Job 8

Bildad: Job Should Repent

8Then Bildad the Shuhite answered and said:

²“How long will you speak these things,

And the words of your mouth be like a strong wind?

^3aDoes God subvert judgment?

Or does the Almighty pervert justice?

⁴If ^byour sons have sinned against Him,

He has cast them away ¹for their transgression.

^5cIf you would earnestly seek God

And make your supplication to the Almighty,

⁶If you were pure and upright,

Surely now He would ²awake for you,

And prosper your rightful dwelling place.

⁷Though your beginning was small,

Yet your latter end would ^dincrease abundantly.

⁸“For ^einquire, please, of the former age,

And consider the things discovered by their fathers;

⁹For ^fwe were born yesterday, and know ³nothing,

Because our days on earth are a shadow.

¹⁰Will they not teach you and tell you,

And utter words from their heart?

¹¹“Can the papyrus grow up without a marsh?

Can the reeds flourish without water?

^12gWhile it is yet green and not cut down,

It withers before any other plant.

¹³So are the paths of all who ^hforget God;

And the hope of the ⁱhypocrite shall perish,

¹⁴Whose confidence shall be cut off,

And whose trust is ⁴a spider’s web.

^15jHe leans on his house, but it does not stand.

He holds it fast, but it does not endure.

¹⁶He grows green in the sun,

And his branches spread out in his garden.

¹⁷His roots wrap around the rock heap,

And look for a place in the stones.

^18kIf he is destroyed from his place,

Then it will deny him, saying, ‘I have not seen you.’

¹⁹“Behold, this is the joy of His way,

And ^lout of the earth others will grow.

²⁰Behold, ^mGod will not ⁵cast away the blameless,

Nor will He uphold the evildoers.

²¹He will yet fill your mouth with laughing,

And your lips with ⁶rejoicing.

²²Those who hate you will be ⁿclothed with shame,

And the dwelling place of the wicked ⁷will come to nothing.”