¹ Then responded Job, and said:—

² Of a truth, ye, are the people, and, with you, wisdom, will die.

³ I also, have a mind like you, I, fall not short, of you, But who hath not such things as these?

⁴ A laughing-stock to one’s neighbour, do I become, one who hath called upon GOD and he hath answered him! A laughing-stock—a righteous man without blame!

⁵ For ruin, there is contempt, in the thought of the man at ease,—ready, for such as are of faltering foot!

⁶ At peace are the tents that belong to the spoilers, and there is security to them who provoke GOD, To him who bringeth a god in his hand.

⁷ But, in very deed, ask, I pray thee, the beasts, and they will teach thee, and the bird of the heavens, and it will tell thee;

⁸ Or address the earth, and it will teach thee, and the fishes of the sea, will recount it to thee:

⁹ Who knoweth not, among all these, that, the hand of Yahweh, hath done this?

¹⁰ In whose hand is the soul of every living thing, and the spirit of all the flesh of men.

¹¹ Doth not, the ear, try, words? even as, the palate, tasteth for itself, food?

¹² In the Ancient, is wisdom, and [in] Length of Days, understanding:

¹³ With Him, are wisdom and strength, to Him, pertain counsel and understanding.

¹⁴ Lo! He pulleth down, and it cannot be built, He closeth up over a man, and it cannot be opened:

¹⁵ Lo! He holdeth back the waters, and they dry up, or sendeth them out, and they transform the earth:

¹⁶ With Him, is strength and effective wisdom, to Him, belong he that erreth, and he that causeth to err.

¹⁷ Who leadeth away counsellors [as] a spoil, and, judges, He befooleth:

¹⁸ The fetters of kings, He looseth, or hath bound a slave’s waistcloth about their loins:

¹⁹ Who leadeth away priests [as] a spoil, and, men firmly seated, He overturneth:

²⁰ Setting aside the speech of the trusty, and, the discernment of elders, He taketh away:

²¹ Pouring contempt upon nobles, and, the girdle of the mighty, hath He loosed:

²² Laying open deep things, out of darkness, and bringing out to light, the death-shade:

²³ Who giveth greatness to nations, or destroyeth them, Who spreadeth out nations, or leadeth them into exile:

²⁴ Who taketh away the sense of the chiefs of the people of the earth, and hath caused them to wander in a pathless waste:

²⁵ They grope about in the dark, having no light, and He hath made them to reel, like a drunken man.