Job’s Response to Zophar
1 Then Job answered,
2 “No doubt, but you are the people,
and wisdom will die with you.
3 But I have understanding as well as you.
I am not inferior to you.
Yes, who does not know such things as these?
4 I am a laughingstock to my friends,
I, whom God used to answer when I called on him.
The righteous, blameless man is a laughingstock.
5 Those who are at ease
view misfortune with contempt
and think it is waiting for those whose foot slips.
6 The tents of robbers prosper,
and those who provoke God are secure,
who carry their god in their hands.
7 But ask the animals, now, and they will teach you,
the birds of the sky, and they will tell you.
8 Or speak to the earth, and it will teach you.
The fish of the sea will declare it to you.
9 Who does not know that in all these,
the hand of the Lord has done this,
10 in whose hand is the life of every living thing,
and the breath of all mankind?
11 Does the ear not try words,
just as the palate tastes its food?
12 With aged men is wisdom,
in length of days understanding.
13 With God is wisdom and might.
He has counsel and understanding.
14 He breaks down, and it cannot be rebuilt.
He imprisons a man, and there can be no release.
15 He withholds the waters, and they dry up.
He sends them back out, and they overtake the earth.
16 With him is strength and wisdom.
The deceived and the deceiver are his.
17 He leads counselors away stripped.
He makes judges fools.
18 He loosens the bond of kings.
He binds their waist with a belt.
19 He leads priests away stripped
and overthrows the mighty.
20 He withholds the speech of those who are trusted
and removes the understanding of the elders.
21 He pours contempt on princes
and loosens the belt of the strong.
22 He uncovers deep things out of darkness
and brings to light the shadow of death.
23 He increases the nations, and he destroys them.
He enlarges the nations, and he leads them captive.
24 He takes away understanding from the leaders of the people of the earth
and causes them to wander in a wilderness where there is no way.
25 They grope in the dark without light.
He makes them stagger like a drunken man.”