Job 12:1-12

Then Job responded, “No doubt you are the [only wise] people [in the world], And wisdom will die with you! “But I have intelligence and understanding as well as you; I am not inferior to you. Who does not know such things as these [of God’s wisdom and might]? “I am a joke to my friends; I, one whom God answered when he called upon Him— A just and blameless man is a joke [and laughed to scorn]. “He who is at ease has contempt for misfortune, But misfortune is ready [and anxiously waiting] for those whose feet slip. “The tents of the destroyers prosper; And those who provoke God are [apparently] secure, Whom God brings into their power. ¶“Now ask the animals, and let them teach you [that God does not deal with His creatures according to their character]; And ask the birds of the air, and let them tell you; Or speak to the earth [with its many forms of life], and it will teach you; And let the fish of the sea declare [this truth] to you. “Who among all these does not recognize [in all these things that good and evil are randomly scattered throughout nature and human life] That the hand of the LORD has done this, In whose hand is the life of every living thing, And the breath of all mankind? “Does the ear not put words to the test, Just as the palate tastes its food [distinguishing between the desirable and the undesirable]? “With the aged [you say] is wisdom, And with long life is understanding.