1: Job answered:
2: "I'm sure you speak for all the experts, and when you die there'll be no one left to tell us how to live.
3: But don't forget that I also have a brain--I don't intend to play second fiddle to you. It doesn't take an expert to know these things.
4: "I'm ridiculed by my friends: "So that's the man who had conversations with God!' Ridiculed without mercy: "Look at the man who never did wrong!'
5: It's easy for the well-to-do to point their fingers in blame, for the well-fixed to pour scorn on the strugglers.
6: Crooks reside safely in high-security houses, insolent blasphemers live in luxury; they've bought and paid for a god who'll protect them.
7: "But ask the animals what they think--let them teach you; let the birds tell you what's going on.
8: Put your ear to the earth--learn the basics. Listen--the fish in the ocean will tell you their stories.
9: Isn't it clear that they all know and agree that GOD is sovereign, that he holds all things in his hand--
10: Every living soul, yes, every breathing creature?
11: Isn't this all just common sense, as common as the sense of taste?
12: Do you think the elderly have a corner on wisdom, that you have to grow old before you understand life?
13: "True wisdom and real power belong to God; from him we learn how to live, and also what to live for.
14: If he tears something down, it's down for good; if he locks people up, they're locked up for good.
15: If he holds back the rain, there's a drought; if he lets it loose, there's a flood.
16: Strength and success belong to God; both deceived and deceiver must answer to him.
17: He strips experts of their vaunted credentials, exposes judges as witless fools.
18: He divests kings of their royal garments, then ties a rag around their waists.
19: He strips priests of their robes, and fires high officials from their jobs.
20: He forces trusted sages to keep silence, deprives elders of their good sense and wisdom.
21: He dumps contempt on famous people, disarms the strong and mighty.
22: He shines a spotlight into caves of darkness, hauls deepest darkness into the noonday sun.
23: He makes nations rise and then fall, builds up some and abandons others.
24: He robs world leaders of their reason, and sends them off into no man's land.
25: They grope in the dark without a clue, lurching and staggering like drunks.