Good News Translation GNT
World English Bible WEB
1 Yes, you are the voice of the people.
1
Then Job answered,
2 When you die, wisdom will die with you.
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"No doubt, but you are the people, And wisdom shall die with you.
3 But I have as much sense as you have; I am in no way inferior to you; everyone knows all that you have said.
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But I have understanding as well as you; I am not inferior to you: Yes, who doesn't know such things as these?
4 Even my friends laugh at me now; they laugh, although I am righteous and blameless; but there was a time when God answered my prayers.
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I am like one who is a joke to his neighbor, I, who called on God, and he answered. The just, the blameless man is a joke.
5 You have no troubles, and yet you make fun of me; you hit someone who is about to fall.
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In the thought of him who is at ease there is contempt for misfortune, It is ready for them whose foot slips.
6 But thieves and godless people live in peace, though their only god is their own strength.
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The tents of robbers prosper, Those who provoke God are secure; Who carry their God in their hands.
7 Even birds and animals have much they could teach you;
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"But ask the animals, now, and they shall teach you; The birds of the sky, and they shall tell you.
8 ask the creatures of earth and sea for their wisdom.
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Or speak to the earth, and it shall teach you; The fish of the sea shall declare to you.
9 All of them know that the Lord's hand made them.
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Who doesn't know that in all these, The hand of Yahweh has done this,
10 It is God who directs the lives of his creatures; everyone's life is in his power.
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In whose hand is the life of every living thing, The breath of all mankind?
11 But just as your tongue enjoys tasting food, your ears enjoy hearing words.
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Doesn't the ear try words, Even as the palate tastes its food?
12 Old people have wisdom, but God has wisdom and power. Old people have insight; God has insight and power to act.
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With aged men is wisdom, In length of days understanding.
14 When God tears down, who can rebuild, and who can free those God imprisons?
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Behold, he breaks down, and it can't be built again; He imprisons a man, and there can be no release.
15 Drought comes when God withholds rain; floods come when he turns water loose.
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Behold, he withholds the waters, and they dry up; Again, he sends them out, and they overturn the earth.
16 God is strong and always victorious; both deceived and deceiver are in his power.
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With him is strength and wisdom; The deceived and the deceiver are his.
17 He takes away the wisdom of rulers and makes leaders act like fools.
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He leads counselors away stripped. He makes judges fools.
18 He dethrones kings and makes them prisoners;
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He loosens the bond of kings, He binds their loins with a belt.
19 he humbles priests and men of power.
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He leads priests away stripped, And overthrows the mighty.
20 He silences those who are trusted, and takes the wisdom of old people away.
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He removes the speech of those who are trusted, And takes away the understanding of the elders.
21 He disgraces those in power and puts an end to the strength of rulers.
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He pours contempt on princes, And loosens the belt of the strong.
22 He sends light to places dark as death.
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He uncovers deep things out of darkness, And brings out to light the shadow of death.
23 He makes nations strong and great, but then he defeats and destroys them.
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He increases the nations, and he destroys them. He enlarges the nations, and he leads them captive.
24 He makes their leaders foolish and lets them wander confused and lost;
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He takes away understanding from the chiefs of the people of the earth, And causes them to wander in a wilderness where there is no way.
25 they grope in the dark and stagger like drunkards.
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They grope in the dark without light. He makes them stagger like a drunken man.
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.
The World English Bible is in the public domain.