Then Job replied saying:
No doubt you are the gentry,
With you all wisdom will die.
Yet I, like you, have a mind as well,
I am no less a person than you,
Indeed, who does not know all these things.
I have become one who causes his neighbor to smile,
I who called upon God, and He answered me,
A blameless and upright man, a laughing stock.
The complacent lack respect for calamity,
But disaster awaits any who stumble.
The tents of the marauders are at peace,
Those who provoke God are secure,
Into whose hand God provides abundantly.
Yet, “Ask the animals, to instruct you,
The birds of the air, to tell you,
Speak to the earth, to teach you,
The fish of the sea, to declare to you.”
Who among all these does not know,
That the hand of Yahweh has done this?
In whose hand is every living soul,
The spirit of everyone made of flesh.
Does not the ear test words,
As the palate tastes food?
Is wisdom in the aged,
Understanding in the long lived?
With God are wisdom and strength,
Counsel and understanding are his.
He destroys, there is no rebuilding,
Confines, there is no release.
He holds back the waters, and they dry up,
Sends them forth, and they overwhelm the land.
With Him are strength and resourcefulness,
The one who errs and the one who leads to err are His.
He leads counselors astray, stripped of reason,
Causes judges to foolish madness.
He undoes the sash of kings,
Removes the girdle from their loins.
He leads the priests away from reason,
Drivers the temple servants into confusion.
He deprives speech from the trustworthy,
Removes discernment from the aged.
He pours disgrace upon great men,
Weakens the power of the mighty.
He reveals deep secrets of darkness,
Brings blackest gloom to light,
He makes nations great,
Then destroys them.
He expands nations,
Then forsakes them.
He deprives the earthly leaders of reason,
Causes them to wander the pathless waste.
Without light, they grope in the darkness,
Causing them to wander like drunks.