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Job Chides His Accusers

¹ Then Job 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 disaster 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 just ask the animals, and have them teach you;
And the birds of the sky, and have them tell you.

⁸ "Or speak to the earth, and have it teach you;
And have the fish of the sea tell 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 ^(C1)the ear not put words to the test,
As the palate ^(F1)tastes its food?

¹² "Wisdom is with the ^(C1)aged,
And with ^(F1)long life comes understanding.

Job Speaks of the Power of God

¹³ "^(C1)Wisdom and ^(C1)might are with Him;
Advice and ^(C2)understanding belong to Him.

¹⁴ "Behold, He ^(C1)tears down, and it cannot be rebuilt;
He ^(F1)(C2)imprisons a person, and ^(F2)there is 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 "Strength and sound wisdom are with Him.
One who ^(C1)goes astray and one who leads astray belong to Him.

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

¹⁸ "He ^(C1)undoes the binding of kings,
And ties a loincloth around their waist.

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 the leaders of the earth's people of ^(F1)intelligence
And makes them wander in a pathless wasteland.

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