Job 8

1 The Baldad the Suhite answered, and said:

And Bildad the Shuhite answers and says:

2 How long wilt thou speak these things, and how long shall the words of thy mouth be like a strong wind?

“Until when do you speak these things? And a strong wind—sayings of your mouth?

3 Doth God pervert judgment, or doth the Almighty overthrow that which is just?

Does God pervert judgment? And does the Mighty One pervert justice?

4 Although thy children have sinned against him, and he hath left them in the hand of their iniquity:

If your sons have sinned before Him, And He sends them away, By the hand of their transgression,

5 Yet if thou wilt arise early to God, and wilt beseech the Almighty:

If you seek for God early, And make supplication to the Mighty,

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 [are] pure and upright, Surely now He wakes for you, And has completed The habitation of your righteousness.

7 Insomuch, that if thy former things were small, thy latter things would be multiplied exceedingly.

And your beginning has been small, And your latter end is very great.

8 For inquire of the former generation, and search diligently into the memory of the fathers:

For inquire, please, of a former generation, And prepare for a search of their fathers,

9 (For we are but of yesterday, and are ignorant that our days upon earth are but a shadow: )

For we [are] of yesterday, and we do not know, For our days [are] a shadow on earth.

10 And they shall teach thee: they shall speak to thee, and utter words out of their hearts.

Do they not show you—speak to you, And from their heart bring forth words?

11 Can the rush be green without moisture? or a sedge-bush grow without water?

Does a rush rise without a marsh? A reed increase without water?

12 When it is yet in flower, and is not plucked up with the hand, it withereth before all herbs.

While it [is] in its budding—uncropped, Even before any herb it withers.

13 Even so are the ways of all that forget God, and the hope of the hypocrite shall perish:

So [are] the paths of all forgetting God, And the hope of the profane perishes,

14 His folly shall not please him, and his trust shall be like the spider’s web.

Whose confidence is loathsome, And the house of a spider his trust.

15 He shall lean upon his house, and it shall not stand: he shall prop it up, and it shall not rise:

He leans on his house—and it does not stand, He takes hold on it—and it does not abide.

16 He seemeth to have moisture before the sun cometh, and at his rising his blossom shall shoot forth.

He [is] green before the sun, And over his garden his branch goes out.

17 His roots shall be thick upon a heap of stones, and among the stones he shall abide.

His roots are wrapped by a heap, He looks for a house of stones.

18 If one swallow him up out of his place, he shall deny him, and shall say: I know thee not.

If [one] destroys him from his place, Then it has feigned concerning him, I have not seen you!

19 For this is the joy of his way, that others may spring again out of the earth.

Behold, this [is] the joy of His way, And from the dust others spring up.

20 God will not cast away the simple, nor reach out his hand to the evildoer:

Behold, God does not reject the perfect, Nor takes hold on the hand of evildoers.

21 Until thy mouth be filled with laughter, and thy lips with rejoicing.

While He fills your mouth with laughter, And your lips with shouting,

22 They that hate thee, shall be clothed with confusion: and the dwelling of the wicked shall not stand.

Those hating you put on shame, And the tent of the wicked is not!”