Job 12:13-25

Common English Bible

¹³ With him are wisdom and power;
    counsel and understanding are his.
¹⁴ If he tears down, it can’t be rebuilt;
    if he ties a person up, he can’t be set free.
¹⁵ If he restricts water, they have drought;
    if he lets it loose, it overturns the land.
¹⁶ With him are might and success;
    the deceiver and the deceived are his.
¹⁷ He leads advisors away barefoot;
        makes madmen of judges;
¹⁸     unties the belt of kings,
        binds a garment around their loins;
¹⁹     leads priests away barefoot;
    overthrows the well-established;
²⁰     silences the talk of trusted people;
    takes away elders’ discernment;
²¹     pours contempt on royalty;
    loosens the belt of the strong;
²²     discloses deep secrets of darkness,
    makes utter darkness enter the light;
²³     makes nations prominent and destroys them,
    expands nations and leads them astray;
²⁴     takes away the power to think from earth’s leaders,
    making them wander in untraveled wastelands.
²⁵     They feel their way in the dark without light;
        he makes them stumble like drunks.