALEM
1 Then Job answered:	1 Job spoke next. He said:
2 "No doubt you are the people, and wisdom will die with you.	2 Doubtless, you are the voice of the people, and when you die, wisdom wil die with you!
3 But I have understanding as well as you; I am not inferior to you. Who does not know such things as these?	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?
4 I am a laughingstock to my friends; I, who called upon God and he answered me, a just and blameless man, am a laughingstock.	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.
5 In the thought of one who is at ease there is contempt for misfortune; it is ready for those whose feet slip.	5 'Add insult to injury,' think the prosperous, 'strike the fel ow now that he is staggering!'
6 The tents of robbers are at peace, and those who provoke God are secure, who bring their god in their hand.	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!
7 "But ask the beasts, and they will teach you; the birds of the air, and they will tell you;	7 You have only to ask the cattle, for them to instruct you, and the birds of the sky, for them to informyou.
8 or the plants of the earth, and they will teach you; and the fish of the sea will declare to you.	8 The creeping things of earth wil give you lessons, and the fish of the sea provide you an explanation:
9 Who among all these does not know that the hand of the LORD has done this?	9 there is not one such creature but wil know that the hand of God has arranged things like this!
10 In his hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of all mankind.	10 In his hand is the soul of every living thing and the breath of every human being!
11 Does not the ear try words as the palate tastes food?	11 Can the ear not distinguish the value of what is said, just as the palate can tel one food fromanother?
12 Wisdom is with the aged, and understanding in length of days.	12 Wisdom is found in the old, and discretion comes with great age.
13 "With God are wisdom and might; he has counsel and understanding.	13 But in him there is wisdom, and power too, and good counsel no less than discretion.
14 If he tears down, none can rebuild; if he shuts a man in, none can open.	14 What he destroys, no one can rebuild; whom he imprisons, no one can release.
15 If he withholds the waters, they dry up; if he sends them out, they overwhelm the land.	15 Is there a drought? He has withheld the waters. Do they play havoc on earth? He has let them loose.
16 With him are strength and wisdom; the deceived and the deceiver are his.	16 In him is strength, in him resourcefulness, beguiler and beguiled alike are his.
17 He leads counselors away stripped, and judges he makes fools.	17 He robs a country's counsel ors of their wits, turns judges into fools.
18 He looses the bonds of kings, and binds a waistcloth on their loins.	18 He undoes the belts of kings and knots a rope round their waists.
19 He leads priests away stripped, and overthrows the mighty.	19 He makes priests walk barefoot, and overthrows the powers that are established.
20 He deprives of speech those who are trusted, and takes away the discernment of the elders.	20 He strikes the most assured of speakers dumb and robs old people of their discretion.
21 He pours contempt on princes, and looses the belt of the strong.	21 He pours contempt on the nobly born, and unbuckles the belt of the strong.
22 He uncovers the deeps out of darkness, and brings deep darkness to light.	22 He unveils the depths of darkness, brings shadow dark as death to the light.
23 He makes nations great, and he destroys them: he enlarges nations, and leads them away.	23 He builds nations up, then ruins them, he makes peoples expand, then suppresses them.
24 He takes away understanding from the chiefs of the people of the earth, and makes them wander in a pathless waste.	24 He strips a country's leaders of their judgement, and leaves them to wander in a trackless waste,
25 They grope in the dark without light; and he makes them stagger like a drunken man.	25 to grope about in unlit darkness, lurching to and fro as though drunk.