Job 8
1 The Baldad the Suhite answered, and said:
Then Bildad the Shuhite spoke up and said,
2 How long wilt thou speak these things, and how long shall the words of thy mouth be like a strong wind?
“How much longer will you go on talking like this? The words coming out of your mouth are a lot of hot air!
3 Doth God pervert judgment, or doth the Almighty overthrow that which is just?
Does God pervert justice? Does the Almighty pervert what is right?
4 Although thy children have sinned against him, and he hath left them in the hand of their iniquity:
Your children must have sinned against him, and so they deserved the punishment he inflicted on them.
5 Yet if thou wilt arise early to God, and wilt beseech the Almighty:
But if you pray to God and ask for his help,
6 If thou wilt walk clean and upright, he will presently awake onto thee, and will make the dwelling of thy justice peaceable:
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 Insomuch, that if thy former things were small, thy latter things would be multiplied exceedingly.
Though you began with next to nothing, you will end up with so much!
8 For inquire of the former generation, and search diligently into the memory of the 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 but of yesterday, and are ignorant that our days upon earth are but a shadow: )
Our days on earth fade as quickly as a passing shadow.
10 And they shall teach thee: they shall speak to thee, and utter words out of their hearts.
Won't they teach you and explain what they know?
11 Can the rush be green without moisture? or a sedge-bush grow without water?
Can papyrus grow where there is no marsh? Can reeds grow without water?
12 When it is yet in flower, and is not plucked up with the hand, it withereth before all herbs.
Even without being cut, while they are still flowering, they wither faster than grass.
13 Even so are the ways of all that forget God, and the hope of the hypocrite shall perish:
This is what happens to everyone who forgets God. The hopes of those who live without God come to nothing.
14 His folly shall not please him, and his trust shall be like the spider’s web.
Their confidence is like holding on to a flimsy spider's web.
15 He shall lean upon his house, and it shall not stand: he shall prop it up, and it shall not rise:
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 He seemeth to have moisture before the sun cometh, and at his rising his blossom shall shoot forth.
Those who live without God are like a luxuriant plant growing in the sun, spreading its shoots all over the garden.
17 His roots shall be thick upon a heap of stones, and among the stones he shall abide.
It twists its roots down through the stones, and holds on to rock.
18 If one swallow him up out of his place, he shall deny him, and shall say: I know thee not.
But when it's cut down, the place where it was disowns it, saying, ‘I never even saw you.’
19 For this is the joy of his way, that others may spring again out of the earth.
Its life is over, and others spring up from the earth to take its place.
20 God will not cast away the simple, nor reach out his hand to the evildoer:
Look, God doesn't reject someone who is innocent, and he doesn't support those who are guilty.
21 Until thy mouth be filled with laughter, and thy lips with rejoicing.
He can make you laugh with happiness again and shout for joy.
22 They that hate thee, shall be clothed with confusion: and the dwelling of the wicked shall not stand.
Those who hate you will be put to shame, and the place where the wicked live will be destroyed.”
