Job 12
1 Then Job said [to his three friends],
Then Job answered 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 ye are the whole people! And wisdom will 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.
But I have understanding as well as you; I am not inferior to you: Yea, who knoweth not 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.
I am become a laughing-stock to my friend, —I who call upon God, that he would answer me! The innocent and upright man is held in derision.
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.
To calamity belongeth contempt in the mind of one at ease; It is ready for them that slip with the feet.
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 tents of robbers are in prosperity, And they who provoke God are secure, Who carry their God in their 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.
For ask now the beasts, and they will teach thee; Or the fowls of the air, and they will 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 speak to the earth, and it will instruct thee; And the fishes of the sea will declare unto thee.
9 All of them certainly know [RHQ] that it is Yahweh who has made them with his hands.
Who among all these doth not know That the hand of Jehovah doeth 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 whose hand is the soul of every living thing, And the breath of all 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].
Doth not the ear prove words, As the mouth tasteth meat?
12 Old people are [often] very wise, and because of having lived many years, they understand much,
With the aged is wisdom, And with length of days is understanding.
13 but God is wise and very powerful; he has good sense and understands [everything].
With Him are wisdom and strength; With Him 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].
Lo! he pulleth down, and it shall not be rebuilt; He bindeth a man, and he shall not be set 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.
Lo! he withholdeth the waters, and they are dried up; He sendeth them forth, and they lay waste 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 are strength and wisdom; The deceived and the deceiver are his.
17 He [sometimes] causes [the king’s] officials to no longer be wise, and he causes judges to become foolish.
He leadeth counsellors away captive, And judges he maketh fools.
18 He takes from kings the robes that they wear and puts loincloths around their waists, [causing them to become slaves].
He looseth the authority of kings, And bindeth their loins with a cord.
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 priests away captive, And overthroweth the mighty.
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 removeth speech from the trusty, And taketh away judgment from the elders.
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 poureth contempt upon princes, And looseth the girdle of the mighty.
22 He causes things that are hidden in the darkness to be revealed.
He revealeth deep things out of darkness, And bringeth the shadow 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 exalteth nations, and destroyeth them; He enlargeth nations, and leadeth them captive.
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 understanding of the great men of the land, And causeth them to wander in a wilderness, where is no path;
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 dark without light; He maketh them stagger like a drunken man.
