1 And Iyoḇ answered and said,
2 “Truly you are the people, and wisdom would die with you!
3 But I, like you, have a heart too; I am not less than you. And who does not know such as these?
4 I have become a laughing-stock to my friends – one who has called on Eloah and He answered him! A laughing-stock is the righteous, the perfect one!
5 A lamp is despised in the thought of one who is at ease – prepared for those whose feet slip.
6 The tents of robbers are at peace, and those who provoke Ěl are complacent, to him who brings Eloah into his hand!
7 But now ask the beasts, and they teach you; and the birds of the heavens, and they declare it to you;
8 or speak to the earth, and it teaches you; and the fish of the sea inform you.
9 Who among all these does not know that the hand of יהוה has done this,
10 in whose hand is the life of all that live, and the breath of all mankind?
11 Does the ear not try words? And the mouth taste food for itself?
12 With the aged is wisdom, and understanding with length of days.
13 With Him are wisdom and might, He has counsel and understanding.
14 Look, He breaks down, and it is not rebuilt. If He imprisons a man, there is no release.
15 Look, He withholds the waters, and they dry up. And He sends them out, and they overwhelm the earth.
16 With Him are strength and ability. The misled and the misleader are His.
17 He leads counsellors away stripped, and makes judges go mad.
18 He loosens the bonds of sovereigns, and binds a girdle on their loins;
19 who leads away priests as a spoil, and overthrows the mighty;
20 turning aside the lip of the trusted ones, and takes away the discernment of the elders;
21 pouring scorn on nobles, and loosens the girdle of the strong;
22 revealing deep matters out of darkness, and He brings the shadow of death to light;
23 making nations great, and He destroys them; spreading out the nations, and He leads them out.
24 turning aside the heart of the chiefs of the people of the earth, and He makes them wander in a pathless waste.
25 They grope in darkness, having no light, and He makes them stagger like a drunkard.