Job 12
1 Then Job said [to his three friends],
Then Iob answered, and sayde,
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.
In deede because that ye are the people onely, wisedome must dye 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 haue vnderstanding aswel as you, and am not inferior vnto you: yea, who knoweth not such things?
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.
I am as one mocked of his neighbour, who calleth vpon God, and he heareth him: the iust and the vpright is laughed to scorne.
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.
Hee that is readie to fall, is as a lampe despised in the opinion of the riche.
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 doe prosper, and they are in safetie, that prouoke God, whome God hath enriched with his hand.
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.
Aske now the beasts, and they shall teach thee, and the foules of the heauen, and they shall tell thee:
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 speake to the earth, and it shall shewe thee: or the fishes of the sea, and they shall declare vnto thee.
9 All of them certainly know [RHQ] that it is Yahweh who has made them with his hands.
Who is ignorant of all these, but that the hande of the Lord hath made these?
10 He directs the lives of all living creatures; he gives breath to all [us] humans [to enable us to remain alive].
In whose hande is the soule of euery liuing thing, and the breath of all mankinde.
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].
Doeth not the eares discerne the words? and the mouth taste meate for it selfe?
12 Old people are [often] very wise, and because of having lived many years, they understand much,
Among the ancient is wisedome, and in the length of dayes is vnderstanding.
13 but God is wise and very powerful; he has good sense and understands [everything].
With him is wisedome and strength: he hath counsell and vnderstanding.
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].
Beholde, he will breake downe, and it can not be built: he shutteth a man vp, and he can not be loosed.
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.
Beholde, he withholdeth the waters, and they drie vp: but when he sendeth them out, they destroy the earth.
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 wisedome: hee that is deceiued, and that deceiueth, are his.
17 He [sometimes] causes [the king’s] officials to no longer be wise, and he causes judges to become foolish.
He causeth the counsellers to goe as spoyled, and maketh the iudges fooles.
18 He takes from kings the robes that they wear and puts loincloths around their waists, [causing them to become slaves].
He looseth the collar of Kings, and girdeth their loynes with a girdle.
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 leadeth away the princes as a pray, and ouerthroweth the mightie.
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 taketh away the speach from the faithfull counsellers, and taketh away the iudgement of the ancient.
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 powreth contempt vpon princes, and maketh the strength of the mightie weake.
22 He causes things that are hidden in the darkness to be revealed.
He discouereth the deepe places from their darkenesse, and bringeth foorth the shadowe of death to 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 increaseth the people, and destroyeth them: he inlargeth the nations, and bringeth them in againe.
24 He causes [some] rulers to become foolish/stupid, and then he causes them to wander around, lost, in an barren desert.
He taketh away the heartes of the that are the chiefe ouer the people of the earth, and maketh them to wander in the wildernes out of the way.
25 They grope around in the darkness, without any light, and he causes them to stagger like [SIM] people who are drunk.”
They grope in the darke without light: and he maketh the to stagger like a drunken man.
