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Job 12 :: New American Standard Bible 1995 (NASB95)

Job Chides His Accusers

Job 12:1Then Job [fn]responded,
Job 12:2“Truly then you are the people,
And with you wisdom will die!
Job 12:3“But I have intelligence as well as you;
I am not inferior to you.
And [fn]who does not know such things as these?
Job 12:4“I am a joke to [fn]my friends,
The one who called on God and He answered him;
The just and blameless man is a joke.
Job 12:5[fn]He who is at ease holds calamity in contempt,
As prepared for those whose feet slip.
Job 12:6“The tents of the destroyers prosper,
And those who provoke God are secure,
[fn]Whom God brings into their power.
Job 12:7“But now ask the beasts, and let them teach you;
And the birds of the heavens, and let them tell you.
Job 12:8“Or speak to the earth, and let it teach you;
And let the fish of the sea declare to you.
Job 12:9“Who among all these does not know
That the hand of the LORD has done this,
Job 12:10In whose hand is the life of every living thing,
And the breath of all mankind?
Job 12:11“Does not the ear test words,
As the palate [fn]tastes its food?
Job 12:12“Wisdom is with aged men,
With [fn]long life is understanding.

Job Speaks of the Power of God

Job 12:13“With Him are wisdom and might;
To Him belong counsel and understanding.
Job 12:14“Behold, He tears down, and it cannot be rebuilt;
He [fn]imprisons a man, and [fn]there can be no release.
Job 12:15“Behold, He restrains the waters, and they dry up;
And He sends them out, and they [fn]inundate the earth.
Job 12:16“With Him are strength and sound wisdom,
The misled and the misleader belong to Him.
Job 12:17“He makes counselors walk [fn]barefoot
And makes fools of judges.
Job 12:18“He loosens the [fn]bond of kings
And binds their loins with a girdle.
Job 12:19“He makes priests walk [fn]barefoot
And overthrows the secure ones.
Job 12:20“He deprives the trusted ones of speech
And takes away the discernment of the elders.
Job 12:21“He pours contempt on nobles
And loosens the belt of the strong.
Job 12:22“He reveals mysteries from the darkness
And brings the deep darkness into light.
Job 12:23“He makes the nations great, then destroys them;
He [fn]enlarges the nations, then leads them away.
Job 12:24“He deprives of intelligence the chiefs of the earth’s people
And makes them wander in a pathless waste.
Job 12:25“They grope in darkness with no light,
And He makes them stagger like a drunken man.
NASB95 Footnotes
Literally: answered and said
Literally: with whom is there not like these?
Literally: his
Literally: Contempt for calamity is the thought of him who is at ease
Or, He who brings God into his hand
Literally: tastes food for itself
Literally: length of days
Literally: shuts against
Literally: it is not opened
Literally: overturn
Or, stripped
Or, discipline
Or, stripped
Or, spreads out
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New American Standard Bible 1995
Copyright (c) 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995
by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif.
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For more information on this translation, see the NASB95 Preface.

Job Chapter 12 — Additional Translations: