Job 8
1 Then Bildad the Shuhite answered,
And Bildad the Shuhite answers and says:
2 “How long will you speak these things? Shall the words of your mouth be a mighty wind?
“Until when do you speak these things? And a strong wind—sayings of your mouth?
3 Does God pervert justice? Or does the Almighty pervert righteousness?
Does God pervert judgment? And does the Mighty One pervert justice?
4 If your children have sinned against him, he has delivered them into the hand of their disobedience.
If your sons have sinned before Him, And He sends them away, By the hand of their transgression,
5 If you want to seek God diligently, make your supplication to the Almighty.
If you seek for God early, And make supplication to the Mighty,
6 If you were pure and upright, surely now he would awaken for you, and make the habitation of your righteousness prosperous.
If you [are] pure and upright, Surely now He wakes for you, And has completed The habitation of your righteousness.
7 Though your beginning was small, yet your latter end would greatly increase.
And your beginning has been small, And your latter end is very great.
8 “Please inquire of past generations. Find out about the learning of their fathers.
For inquire, please, of a former generation, And prepare for a search of their fathers,
9 (For we are but of yesterday, and know nothing, because our days on earth are a shadow.)
For we [are] of yesterday, and we do not know, For our days [are] a shadow on earth.
10 Shall they not teach you, tell you, and utter words out of their heart?
Do they not show you—speak to you, And from their heart bring forth words?
11 “Can the papyrus grow up without mire? Can the rushes grow without water?
Does a rush rise without a marsh? A reed increase without water?
12 While it is yet in its greenness, not cut down, it withers before any other reed.
While it [is] in its budding—uncropped, Even before any herb it withers.
13 So are the paths of all who forget God. The hope of the godless man will perish,
So [are] the paths of all forgetting God, And the hope of the profane perishes,
14 whose confidence will break apart, whose trust is a spider’s web.
Whose confidence is loathsome, And the house of a spider his trust.
15 He will lean on his house, but it will not stand. He will cling to it, but it will not endure.
He leans on his house—and it does not stand, He takes hold on it—and it does not abide.
16 He is green before the sun. His shoots go out along his garden.
He [is] green before the sun, And over his garden his branch goes out.
17 His roots are wrapped around the rock pile. He sees the place of stones.
His roots are wrapped by a heap, He looks for a house of stones.
18 If he is destroyed from his place, then it will deny him, saying, ‘I have not seen you.’
If [one] destroys him from his place, Then it has feigned concerning him, I have not seen you!
19 Behold, this is the joy of his way. Out of the earth, others will spring.
Behold, this [is] the joy of His way, And from the dust others spring up.
20 “Behold, God will not cast away a blameless man, neither will he uphold the evildoers.
Behold, God does not reject the perfect, Nor takes hold on the hand of evildoers.
21 He will still fill your mouth with laughter, your lips with shouting.
While He fills your mouth with laughter, And your lips with shouting,
22 Those who hate you will be clothed with shame. The tent of the wicked will be no more.”
Those hating you put on shame, And the tent of the wicked is not!”
