Job

¹ Then Job replied:

² and wisdom will die with you!

³ I am not inferior to you. Who does not know all these things?

⁴ though I called upon God and he answered— a mere laughingstock, though righteous and blameless!

⁵ as the fate of those whose feet are slipping.

⁶ and those who provoke God are secure— those who carry their god in their hands.

⁷ or the birds of the air, and they will tell you;

⁸ or let the fish of the sea inform you.

⁹ that the hand of the Lord has done this?

¹⁰ and the breath of all mankind.

¹¹ as the tongue tastes food?

¹² Does not long life bring understanding?

¹³ counsel and understanding are his.

¹⁴ the man he imprisons cannot be released.

¹⁵ if he lets them loose, they devastate the land.

¹⁶ both deceived and deceiver are his.

¹⁷ and makes fools of judges.

¹⁸ and ties a loincloth around their waist.

¹⁹ and overthrows men long established.

²⁰ and takes away the discernment of elders.

²¹ and disarms the mighty.

²² and brings deep shadows into the light.

²³ he enlarges nations, and disperses them.

²⁴ he sends them wandering through a trackless waste.

²⁵ he makes them stagger like drunkards.