Job’s Reply to Zophar
1Then Job answered:
2No doubt you are the people,
and wisdom will die with you!
3But I also have a mind like you;
I am not inferior to you.
Who doesn’t know the things you are talking about?12:3 Lit With whom are not such things as these?12:3 Jb 13:2; 15:9; 16:2
4I am a laughingstock to my12:4 Lit his friends,
by calling on God, who answers me.12:4 Lit him
and thinks it is prepared for those whose feet are slipping.
and those who trouble God are secure;
God holds them in his hands.12:6 Or secure; to those who bring their god in their hands12:6 Ps 73:11; Jr 12:1; Mt 5:45
7But ask the animals, and they will instruct you;
8Or speak to the earth, and it will instruct you;
let the fish of the sea inform you.
9Which of all these does not know
10The life of every living thing is in his hand,
11Doesn’t the ear test words
as the palate tastes food?
12Wisdom is found with the elderly,
and understanding comes with long life.12:12 Jb 12:20; 32:7,9; Ps 119:100
13Wisdom and strength belong to God;
14Whatever he tears down cannot be rebuilt;
15When he withholds water, everything dries up,
16True wisdom and power belong to him.
The deceived and the deceiver are his.
17He leads counselors away barefoot
and fastens a belt around their waists.
19He leads priests away barefoot
20He deprives trusted advisers of speech
and takes away the elders’ good judgment.
21He pours out contempt on nobles
and disarms12:21 Lit and loosens the belt of the strong.
22He reveals mysteries from the darkness
23He makes nations great, then destroys them;
24He deprives the world’s leaders of reason,
25They grope around in darkness without light;
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