Job 12:1  Job answered:

Job 12:2  "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.

Job 12:3  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.

Job 12:4  "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!'

Job 12:5  It's easy for the well-to-do to point their fingers in blame, for the well-fixed to pour scorn on the strugglers.

Job 12:6  Crooks reside safely in high-security houses, insolent blasphemers live in luxury; they've bought and paid for a god who'll protect them.

Job 12:7  "But ask the animals what they think--let them teach you; let the birds tell you what's going on.

Job 12:8  Put your ear to the earth--learn the basics. Listen--the fish in the ocean will tell you their stories.

Job 12:9  Isn't it clear that they all know and agree that GOD is sovereign, that he holds all things in his hand--

Job 12:10  Every living soul, yes, every breathing creature?

Job 12:11  Isn't this all just common sense, as common as the sense of taste?

Job 12:12  Do you think the elderly have a corner on wisdom, that you have to grow old before you understand life?

Job 12:13  "True wisdom and real power belong to God; from him we learn how to live, and also what to live for.

Job 12:14  If he tears something down, it's down for good; if he locks people up, they're locked up for good.

Job 12:15  If he holds back the rain, there's a drought; if he lets it loose, there's a flood.

Job 12:16  Strength and success belong to God; both deceived and deceiver must answer to him.

Job 12:17  He strips experts of their vaunted credentials, exposes judges as witless fools.

Job 12:18  He divests kings of their royal garments, then ties a rag around their waists.

Job 12:19  He strips priests of their robes, and fires high officials from their jobs.

Job 12:20  He forces trusted sages to keep silence, deprives elders of their good sense and wisdom.

Job 12:21  He dumps contempt on famous people, disarms the strong and mighty.

Job 12:22  He shines a spotlight into caves of darkness, hauls deepest darkness into the noonday sun.

Job 12:23  He makes nations rise and then fall, builds up some and abandons others.

Job 12:24  He robs world leaders of their reason, and sends them off into no man's land.

Job 12:25  They grope in the dark without a clue, lurching and staggering like drunks.