Job 8
1 Then Bildad the Shuhite spoke up and said,
Then answered Bildad the Shuhite, 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? and [how long] shall the words of thy mouth be [like] a mighty wind?
3 Does God pervert justice? Does the Almighty pervert what is right?
Doth God pervert judgment? or doth the Almighty pervert justice?
4 Your children must have sinned against him, and so they deserved the punishment he inflicted on them.
If thy children have sinned against him, and he have delivered them into the hand of their transgression:
5 But if you pray to God and ask for his help,
If thou wouldest seek diligently unto God, and make thy supplication to the 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 wert pure and upright; surely now he would awake for thee, and make the habitation of thy righteousness prosperous.
7 Though you began with next to nothing, you will end up with so much!
And though thy beginning was small, yet thy latter end should greatly increase.
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 inquire, I pray thee, of the former age, and apply thyself to that which their fathers have searched out:
9 Our days on earth fade as quickly as a passing shadow.
(For we are but of yesterday, and know nothing, because our days upon earth are a shadow: )
10 Won't they teach you and explain what they know?
Shall not they teach thee, and tell thee, and utter words out of their heart?
11 Can papyrus grow where there is no marsh? Can reeds grow without water?
Can the rush grow up without mire? can the flag grow without water?
12 Even without being cut, while they are still flowering, they wither faster than grass.
Whilst it is yet in its greenness, [and] not cut down, it withereth before any [other] herb.
13 This is what happens to everyone who forgets God. The hopes of those who live without God come to nothing.
So are the paths of all that forget God; and the hope of the godless man shall perish:
14 Their confidence is like holding on to a flimsy spider's web.
Whose confidence shall break in sunder, and whose trust is 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.
He shall lean upon his house, but it shall not stand: he shall hold fast thereby, but it shall not endure.
16 Those who live without God are like a luxuriant plant growing in the sun, spreading its shoots all over the garden.
He is green before the sun, and his shoots go forth over his garden.
17 It twists its roots down through the stones, and holds on to rock.
His roots are wrapped about the heap, he beholdeth the place of stones.
18 But when it's cut down, the place where it was disowns it, saying, ‘I never even saw you.’
If he be destroyed from his place, then it shall deny him, [saying], I have not seen thee.
19 Its life is over, and others spring up from the earth to take its place.
Behold, this is the joy of his way, and out of the earth shall others spring.
20 Look, God doesn't reject someone who is innocent, and he doesn't support those who are guilty.
Behold, God will not cast away a perfect man, neither will he uphold the evil-doers.
21 He can make you laugh with happiness again and shout for joy.
He will yet fill thy mouth with laughter, and thy lips with shouting.
22 Those who hate you will be put to shame, and the place where the wicked live will be destroyed.”
They that hate thee shall be clothed with shame; and the tent of the wicked shall be no more.
