Chapter 12

  Then Job answered and said,  

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  No doubt but ye are the people, And wisdom shall die with you.  

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  But I have understanding as well as you; I am not inferior to you: Yea, who knoweth not such things as these?  

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  I am as one that is a laughing-stock to his neighbor, I who called upon God, and he answered: The just, the perfect man is a laughing-stock.  

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  In the thought of him that is at ease there is contempt for misfortune; It is ready for them whose foot slippeth.  

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  The tents of robbers prosper, And they that provoke God are secure; Into whose hand God bringeth [abundantly].  

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  But ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee; And the birds of the heavens, and they shall tell thee:  

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  Or speak to the earth, and it shall teach thee; And the fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee.  

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  Who knoweth not in all these, That the hand of Jehovah hath wrought this,  

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  In whose hand is the soul of every living thing, And the breath of all mankind?  

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  Doth not the ear try words, Even as the palate tasteth its food?  

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  With aged men is wisdom, And in length of days understanding.  

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  With [God] is wisdom and might; He hath counsel and understanding.  

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  Behold, he breaketh down, and it cannot be built again; He shutteth up a man, and there can be no opening.  

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  Behold, he withholdeth the waters, and they dry up; Again, he sendeth them out, and they overturn the earth.  

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  With him is strength and wisdom; The deceived and the deceiver are his.  

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  He leadeth counsellors away stripped, And judges maketh he fools.  

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  He looseth the bond of kings, And he bindeth their loins with a girdle.  

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  He leadeth priests away stripped, And overthroweth the mighty.  

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  He removeth the speech of the trusty, And taketh away the understanding of the elders.  

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  He poureth contempt upon princes, And looseth the belt of the strong.  

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  He uncovereth deep things out of darkness, And bringeth out to light the shadow of death.  

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  He increaseth the nations, and he destroyeth them: He enlargeth the nations, and he leadeth them captive.  

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  He taketh away understanding from the chiefs of the people of the earth, And causeth them to wander in a wilderness where there is no way.  

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  They grope in the dark without light; And he maketh them to stagger like a drunken man.  

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