Job: wisdom will die with you
1Then Job answered: 2No doubt you are the people, and wisdom will die with you. 3But I have a mind as well as you; I am not beneath you. And who does not know things like these? 4I am a joke to my friend — I, who called on Eloah and he answered me; the righteous man, the blameless man, a joke. 5A torch of contempt, in the thinking of the man at ease, is ready for those whose feet are slipping. 6The tents of raiders are left in peace, and those who provoke God are secure — the one whom Eloah has brought into his hand. 7But ask the animals, and they will teach you, and the birds of the sky, and they will tell you; 8or speak to the earth, and it will teach you, and the fish of the sea will recount it to you. 9Who among all these does not know that the hand of Yahweh has done this? 10In his hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of all human flesh. 11Does the ear not test words as the palate tastes its food? 12With the aged is wisdom, and with length of days, understanding.
With him are wisdom and might
13With him are wisdom and might; to him belong counsel and understanding. 14If he tears down, it is not rebuilt; if he shuts a man in, no one opens. 15If he holds back the waters, they dry up; if he lets them loose, they overturn the land. 16With him are strength and sound wisdom; the deceived and the deceiver are his. 17He leads counselors away stripped and makes fools of judges. 18He undoes the authority of kings and ties a rag around their waists. 19He leads priests away stripped and overthrows those long established. 20He takes speech away from the trusted and takes the judgment of elders. 21He pours contempt on nobles and loosens the belt of the strong. 22He uncovers deep things out of darkness and brings the shadow of death into light. 23He makes nations great, and destroys them; he spreads nations out, and leads them away. 24He takes the mind from the chiefs of the people of the earth and sets them wandering in a trackless waste. 25They grope in darkness with no light; he makes them stagger like a drunk.
