Chapter 12

But Job answered:

Strange, that you alone should have the gift of reason; that when you die, wisdom must die too!

Well, I too have my thoughts; I am yet a match for you; this knowledge you bring me is knowledge common to all.

For all his friends’ raillery, a man such as I will still cry upon God, and have him answer the summons;1 the simplicity of the upright was ever a laughing-stock,

and indeed, it is but a rushlight, despised by shrewd and prosperous folk, but it waits its turn.

Meanwhile, see how well the robbers store their houses, braving God’s anger, and yet in all things he lets them have their way!

Dost thou doubt it? The very beasts will tell thee, the birds in air will be thy counsellors;

the secret is known in every cranny of the earth, the fish in the sea will make it known to thee;

none doubts, I tell thee, that all this is the Lord’s doing;

all living things that breathe, all the spirits of all mankind, lie in the hollow of his hand.

As surely as the ear judges words, and the mouth relishes the taste of food,

so surely is there truth in ancient sayings; it is time brings experience.

All God’s doing; his are the wisdom and the power; to him belong prudence in act and discernment.

The ruins he makes, none can rebuild, his imprisonment none can escape;

withholds he the rain, all is dried up; sends he rain, it floods all the ground.

Yes, he is strong, he is wise; reads the knave’s heart as easily as the fool’s.

He can thwart the counsellor, bemuse the judge,

exchange the king’s baldrick for the rope of a prisoner,

lead the priest away ungowned, dispossess the noble,

bewitch the lips that never erred, rob the elder of his prudence,

bring princes into contempt, unman the strong.

Things deep hidden in darkness he reveals, kindles the light where death’s shadow lay,

brings growth or ruin to a people, and what he has ruined restores.

The hearts of chieftains he bewilders, leading them by false paths to vain ends,

till all light fails, and they grope about in darkness, wander aimless like a drunkard after his wine.