Job 8

Bildad Speaks: Job Should Repent

8Then ^cBildad the Shuhite answered and said:

²“How long will you say these things,

and the words of your mouth be a ^dgreat wind?

^3eDoes God pervert justice?

Or does the Almighty pervert the right?

⁴If your ^fchildren have sinned against him,

he has delivered them into the hand of their transgression.

⁵If you will seek God

and ^gplead with the Almighty for mercy,

⁶if you are pure and upright,

surely then he will ^hrouse himself for you

and ⁱrestore your rightful habitation.

⁷And though your beginning was small,

^jyour latter days will be very great.

⁸“For ^kinquire, please, of bygone ages,

and consider what ^lthe fathers have searched out.

⁹For we are but of yesterday and know nothing,

for our days on earth are ^ma shadow.

¹⁰Will they not teach you and tell you

and utter words out of their understanding?

¹¹“Can papyrus grow where there is no marsh?

Can reeds flourish where there is no water?

¹²While yet in flower and not cut down,

they ⁿwither before any other plant.

¹³Such are the paths of all who ^oforget God;

^pthe hope of ^qthe godless shall perish.

¹⁴His confidence is severed,

and his trust is ^ra spider’s web.¹

¹⁵He leans against his ^shouse, but it does not stand;

he lays hold of it, but it does not endure.

¹⁶He is a lush plant before the sun,

and his ^tshoots spread over his garden.

¹⁷His roots entwine the stone heap;

he looks upon a house of stones.

¹⁸If he is destroyed from his ^uplace,

then it will deny him, saying, ‘I have never ^vseen you.’

¹⁹Behold, this is the joy of his way,

and out of ^wthe soil others will spring.

²⁰“Behold, God will not reject a blameless man,

nor take the hand of evildoers.

²¹He will yet ^xfill your mouth with laughter,

and your lips with shouting.

²²Those who hate you will be ^yclothed with shame,

and the tent of the wicked will be no more.”