12 Then Iyyov responded to Zofar:

2 Ah, you’re certainly ‘the people’

and wisdom will die with you.

3 But I too have a mind as well as you.

I’m not getting bowled over by you.

Is there anyone who doesn’t know those things?

4 I’m laughed at by my friends.

I was calling on God and he answered,

but an innocent man becomes someone to laugh at.

5 People who’re comfortable have contempt for misfortune—

for those whose feet seem to be slipping away.

6 Robbers relax in their tents,

and those who provoke God seem secure—

those who carry their gods in their hands.

7 But please ask the animals and they’ll teach you.

Ask the birds in the sky and they’ll tell you.

8 Or complain to the ground and it’ll teach you,

and the fish in the sea will declare it to you.

9 Which of them doesn’t know that Yahweh has done all this?

10 The life of everything that lives is in his hands,

as is the spirit in the body of every person.

11 Doesn’t the ear have to test the words it hears?

And the palate has to taste the food that’s eaten?

12 Wisdom comes with age,

and understanding comes from a long life.

13 Wisdom and power belong to him.

Counsel and understanding belong to him.

14 What he tears down won’t be rebuilt.

What he closes on a person won’t be opened.

15 When he holds back the waters they dry up,

and when he sends them out they overwhelm the earth.

16 Strength and sound wisdom belong to him.

The deceived and the deceiver are both his.

17 He leads counsellors away barefoot,

and makes judges look foolish.

18 He undoes the chains of the king’s prisoners,

and wraps a cloth around their naked loins.

19 He leads priests away barefoot,

and overthrows powerful people.

20 He deprives trusted advisors of the opportunity to speak,

and he takes discernment away from the elders.

21 He pours contempt on successful people,

and unties the belt that powerful people put onto others.

22 He reveals the deep things of darkness,

and he brings deep darkness into the light.

23 He makes nations great and he also destroys nations.

He enlarges nations and he has them led away as slaves.

24 He removes the heart from the leaders of the people of the land,

and makes them wander in wasteland where there’s no paths.

25 They grope in the darkness without any light,

and he makes them stagger around as if they’re drunk.