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