¹Then Job answered and said, ²“Truly indeed you are the people, and wisdom will die with you. ³⌞I also have insight⌟ like you; I am not more inferior than you. And ⌞who does not know things like these⌟? ⁴I am a laughingstock to my friends: ‘He calls on God, and he answers him.’ A righteous, blameless man is a laughingstock. ⁵⌞Those at ease have contempt⌟ for the thought of ⌞disaster⌟, but it is ready for those unstable of foot. ⁶The tents of the destroyers are at peace, and there is security for those who provoke God, for those whom God brings into his hand. ⁷“But ask the animals, and they will teach you, and the birds of the heaven, and they will tell you; ⁸or ask the earth, and it will teach you, and the fishes of the sea will declare to you. ⁹Who among all of these does not know that Yahweh’s hand has done this? ¹⁰In whose hand is the life of all living things and ⌞the breath of every human being⌟? ¹¹Does not the ear test words and the palate taste food for itself? ¹²Wisdom is with the aged, and understanding is in length of days. ¹³“With him are wisdom and powerful deeds, and to him belong counsel and understanding. ¹⁴If he tears down, then it will not be rebuilt; if he shuts a man in, then he cannot be freed. ¹⁵Look, if he withholds the water, then they dry up; and if he sends them out, then they overwhelm the land. ¹⁶“Strength and sound wisdom are with him; the deceived and the deceiver are his. ¹⁷He leads counselors away stripped, and he makes fools of judges. ¹⁸He loosens the fetters of kings, and he binds a loincloth on their loins. ¹⁹He leads priests away stripped, and he overthrows ⌞the members of ancient families⌟. ²⁰He deprives the trustworthy of speech, and he takes away the discretion of elders. ²¹He pours contempt on noblemen, and he loosens the girdle of the mighty. ²²“He uncovers mysteries out of darkness, and he brings deep shadow to the light. ²³He makes the nations great, then he destroys them; he expands the nations, then he guides them. ²⁴He strips away the insight of the heads of the earth’s people, and he makes them wander in ⌞a pathless wasteland⌟. ²⁵They grope in the dark ⌞without⌟ light, and he makes them stagger like a drunkard.