Job 8

Bildad’s First Response to Job

8Then^a Bildad the Shuhite answered and said,^b

²“How long^c will you say these things,

and the words of your mouth be a mighty wind?

³Does God pervert justice,

or^d Shaddai pervert righteousness?

⁴If your children sinned against him,

then^e he sent them into the power^f of their transgression.

⁵If you yourself^g would seek God,

then^h you would plead to Shaddai for grace.

⁶If you are pure and upright,

indeed,ⁱ now he will rouse himself for you,

and he will restore your righteous abode.

⁷Though^j your beginning was small,

your end^k will be very great.

⁸“Indeed,^l please inquire of former generations,

and consider what their ancestors have found,^m

⁹for we are of yesterday, and we do not know,

for our days on earth are a shadow.

¹⁰Will they themselvesⁿ not teach you and tell you^o

and utter^p words from their heart?

¹¹Can papyrus grow tall where there is not a marsh?

Will reeds flourish without water?^q

¹²While it is in its flower and is not plucked,

yet^r it withers before^s all grass.

¹³So are the paths of all who forget God;

and the hope of the godless will perish,

¹⁴whose confidence is cut off

and whose trust^t is a spider’s house.

¹⁵He will lean himself against his house, but^u it will not stand;

he will take hold of it, but^v it will not endure.

¹⁶He is thriving^w before^x the sun,

and his plant shoots spread over his garden.

¹⁷His roots twine over a stone heap;

he sees a house of stone.

¹⁸If he destroys him from his place,

then^y it deceives him, saying, ‘I have never seen you.’

¹⁹Look, this is the joy of his way,

and from dust others will spring up.

²⁰“Look, God will not reject the blameless,

and he will not uphold the hand of evildoers.

²¹Yet he will fill your mouth with laughter

and your lips with a shout of joy.

²²Those who hate you will be clothed with shame,

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