Job 12 - Easy To Read Version

¹ Then Job answered \{them\}:

² “I’m sure you think you are\par the only wise people.\par You think when you die,\par wisdom will be gone with you.\par

³ But my mind is as good as yours.\par I am as smart as you are.\par Anyone can see this is true.\par

⁴ “My friends laugh at me now.\par They say,\par ‘He prayed to God,\par and he got his answer.\par \{That is why all these bad things\par happened to him.\}’\par

⁵ People that don’t have troubles\par make fun of people who do have them.\par Those people hit a man when he is down.\par

⁶ But robbers’ tents are not bothered.\par People who make God angry live in peace,\par and their own strength\par is their only god!\par

⁷ “But ask the animals,\par they will teach you.\par Or ask the birds of the air,\par they will tell you.\par

⁸ Or speak to the earth,\par it will teach you.\par Or let the fish in the sea\par tell you their wisdom.\par

⁹ Everyone knows the Lord\par made those things.\par

¹⁰ Every animal that lives,\par and every person that breathes,\par is under God’s power.\par

¹¹ But just like the tongue tastes food,\par the ears test the words they hear.\par

¹² \{We say,\}\par ‘Wisdom is to be found in old people.\par Long life brings understanding.’\par

¹³ But wisdom and power belong to God.\par Good advice and understanding are his.\par

¹⁴ If God tears down anything,\par people can’t build it again.\par If God puts a person in prison,\par people can’t free the person.\par

¹⁵ If God holds back the rain,\par the earth will dry up.\par If God lets the rain loose,\par it will flood the earth.\par

¹⁶ God is strong and always wins.\par Winners and losers all belong to God!\par

¹⁷ God strips advisors of their wisdom\par and makes leaders act like fools.\par

¹⁸ Kings might put people in prison,\par but God sets those people free\par and makes them powerful.\par

¹⁹ God strips priests of their power and\par fires the bureaucrats who feel so secure\par in their jobs.\par

²⁰ God makes the trusted advisers be silent.\par He takes away the wisdom of old people.\par

²¹ God makes leaders not important.\par He takes power away from rulers.\par

²² God knows even the darkest secrets.\par He sends light into places that are\par as dark as death.\par

²³ God makes nations big and powerful,\par and then he destroys them.\par He makes nations grow large,\par then he scatters their people.\par

²⁴ God makes leaders foolish.\par He makes them wander aimlessly\par through the desert.\par

²⁵ Those leaders are like a person\par feeling his way in the dark.\par They are like a drunk person\par who doesn’t know where he is going.”\par