Job 12
1 Then Job said [to his three friends],
And Job made answer and said,
2 “You (talk as though/You think) [SAR] that you are the people [whom everyone should listen to], and that when you die, there will be no more wise people.
No doubt you have knowledge, and wisdom will come to an end with you.
3 But I have as much good sense as you do; I am (not less wise than/certainly as wise as [LIT]) you. Certainly everyone knows [RHQ] all that you have said.
But I have a mind as well as you; I am equal to you: yes, who has not knowledge of such things as these?
4 My friends all laugh at me now. Previously I habitually requested God to help me, and he answered/helped me. I am righteous, a very godly man [DOU], but everyone laughs at me.
It seems that I am to be as one who is a cause of laughing to his neighbour, one who makes his prayer to God and is answered! the upright man who has done no wrong is to be made sport of!
5 Those [like you] who have no troubles make fun of me; they cause those [like me] who are already suffering to have more troubles.
In the thought of him who is in comfort there is no respect for one who is in trouble; such is the fate of those whose feet are slipping.
6 Bandits live peacefully, and no one threatens those who cause God to become angry; their own strength is the god [that they worship].
There is wealth in the tents of those who make destruction, and those by whom God is moved to wrath are safe; even those whose god is their strength.
7 “But ask the wild animals [what they know about God], and [if they could speak] they would teach you. [If you could] ask the birds, they would tell you.
But put now a question to the beasts, and get teaching from them; or to the birds of the heaven, and they will make it clear to you;
8 [If you could] ask the creatures [that crawl] on the ground, or the fish in the sea, they would tell you [about God].
Or to the things which go flat on the earth, and they will give you wisdom; and the fishes of the sea will give you news of it.
9 All of them certainly know [RHQ] that it is Yahweh who has made them with his hands.
Who does not see by all these that the hand of the Lord has done this?
10 He directs the lives of all living creatures; he gives breath to all [us] humans [to enable us to remain alive].
In whose hand is the soul of every living thing, and the breath of all flesh of man.
11 And when we [SYN] hear what other people [like you] say, we [RHQ] think carefully about what they say [to determine what is good and what is bad], like we [SYN] taste food [to determine what is good and what is bad].
Are not words tested by the ear, even as food is tasted by the mouth?
12 Old people are [often] very wise, and because of having lived many years, they understand much,
Old men have wisdom, and a long life gives knowledge.
13 but God is wise and very powerful; he has good sense and understands [everything].
With him there is wisdom and strength; power and knowledge are his.
14 If he tears [something] down, no one can rebuild it; if he puts someone in prison, no one can open [the prison doors to allow that person to escape].
Truly, there is no building up of what is pulled down by him; when a man is shut up by him, no one may let him loose.
15 When he prevents rain from falling, everything dries up. When he causes a lot of rain to fall, [the result is that] there are floods.
Truly, he keeps back the waters and they are dry; he sends them out and the earth is overturned.
16 He is the one who is truly strong and wise; he rules over those who deceive others and those whom they deceive.
With him are strength and wise designs; he who is guided into error, together with his guide, are in his hands;
17 He [sometimes] causes [the king’s] officials to no longer be wise, and he causes judges to become foolish.
He takes away the wisdom of the wise guides, and makes judges foolish;
18 He takes from kings the robes that they wear and puts loincloths around their waists, [causing them to become slaves].
He undoes the chains of kings, and puts his band on them;
19 He takes from priests the sacred clothes that they wear, [with the result that they no longer can do their work], and takes power from those who rule others.
He makes priests prisoners, overturning those in safe positions;
20 He [sometimes] causes those whom others trust to be unable to speak, and he causes old men to no longer have good sense.
He makes the words of responsible persons without effect, and takes away the good sense of the old;
21 He causes those who have authority to be despised, and he causes those who are powerful to no longer have any power/strength.
He puts shame on chiefs, and takes away the power of the strong;
22 He causes things that are hidden in the darkness to be revealed.
Uncovering deep things out of the dark, and making the deep shade bright;
23 He causes some nations to become very great, and [later] he destroys them; he causes the territory of some nations to become much larger, and [later] he causes them to be defeated and their people to be scattered.
Increasing nations, and sending destruction on them; making wide the lands of peoples, and then giving them up.
24 He causes [some] rulers to become foolish/stupid, and then he causes them to wander around, lost, in an barren desert.
He takes away the wisdom of the rulers of the earth, and sends them wandering in a waste where there is no way.
25 They grope around in the darkness, without any light, and he causes them to stagger like [SIM] people who are drunk.”
They go feeling about in the dark without light, wandering without help like those overcome with wine.
