Fluent Translation · Read & Reflect
Job 12
No Doubt Wisdom Will Die with You
Then Job answered and said:
“Truly you are the people,
and wisdom will die with you!
Yet I also have a heart like you;
I am not inferior to you.
And who does not know things like these?
I have become a laughingstock to my neighbor,
one who called to God and he answered him—
a laughingstock: the righteous and blameless man.
In the thought of one who is at ease,
there is contempt for disaster,
ready for those whose foot slips.
The tents of robbers are at peace,
and people who provoke God are secure,
people who bring their god in their hand.
Ask the Animals, and They Will Teach You
But ask the animals, and they will teach you;
the birds of the heavens, and they will tell you.
Or speak to the earth, and it will teach you;
and the fish of the sea will recount it to you.
Who among all these does not know
that the hand of the LORD has done this?
In whose hand is the life of every living thing
and the breath of all human flesh.
Does not the ear test words
as the palate tastes food?
Is wisdom with the aged,
and understanding in length of days?
With God Are Wisdom and Strength
With him are wisdom and strength;
his are counsel and understanding.
Look, he tears down, and it cannot be rebuilt;
he shuts a man in, and no one can open.
Look, he withholds the waters, and they dry up;
he sends them out, and they overturn the earth.
With him are strength and sound wisdom;
the deceived and the deceiver are his.
He leads counselors away stripped
and makes judges fools.
He loosens the discipline of kings
and binds a belt around their waist.
He leads priests away stripped
and overthrows the established.
He removes speech from the trusted
and takes away discernment from elders.
He Makes Nations Great and Destroys Them
He pours contempt upon nobles
and loosens the belt of the strong.
He uncovers deep things from darkness
and brings death-shadow into light.
He makes nations great and destroys them;
he enlarges nations and leads them away.
He removes the heart from the heads of the people of the earth
and makes them wander in a wasteland without a way.
They grope in darkness with no light,
and he makes them wander like a drunken person.”