Job answers his critics
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“Truly then you are the people with whom wisdom itself will die!
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But I also have a mind; I am not inferior to you. Who does not know such things as these?
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I am a laughingstock to my friends, though I called on God, and He answered. The righteous and upright man is a laughingstock.
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The one at ease scorns misfortune as the fate of those whose feet are slipping.
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The tents of robbers are safe, and those who provoke God are secure— those who carry their god in their hands.(a)
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But ask the animals, and they will instruct you; ask the birds of the air, and they will tell you.
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Or speak to the earth, and it will teach you; let the fish of the sea inform you.
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Which of all these does not know that the hand of the LORD has done this?
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The life of every living thing is in His hand, as well as the breath of all mankind.
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Does not the ear test words as the tongue tastes its food?
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Wisdom is found with the elderly, and understanding comes with long life.
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Wisdom and strength belong to God; counsel and understanding are His.
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What He tears down cannot be rebuilt; the man He imprisons cannot be released.
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If He holds back the waters, they dry up, and if He releases them, they overwhelm the land.
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True wisdom and power belong to Him. The deceived and the deceiver are His.
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He leads counselors away barefoot and makes fools of judges.
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He loosens the bonds placed by kings and fastens a belt around their waists.
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He leads priests away barefoot and overthrows the established.
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He deprives the trusted of speech and takes away the discernment of elders.
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He pours out contempt on nobles and disarms the mighty.
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He reveals the deep things of darkness and brings deep shadows into light.
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He makes nations great and destroys them; He enlarges nations, then disperses them.
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He deprives the earth’s leaders of reason and makes them wander in a trackless wasteland.
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They grope in the darkness without light; He makes them stagger like drunkards.
Footnotes