12:2No doubt but ye are the people,
And wisdom shall die with you.
12:3But I have understanding as well as you;
I am not inferior to you:
Yea, who knoweth not such things as these?
12:4I am as one that is a laughing-stock to his neighbor,
I who called upon God, and he answered:
The just, the perfect man is a laughing-stock.
12:5In the thought of him that is at ease there is contempt for misfortune;
It is ready for them whose foot slippeth.
12:6The tents of robbers prosper,
And they that provoke God are secure;
Into whose hand God bringeth abundantly. \\ \\
12:7But ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee;
And the birds of the heavens, and they shall tell thee:
12:8Or speak to the earth, and it shall teach thee;
And the fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee.
12:9Who knoweth not in all these,
That the hand of Jehovah hath wrought this,
12:10In whose hand is the soul of every living thing,
And the breath of all mankind?
12:11Doth not the ear try words,
Even as the palate tasteth its food?
And in length of days understanding. \\ \\
12:13With God is wisdom and might;
He hath counsel and understanding.
12:14Behold, he breaketh down, and it cannot be built again;
He shutteth up a man, and there can be no opening.
12:15Behold, he withholdeth the waters, and they dry up;
Again, he sendeth them out, and they overturn the earth.
12:16With him is strength and wisdom;
The deceived and the deceiver are his.
12:17He leadeth counsellors away stripped,
And judges maketh he fools.
12:18He looseth the bond of kings,
And he bindeth their loins with a girdle.
12:19He leadeth priests away stripped,
And overthroweth the mighty.
12:20He removeth the speech of the trusty,
And taketh away the understanding of the elders.
12:21He poureth contempt upon princes,
And looseth the belt of the strong.
12:22He uncovereth deep things out of darkness,
And bringeth out to light the shadow of death.
12:23He increaseth the nations, and he destroyeth them:
He enlargeth the nations, and he leadeth them captive.
12:24He taketh away understanding from the chiefs of the people of the earth,
And causeth them to wander in a wilderness where there is no way.
12:25They grope in the dark without light;
And he maketh them to stagger like a drunken man.
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