Read the Bible

Job

¹ Then Job replied:

² "Doubtless you are the people,
and wisdom will die with you!

³ But I have a mind as well as you;
I am not inferior to you.
Who does not know all these things?

⁴ "I have become a laughingstock to my friends,
though I called upon God and he answered-
a mere laughingstock, though righteous and blameless!

⁵ Men at ease have contempt for misfortune
as the fate of those whose feet are slipping.

⁶ The tents of marauders are undisturbed,
and those who provoke God are secure-
those who carry their god in their hands. ^(F22)

⁷ "But ask the animals, and they will teach you,
or the birds of the air, and they will tell you;

⁸ or speak to the earth, and it will teach you,
or let the fish of the sea inform you.

⁹ Which of all these does not know
that the hand of the LORD has done this?

¹⁰ In his hand is the life of every creature
and the breath of all mankind.

¹¹ Does not the ear test words
as the tongue tastes food?

¹² Is not wisdom found among the aged?
Does not long life bring understanding?

¹³ "To God belong wisdom and power;
counsel and understanding are his.

¹⁴ What he tears down cannot be rebuilt;
the man he imprisons cannot be released.

¹⁵ If he holds back the waters, there is drought;
if he lets them loose, they devastate the land.

¹⁶ To him belong strength and victory;
both deceived and deceiver are his.

¹⁷ He leads counselors away stripped
and makes fools of judges.

¹⁸ He takes off the shackles put on by kings
and ties a loincloth around their waist.

¹⁹ He leads priests away stripped
and overthrows men long established.

²⁰ He silences the lips of trusted advisers
and takes away the discernment of elders.

²¹ He pours contempt on nobles
and disarms the mighty.

²² He reveals the deep things of darkness
and brings deep shadows into the light.

²³ He makes nations great, and destroys them;
he enlarges nations, and disperses them.

²⁴ He deprives the leaders of the earth of their reason;
he sends them wandering through a trackless waste.

²⁵ They grope in darkness with no light;
he makes them stagger like drunkards.