1And Iyoḇ answered and said,

2“Truly you are the people, and wisdom would die with you!

3But I, like you, have a heart too; I am not less than you. And who does not know such as these?

4I 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!

5A lamp is despised in the thought of one who is at ease – prepared for those whose feet slip.

6The tents of robbers are at peace, and those who provoke Ěl are complacent, to him who brings Eloah into his hand!

7But now ask the beasts, and they teach you; and the birds of the heavens, and they declare it to you;

8or speak to the earth, and it teaches you; and the fish of the sea inform you.

9Who among all these does not know that the hand of יהוה has done this,

10in whose hand is the life of all that live, and the breath of all mankind?

11Does the ear not try words? And the mouth taste food for itself?

12With the aged is wisdom, and understanding with length of days.

13With Him are wisdom and might, He has counsel and understanding.

14Look, He breaks down, and it is not rebuilt. If He imprisons a man, there is no release.

15Look, He withholds the waters, and they dry up. And He sends them out, and they overwhelm the earth.

16With Him are strength and ability. The misled and the misleader are His.

17He leads counsellors away stripped, and makes judges go mad.

18He loosens the bonds of sovereigns, and binds a girdle on their loins;

19who leads away priests as a spoil, and overthrows the mighty;

20turning aside the lip of the trusted ones, and takes away the discernment of the elders;

21pouring scorn on nobles, and loosens the girdle of the strong;

22revealing deep matters out of darkness, and He brings the shadow of death to light;

23making nations great, and He destroys them; spreading out the nations, and He leads them out.

24turning aside the heart of the chiefs of the people of the earth, and He makes them wander in a pathless waste.

25They grope in darkness, having no light, and He makes them stagger like a drunkard.