Job 8:8–19

⁸“Just ask the previous generation.

Pay attention to the experience of our ancestors.

⁹For we were born but yesterday and know nothing.

Our days on earth are as fleeting as a shadow.

¹⁰But those who came before us will teach you.

They will teach you the wisdom of old.

¹¹“Can papyrus reeds grow tall without a marsh?

Can marsh grass flourish without water?

¹²While they are still flowering, not ready to be cut,

they begin to wither more quickly than grass.

¹³The same happens to all who forget God.

The hopes of the godless evaporate.

¹⁴Their confidence hangs by a thread.

They are leaning on a spider’s web.

¹⁵They cling to their home for security, but it won’t last.

They try to hold it tight, but it will not endure.

¹⁶The godless seem like a lush plant growing in the sunshine,

its branches spreading across the garden.

¹⁷Its roots grow down through a pile of stones;

it takes hold on a bed of rocks.

¹⁸But when it is uprooted,

it’s as though it never existed!

¹⁹That’s the end of its life,

and others spring up from the earth to replace it.