< Job 8 >

1 And Bildad the Shuhite answered and said,
The Baldad the Suhite answered, and said:
2 How long wilt thou speak these things? and the words of thy mouth be a strong wind?
How long wilt thou speak these things, and how long shall the words of thy mouth be like a strong wind?
3 Doth God pervert judgment, and the Almighty pervert justice?
Doth God pervert judgment, or doth the Almighty overthrow that which is just?
4 If thy children have sinned against him, he hath also given them over into the hand of their transgression.
Although thy children have sinned against him, and he hath left them in the hand of their iniquity:
5 If thou seek earnestly unto God, and make thy supplication to the Almighty,
Yet if thou wilt arise early to God, and wilt beseech the Almighty:
6 If thou be pure and upright, surely now he will awake for thee, and make the habitation of thy righteousness prosperous;
If thou wilt walk clean and upright, he will presently awake onto thee, and will make the dwelling of thy justice peaceable:
7 And though thy beginning was small, yet thine end shall be very great.
Insomuch, that if thy former things were small, thy latter things would be multiplied exceedingly.
8 For inquire, I pray thee, of the former generation, and attend to the researches of their fathers;
For inquire of the former generation, and search diligently into the memory of the fathers:
9 For we are [but] of yesterday, and know nothing, for our days upon earth are a shadow.
(For we are but of yesterday, and are ignorant that our days upon earth are but a shadow: )
10 Shall not they teach thee, [and] tell thee, and utter words out of their heart?
And they shall teach thee: they shall speak to thee, and utter words out of their hearts.
11 Doth the papyrus shoot up without mire? doth the reed-grass grow without water?
Can the rush be green without moisture? or a sedge-bush grow without water?
12 Whilst it is yet in its greenness [and] not cut down, it withereth before any [other] grass.
When it is yet in flower, and is not plucked up with the hand, it withereth before all herbs.
13 So are the paths of all that forget God; and the profane man's hope shall perish,
Even so are the ways of all that forget God, and the hope of the hypocrite shall perish:
14 Whose confidence shall be cut off, and his reliance is a spider's web.
His folly shall not please him, and his trust shall be like the spider’s web.
15 He shall lean upon his house, and it shall not stand; he shall lay hold on it, but it shall not endure.
He shall lean upon his house, and it shall not stand: he shall prop it up, and it shall not rise:
16 He is full of sap before the sun, and his sprout shooteth forth over his garden;
He seemeth to have moisture before the sun cometh, and at his rising his blossom shall shoot forth.
17 His roots are entwined about the stoneheap; he seeth the place of stones.
His roots shall be thick upon a heap of stones, and among the stones he shall abide.
18 If he destroy him from his place, then it shall deny him: I have not seen thee!
If one swallow him up out of his place, he shall deny him, and shall say: I know thee not.
19 Behold, this is the joy of his way, and out of the dust shall others grow.
For this is the joy of his way, that others may spring again out of the earth.
20 Behold, God will not cast off a perfect man, neither will he take evil-doers by the hand.
God will not cast away the simple, nor reach out his hand to the evildoer:
21 Whilst he would fill thy mouth with laughing and thy lips with shouting,
Until thy mouth be filled with laughter, and thy lips with rejoicing.
22 They that hate thee shall be clothed with shame, and the tent of the wicked be no more.
They that hate thee, shall be clothed with confusion: and the dwelling of the wicked shall not stand.

< Job 8 >