Job maintains himself against his friends that reprove him.

12:1 Then Job answered,

12:2 “No doubt, but you are the people,
and wisdom shall die with you.

12:3 But I have understanding as well as you;
I am not inferior to you.
Yes, who doesn’t know such things as these?

12:4 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.

12:5 In the thought of him who is at ease there is contempt for misfortune.
It is ready for them whose foot slips.

12:6 The tents of robbers prosper.
Those who provoke God are secure,
who carry their god in their hands.

He acknowledges the general doctrine of God's omnipotence.

12:7 “But ask the animals, now, and they shall teach you;
the birds of the sky, and they shall tell you.

12:8 Or speak to the earth, and it shall teach you.
The fish of the sea shall declare to you.

12:9 Who doesn’t know that in all these,
the hand of Yahweh has done this,

12:10 in whose hand is the life of every living thing,
and the breath of all mankind?

12:11 Doesn’t the ear try words,
even as the palate tastes its food?

12:12 With aged men is wisdom,
in length of days understanding.

12:13 “With God is wisdom and might.
He has counsel and understanding.

12:14 Behold, he breaks down, and it can’t be built again.
He imprisons a man, and there can be no release.

12:15 Behold, he withholds the waters, and they dry up.
Again, he sends them out, and they overturn the earth.

12:16 With him is strength and wisdom.
The deceived and the deceiver are his.

12:17 He leads counselors away stripped.
He makes judges fools.

12:18 He loosens the bond of kings.
He binds their waist with a belt.

12:19 He leads priests away stripped,
and overthrows the mighty.

12:20 He removes the speech of those who are trusted,
and takes away the understanding of the elders.

12:21 He pours contempt on princes,
and loosens the belt of the strong.

12:22 He uncovers deep things out of darkness,
and brings out to light the shadow of death.

12:23 He increases the nations, and he destroys them.
He enlarges the nations, and he leads them captive.

12:24 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.

12:25 They grope in the dark without light.
He makes them stagger like a drunken man.