Job 12
1 Then Job said [to his three friends],
Then Job, answering, 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.
Are you, therefore, alone among men, and will wisdom die 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.
And I have a heart just as you also do, and I am not inferior to you. For who is ignorant of these things, which you know?
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.
He who is mocked by his friends as I am, will call upon God, and he will listen to him because it is the sincerity of the just that is being mocked.
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.
The lamp that is despised in the thoughts of the rich is ready for the appointed time.
6 Bandits live peacefully, and no one threatens those who cause God to become angry; their own strength is the god [that they worship].
The tabernacles of robbers are numerous, and they provoke God boldly; whereas, it is he who has given all things into their hands.
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.
In truth, ask the mules, and they will teach you, and the birds of the sky, and they will reveal 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].
Speak with the earth, and it will respond to you, and the fish of the sea will explain.
9 All of them certainly know [RHQ] that it is Yahweh who has made them with his hands.
Who is ignorant that the hand of the Lord has made all these things?
10 He directs the lives of all living creatures; he gives breath to all [us] humans [to enable us to remain alive].
In his hand is the soul of all the living and the spirit of all the flesh of mankind.
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].
Does not the ear perceive words, and the palate, when eating, perceive flavor?
12 Old people are [often] very wise, and because of having lived many years, they understand much,
In old age is wisdom, and in length of days is prudence.
13 but God is wise and very powerful; he has good sense and understands [everything].
With him is wisdom and strength, he has counsel and understanding.
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].
If he tears down, there is no one who can build up; if he encloses a man, there is no one who can open.
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.
If he restrains the waters, everything will dry up; and if he sends them forth, they will subdue the land.
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 is strength and wisdom; he knows both the deceiver and he who is deceived.
17 He [sometimes] causes [the king’s] officials to no longer be wise, and he causes judges to become foolish.
He leads advisors to a foolish end and judges to stupidity.
18 He takes from kings the robes that they wear and puts loincloths around their waists, [causing them to become slaves].
He removes the belt of kings and encircles their waist with a rope.
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 leads away priests in dishonor and displaces nobles,
20 He [sometimes] causes those whom others trust to be unable to speak, and he causes old men to no longer have good sense.
altering the lips of those who speak the truth and sweeping away the teaching of the aged.
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 pours disdain upon the leaders, relieving those who had been oppressed.
22 He causes things that are hidden in the darkness to be revealed.
He reveals the depths of the darkness, and he brings the shadow of death into the light.
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.
He multiplies peoples, and destroys them, and, having been overthrown, he restores them anew.
24 He causes [some] rulers to become foolish/stupid, and then he causes them to wander around, lost, in an barren desert.
He transforms the heart of the leaders of the people on earth, and misleads those who in vain advance upon the inviolable.
25 They grope around in the darkness, without any light, and he causes them to stagger like [SIM] people who are drunk.”
They will grope as in the darkness, not the light, and he will make them stagger like drunkards.
