Then Job answered and said,

Surely then you are the people, And wisdom will die with you.

I also have understanding as you do; I am not inferior to you. And who does not know things like these?

I have become a laughingstock to my friends, I, who have called out to God and He answers me. The righteous man, the perfect man, is a laughingstock.

There is contempt for calamity in the thought of him who is at ease: It is prepared for those whose foot slips.

The tents of robbers prosper, And those who provoke God have security, Those who carry their god in their own might.

But ask now of the beasts, and they will teach you; And of the birds of heaven, and they will tell you.

Or speak to the earth, and it will teach you; And the fish of the sea will declare to you.

Who among all these does not know That the hand of Jehovah has done this,

In whose hand is the life of every living thing And the breath of all flesh of man?

Does not the ear try words Even as the palate tastes food for itself?

In aged men, you say, there is wisdom, And in length of days there is understanding.

But with Him are wisdom and might; Counsel and understanding are His.

Indeed, He breaks down, and it cannot be rebuilt; He shuts a man up, and the door cannot be opened.

Indeed, He withholds the waters, and they dry up; And He sends them forth, and they overturn the earth.

With Him are strength and effectual wisdom; The deceived and the deceiver are His.

He leads counselors away stripped, And He makes fools of judges.

He loosens the fetters of kings And binds their loins with a belt.

He leads priests away stripped, And He overturns dignitaries.

He removes the utterance of the trusty And takes away the counsel of the elders.

He pours contempt upon the princes And loosens the belt of the strong.

He uncovers the depths out of darkness And brings to light the shadow of death.

He makes nations great and destroys them; He expands nations and leads them off.

He removes the understanding of the heads of the people of the earth And causes them to wander in a pathless waste.

They grope in darkness, and there is no light; And He causes them to stagger like a drunken man.