Job 8
1 Then Baldad the Sauchite answered, and said,
Then Bildad the Shuhite spoke up and said,
2 How long will you speak these things, [how long shall] the breath of your mouth [be] abundant in words?
“How much longer will you go on talking like this? The words coming out of your mouth are a lot of hot air!
3 Will the Lord be unjust when he judges; or will he that has made all things pervert justice?
Does God pervert justice? Does the Almighty pervert what is right?
4 If your sons have sinned before him, he has cast them away because of their transgression.
Your children must have sinned against him, and so they deserved the punishment he inflicted on them.
5 But be you early in prayer to the Lord Almighty.
But if you pray to God and ask for his help,
6 If you are pure and true, he will listen to your supplication, and will restore to you the habitation of righteousness.
if you live a clean life and do what is right, then he would act to make things right for you in your home.
7 Though then your beginning should be small, yet your end should be unspeakably great.
Though you began with next to nothing, you will end up with so much!
8 For ask of the former generation, and search diligently amongst the race of [our] fathers:
Why don't you ask what previous generations discovered, examine what our ancestors found out? We were born yesterday and don't know anything!
9 (for we are of yesterday, and know nothing; for our life upon the earth is a shadow: )
Our days on earth fade as quickly as a passing shadow.
10 shall not these teach you, and report [to you], and bring out words from [their] heart?
Won't they teach you and explain what they know?
11 Does the rush flourish without water, or shall the flag grow up without moisture?
Can papyrus grow where there is no marsh? Can reeds grow without water?
12 When it is yet on the root, and [though] it has not been cut down, does not any herb wither before it has received moisture?
Even without being cut, while they are still flowering, they wither faster than grass.
13 Thus then shall be the end of all that forget the Lord: for the hope of the ungodly shall perish.
This is what happens to everyone who forgets God. The hopes of those who live without God come to nothing.
14 For his house shall be without inhabitants, and his tent shall prove a spider's web.
Their confidence is like holding on to a flimsy spider's web.
15 If he should prop up his house, it shall not stand: and when he has taken hold of it, it shall not remain.
They look to their home to provide security, but it provides no support. They try to hang onto it, but it doesn't last.
16 For it is moist under the sun, and his branch shall come forth out of his dung-heap.
Those who live without God are like a luxuriant plant growing in the sun, spreading its shoots all over the garden.
17 He lies down upon a gathering of stones, and shall live in the mist of flints.
It twists its roots down through the stones, and holds on to rock.
18 If [God] should destroy [him], his place shall deny him. Hast you not seen such things,
But when it's cut down, the place where it was disowns it, saying, ‘I never even saw you.’
19 that such is the overthrow of the ungodly? and out of the earth another shall grow.
Its life is over, and others spring up from the earth to take its place.
20 For the Lord will by no means reject the harmless man; but he will not receive any gift of the ungodly.
Look, God doesn't reject someone who is innocent, and he doesn't support those who are guilty.
21 But he will fill with laughter the mouth of the sincere, and their lips with thanksgiving.
He can make you laugh with happiness again and shout for joy.
22 But their adversaries shall clothe themselves with shame; and the habitation of the ungodly shall perish.
Those who hate you will be put to shame, and the place where the wicked live will be destroyed.”
