Job 8

¹And Bildad the Shuhite answereth and saith:— ²Till when dost thou speak these things? And a strong wind—sayings of thy mouth? ³Doth God pervert judgment? And doth the Mighty One pervert justice? ⁴If thy sons have sinned before Him, And He doth send them away, By the hand of their transgression, ⁵If thou dost seek early unto God, And unto the Mighty makest supplication, ⁶If pure and upright thou art, Surely now He waketh for thee, And hath completed The habitation of thy righteousness. ⁷And thy beginning hath been small, And thy latter end is very great.

⁸For, ask I pray thee of a former generation, And prepare to a search of their fathers, ⁹(For of yesterday we are, and we know not, For a shadow are our days on earth.) ¹⁰Do they not shew thee—speak to thee, And from their heart bring forth words? ¹¹‘Doth a rush wise without mire? A reed increase without water? ¹²While it is in its budding—uncropped, Even before any herb it withereth. ¹³So are the paths of all forgetting God, And the hope of the profane doth perish, ¹⁴Whose confidence is loathsome, And the house of a spider his trust. ¹⁵He leaneth on his house—and it standeth not: He taketh hold on it—and it abideth not. ¹⁶Green he is before the sun, And over his garden his branch goeth out. ¹⁷By a heap his roots are wrapped, A house of stones he looketh for. ¹⁸If one doth destroy him from his place, Then it hath feigned concerning him, I have not seen thee! ¹⁹Lo, this is the joy of his way, And from the dust others spring up.’

²⁰Lo, God doth not reject the perfect, Nor taketh hold on the hand of evil doers. ²¹While he filleth with laughter thy mouth, And thy lips with shouting, ²²Those hating thee do put on shame, And the tent of the wicked is not!

Chapter 9