章 |
12:1 |
Then Job answered:
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12:2 |
'No doubt you are the people, and wisdom will die with you.
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12:3 |
But I have understanding as well as you;I am not inferior to you. Who does not know such things as these?
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12:4 |
I am a laughingstock to my friends;I, who called upon God and he answered me, a just and blameless man, am a laughingstock.
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12:5 |
In the thought of one who is at ease there is contempt for misfortune;it is ready for those whose feet slip.
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12:6 |
The tents of robbers are at peace, and those who provoke God are secure, who bring their god in their hand.
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12:7 |
'But ask the beasts, and they will teach you;the birds of the air, and they will tell you;
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12:8 |
or the plants of the earth, and they will teach you;and the fish of the sea will declare to you.
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12:9 |
Who among all these does not know that the hand of the LORD has done this?
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12:10 |
In his hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of all mankind.
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12:11 |
Does not the ear try words as the palate tastes food?
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12:12 |
Wisdom is with the aged, and understanding in length of days.
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12:13 |
'With God are wisdom and might;he has counsel and understanding.
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12:14 |
If he tears down, none can rebuild;if he shuts a man in, none can open.
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12:15 |
If he withholds the waters, they dry up;if he sends them out, they overwhelm the land.
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12:16 |
With him are strength and wisdom;the deceived and the deceiver are his.
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12:17 |
He leads counselors away stripped, and judges he makes fools.
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12:18 |
He looses the bonds of kings, and binds a waistcloth on their loins.
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12:19 |
He leads priests away stripped, and overthrows the mighty.
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12:20 |
He deprives of speech those who are trusted, and takes away the discernment of the elders.
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12:21 |
He pours contempt on princes, and looses the belt of the strong.
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12:22 |
He uncovers the deeps out of darkness, and brings deep darkness to light.
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12:23 |
He makes nations great, and he destroys them: he enlarges nations, and leads them away.
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12:24 |
He takes away understanding from the chiefs of the people of the earth, and makes them wander in a pathless waste.
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12:25 |
They grope in the dark without light;and he makes them stagger like a drunken man.
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