Job 12

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