² “No doubt you are the people,
    and wisdom will die with you.
³ But I have understanding as well as you;
    I am not inferior to you.
    Who does not know such things as these?
⁴ I am a laughingstock to my friends;
    I, who called to God and he answered me,
    a just and blameless man, am a laughingstock.
⁵ In the thought of one who is at ease there is contempt for misfortune;
    it is ready for those whose feet slip.
⁶ The tents of robbers are at peace,
    and those who provoke God are secure,
    who bring their god in their hand.^[a]

⁷ “But ask the beasts, and they will teach you;
    the birds of the heavens, and they will tell you;
⁸ or the bushes of the earth, and they will teach you;^[b]
    and the fish of the sea will declare to you.
⁹ Who among all these does not know
    that the hand of the Lord has done this?
¹⁰ In his hand is the life of every living thing
    and the breath of all mankind.
¹¹ Does not the ear test words
    as the palate tastes food?
¹² Wisdom is with the aged,
    and understanding in length of days.

¹³ “With God^[c] are wisdom and might;
    he has counsel and understanding.
¹⁴ If he tears down, none can rebuild;
    if he shuts a man in, none can open.
¹⁵ If he withholds the waters, they dry up;
    if he sends them out, they overwhelm the land.
¹⁶ With him are strength and sound wisdom;
    the deceived and the deceiver are his.
¹⁷ He leads counselors away stripped,
    and judges he makes fools.
¹⁸ He looses the bonds of kings
    and binds a waistcloth on their hips.
¹⁹ He leads priests away stripped
    and overthrows the mighty.
²⁰ He deprives of speech those who are trusted
    and takes away the discernment of the elders.
²¹ He pours contempt on princes
    and loosens the belt of the strong.
²² He uncovers the deeps out of darkness
    and brings deep darkness to light.
²³ He makes nations great, and he destroys them;
    he enlarges nations, and leads them away.
²⁴ He takes away understanding from the chiefs of the people of the earth
    and makes them wander in a trackless waste.
²⁵ They grope in the dark without light,
    and he makes them stagger like a drunken man.