# Job 12 
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1. Then Job answered and said: 
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2. “No doubt you are the people, and wisdom will die with you. 
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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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4. I am a laughingstock to my friends; I, who called to God and he answered me, a just and blameless man, am a laughingstock. 
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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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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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7. “But ask the beasts, and they will teach you; the birds of the heavens, and they will tell you; 
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8. or the bushes of the earth, and they will teach you; and the fish of the sea will declare to you. 
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9. Who among all these does not know that the hand of the LORD has done this? 
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10. In his hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of all mankind. 
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11. Does not the ear test words as the palate tastes food? 
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12. Wisdom is with the aged, and understanding in length of days. 
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13. “With God are wisdom and might; he has counsel and understanding. 
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14. If he tears down, none can rebuild; if he shuts a man in, none can open. 
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15. If he withholds the waters, they dry up; if he sends them out, they overwhelm the land. 
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16. With him are strength and sound wisdom; the deceived and the deceiver are his. 
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17. He leads counselors away stripped, and judges he makes fools. 
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18. He looses the bonds of kings and binds a waistcloth on their hips. 
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19. He leads priests away stripped and overthrows the mighty. 
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20. He deprives of speech those who are trusted and takes away the discernment of the elders. 
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21. He pours contempt on princes and loosens the belt of the strong. 
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22. He uncovers the deeps out of darkness and brings deep darkness to light. 
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23. He makes nations great, and he destroys them; he enlarges nations, and leads them away. 
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24. He takes away understanding from the chiefs of the people of the earth and makes them wander in a trackless waste. 
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25. They grope in the dark without light, and he makes them stagger like a drunken man. 

(ESV)