Job 8

Bildad

8Then Bildad the Shuhiteⁱ replied:

²“How long will you say such things?^j

Your words are a blustering wind.^k

³Does God pervert justice?^l

Does the Almighty pervert what is right?^m

⁴When your children sinned against him,

he gave them over to the penalty of their sin.ⁿ

⁵But if you will seek God earnestly

and plead^o with the Almighty,^p

⁶if you are pure and upright,

even now he will rouse himself on your behalf^q

and restore you to your prosperous state.^r

⁷Your beginnings will seem humble,

so prosperous^s will your future be.^t

⁸“Ask the former generation^u

and find out what their ancestors learned,

⁹for we were born only yesterday and know nothing,^v

and our days on earth are but a shadow.^w

¹⁰Will they not instruct^x you and tell you?

Will they not bring forth words from their understanding?^y

¹¹Can papyrus grow tall where there is no marsh?^z

Can reeds^a thrive without water?

¹²While still growing and uncut,

they wither more quickly than grass.^b

¹³Such is the destiny^c of all who forget God;^d

so perishes the hope of the godless.^e

¹⁴What they trust in is fragile^a;

what they rely on is a spider’s web.^f

¹⁵They lean on the web,^g but it gives way;

they cling to it, but it does not hold.^h

¹⁶They are like a well-watered plant in the sunshine,

spreading its shootsⁱ over the garden;^j

¹⁷it entwines its roots around a pile of rocks

and looks for a place among the stones.

¹⁸But when it is torn from its spot,

that place disowns^k it and says, ‘I never saw you.’^l

¹⁹Surely its life withers^m away,

and^b from the soil other plants grow.ⁿ

²⁰“Surely God does not reject one who is blameless^o

or strengthen the hands of evildoers.^p

²¹He will yet fill your mouth with laughter^q

and your lips with shouts of joy.^r

²²Your enemies will be clothed in shame,^s

and the tents^t of the wicked will be no more.”^u