Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

² “You certainly are wise people,
    and when you die, wisdom will die.
³ Like you, I have a mind.
    I am not inferior to you.
        But who doesn’t know these things?
⁴ I am a laughingstock to my neighbors.
    I am one who calls on Eloah and expects an answer.
    A man of integrity, a man who is righteous, has become a laughingstock.

⁵ “A person who has an easy life has no appreciation for misfortune.
    He thinks it is the fate of those who slip up.
⁶ But robbers’ tents are prosperous,
    and there is security for those who provoke El,
        for those whose god is their power.^[a]

⁷ “Instead, ask the animals, and they will teach you.
    Ask the birds, and they will tell you.
⁸ Or speak with the earth, and it will teach you.
    Even the fish will relate the story to you.
⁹ What creature doesn’t know that Yahweh’s hands made it?
¹⁰ The life of every living creature
    and the spirit in every human body are in his hands.
¹¹ Doesn’t the ear distinguish sounds
    and the tongue taste food?

¹⁶ “Elohim has power and priceless wisdom.
    He owns both the deceiver and the person who is deceived.
¹⁷ He leads counselors away barefoot
    and makes fools out of judges.
¹⁸ He loosens kings’ belts
    and strips them of their pants.
¹⁹ He leads priests away barefoot
    and misleads those who serve in a temple.
²⁰ He makes trusted advisers unable to speak
    and takes away the good judgment of respected leaders.
²¹ He pours contempt on influential people
    and unbuckles the belt of the mighty.
²² He uncovers mysteries hidden in the darkness
    and brings gloom into the light.
²³ He makes nations important and then destroys them.
    He makes nations large and leads them away.
²⁴ He takes away the common sense of a country’s leaders
    and makes them stumble about in a pathless wilderness.
²⁵ They grope in the dark with no light,
    and he makes them stumble like drunks.