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Job Chides His Accusers

¹ Then Job ^(F1)responded,

² "Truly then ^(C1)you are the people,
And with you wisdom will die!

³ "But ^(C1)I have intelligence as well as you;
I am not inferior to you.
And ^(F1)who does not know such things as these?

⁴ "I am a ^(C1)joke to ^(F1)my friends,
The one who called on God and He answered him;
The just and ^(C2)blameless man is a joke.

⁵ "^(F1)He who is at ease holds calamity in contempt,
As prepared for those whose feet slip.

⁶ "The ^(C1)tents of the destroyers prosper,
And those who provoke God ^(C2)are secure,
^(F1)Whom God brings ^(C3)into their power.

⁷ "But now ask the beasts, and let them teach you;
And the birds of the heavens, and let them tell you.

⁸ "Or speak to the earth, and let it teach you;
And let the fish of the sea declare to you.

⁹ "Who among all these does not know
That ^(C1)the hand of the LORD has done this,

^10 (C1)In whose hand is the life of every living thing,
And ^(C2)the breath of all mankind?

¹¹ "Does not ^(C1)the ear test words,
As the palate ^(F1)tastes its food?

¹² "Wisdom is with ^(C1)aged men,
With ^(F1)long life is understanding.

Job Speaks of the Power of God

¹³ "With Him are ^(C1)wisdom and ^(C1)might;
To Him belong counsel and ^(C2)understanding.

¹⁴ "Behold, He ^(C1)tears down, and it cannot be rebuilt;
He ^(F1)(C2)imprisons a man, and ^(F2)there can be no release.

¹⁵ "Behold, He ^(C1)restrains the waters, and they dry up;
And He ^(C2)sends them out, and they ^(F1)inundate the earth.

¹⁶ "With Him are strength and sound wisdom,
The ^(C1)misled and the misleader belong to Him.

¹⁷ "He makes ^(C1)counselors walk ^(F1)barefoot
And makes fools of ^(C2)judges.

¹⁸ "He ^(C1)loosens the ^(F1)bond of kings
And binds their loins with a girdle.

¹⁹ "He makes priests walk ^(F1)barefoot
And overthrows ^(C1)the secure ones.

²⁰ "He deprives the trusted ones of speech
And ^(C1)takes away the discernment of the elders.

²¹ "He ^(C1)pours contempt on nobles
And ^(C2)loosens the belt of the strong.

²² "He ^(C1)reveals mysteries from the darkness
And brings the deep darkness into light.

²³ "He ^(C1)makes the nations great, then destroys them;
He ^(F1)enlarges the nations, then leads them away.

²⁴ "He ^(C1)deprives of intelligence the chiefs of the earth's people
And makes them wander in a pathless waste.

²⁵ "They ^(C1)grope in darkness with no light,
And He makes them ^(C2)stagger like a drunken man.