11. Is it not the task of the ear to discriminate between [wise and unwise] words, just as the mouth distinguishes [between desirable and undesirable] food?
12. With the aged [you say] is wisdom, and with length of days comes understanding.
13. But [only] with [God] are [perfect] wisdom and might; He [alone] has [true] counsel and understanding.
14. Behold, He tears down, and it cannot be built again; He shuts a man in, and none can open.
15. He withholds the waters, and the land dries up; again, He sends forth [rains], and they overwhelm the land or transform it.
16. With Him are might and wisdom; the deceived and the deceiver are His [and in His power].
17. He leads [great and scheming] counselors away stripped and barefoot and makes the judges fools [in human estimation, by overthrowing their plans].
18. He looses the fetters [ordered] by kings and has [the] waistcloth [of a slave] bound about their [own] loins.
19. He leads away priests as spoil, and men firmly seated He overturns.
20. He deprives of speech those who are trusted and takes away the discernment and discretion of the aged.
21. He pours contempt on princes and loosens the belt of the strong [disabling them, bringing low the pride of the learned].