1-3. Job answered:“I’m sure you speak for all the experts,and when you die there’ll be no one left to tell us how to live.But don’t forget that I also have a brain—I don’t intend to play second fiddle to you.It doesn’t take an expert to know these things.
4-6. “I’m ridiculed by my friends:‘So that’s the man who had conversations with God!’Ridiculed without mercy:‘Look at the man who never did wrong!’It’s easy for the well-to-do to point their fingers in blame,for the well-fixed to pour scorn on the strugglers.Crooks reside safely in high-security houses,insolent blasphemers live in luxury;they’ve bought and paid for a god who’ll protect them.
7-12. “But ask the animals what they think—let them teach you;let the birds tell you what’s going on.Put your ear to the earth—learn the basics.Listen—the fish in the ocean will tell you their stories.Isn’t it clear that they all know and agreethat God is sovereign, that he holds all things in his hand—Every living soul, yes,every breathing creature?Isn’t this all just common sense,as common as the sense of taste?Do you think the elderly have a corner on wisdom,that you have to grow old before you understand life?