Job 8
1 Then answered Bildad the Shuchite, and said,
Then Bildad the Shuhite spoke up and said,
2 How long wilt thou speak these things? and [let] like a mighty wind be the words of thy mouth?
“How much longer will you go on talking like this? The words coming out of your mouth are a lot of hot air!
3 Should God pervert justice? or should the Almighty pervert righteousness?
Does God pervert justice? Does the Almighty pervert what is right?
4 If thy children have sinned against him, then did he send them off through the means of their transgression.
Your children must have sinned against him, and so they deserved the punishment he inflicted on them.
5 If thou wilt earnestly seek for God, and make thy supplication to the Almighty;
But if you pray to God and ask for his help,
6 If thou become pure and upright: surely then will he watch over thee, and restore thy righteous habitation.
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 And thy beginning will have been small; because thy latter end will grow up greatly.
Though you began with next to nothing, you will end up with so much!
8 For ask, I pray thee, of an earlier generation, and prepare thyself to [stand by] the research of their 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 know nothing, because a [mere] shadow are our days upon earth; —
Our days on earth fade as quickly as a passing shadow.
10 Behold, these will truly teach thee, they will speak unto thee, and out of their very heart will they bring forth words:
Won't they teach you and explain what they know?
11 Can the bulrush shoot upward without mire? can the meadow-grass grow up without water?
Can papyrus grow where there is no marsh? Can reeds grow without water?
12 It is yet in its greenness, not yet cut down, when it withereth before any other grass.
Even without being cut, while they are still flowering, they wither faster than grass.
13 So are the paths of all that forget God; and the hope of the hypocrite will perish:
This is what happens to everyone who forgets God. The hopes of those who live without God come to nothing.
14 [It is he] whose trust will be cut off, and but a spider's web is that in which he confideth.
Their confidence is like holding on to a flimsy spider's web.
15 He leaneth against his house, but it shall not stand: he layeth fast hold on it, but it shall not remain erect.
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 is in full vigor before the sun, and over his garden his shoots go 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 are twisted about a stoneheap, he selecteth [for himself] a place of stones.
It twists its roots down through the stones, and holds on to rock.
18 But when men destroy him from his place, then will it deny him, saying, I have never seen thee.
But when it's cut down, the place where it was disowns it, saying, ‘I never even saw you.’
19 Behold, this is the joy of his way, and out of the [same] dust others will grow up.
Its life is over, and others spring up from the earth to take its place.
20 Behold, God will not reject a perfect man, and will not hold fast by their hand the evil-doers:
Look, God doesn't reject someone who is innocent, and he doesn't support those who are guilty.
21 Till he fill thy mouth with laughing, and thy lips with joyful shouting.
He can make you laugh with happiness again and shout for joy.
22 They that hate thee shall be clothed with shame; and the tent of the wicked shall be no more.
Those who hate you will be put to shame, and the place where the wicked live will be destroyed.”
