The Holy Bible – Knox Translation
The Book of Job
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Chapter 12
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1
But Job answered:
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Strange, that you alone should have the gift of reason; that when you die, wisdom must die too!
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Well, I too have my thoughts; I am yet a match for you; this knowledge you bring me is knowledge common to all.
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For all his friends’ raillery, a man such as I will still cry upon God, and have him answer the summons;✻ the simplicity of the upright was ever a laughing-stock,
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and indeed, it is but a rushlight, despised by shrewd and prosperous folk, but it waits its turn.✻
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Meanwhile, see how well the robbers store their houses, braving God’s anger, and yet in all things he lets them have their way!
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Dost thou doubt it? The very beasts will tell thee, the birds in air will be thy counsellors;
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the secret is known in every cranny of the earth, the fish in the sea will make it known to thee;
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none doubts, I tell thee, that all this is the Lord’s doing;
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all living things that breathe, all the spirits of all mankind, lie in the hollow of his hand.
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As surely as the ear judges words, and the mouth relishes the taste of food,
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so surely is there truth in ancient sayings; it is time brings experience.
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All God’s doing; his are the wisdom and the power; to him belong prudence in act and discernment.
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The ruins he makes, none can rebuild, his imprisonment none can escape;
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withholds he the rain, all is dried up; sends he rain, it floods all the ground.
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Yes, he is strong, he is wise; reads the knave’s heart as easily as the fool’s.
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He can thwart the counsellor, bemuse the judge,
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exchange the king’s baldrick for the rope of a prisoner,
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lead the priest away ungowned, dispossess the noble,
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bewitch the lips that never erred, rob the elder of his prudence,
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bring princes into contempt, unman the strong.✻
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Things deep hidden in darkness he reveals, kindles the light where death’s shadow lay,
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brings growth or ruin to a people, and what he has ruined restores.
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The hearts of chieftains he bewilders, leading them by false paths to vain ends,
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till all light fails, and they grope about in darkness, wander aimless like a drunkard after his wine.
