Job 8
1 And Bildad the Shuhite answers and says:
Then answered Bildad the Shuhite, and said:
2 “Until when do you speak these things? And a strong wind—sayings of your mouth?
How long wilt thou speak such things? How long shall the words of thy mouth be like a strong wind?
3 Does God pervert judgment? And does the Mighty One pervert justice?
Will God pervert judgment? Or will the Almighty pervert justice?
4 If your sons have sinned before Him, And He sends them away, By the hand of their transgression,
As thy children sinned against him, He hath given them up to their transgression.
5 If you seek for God early, And make supplication to the Mighty,
But if thou wilt seek early to God, And make thy supplication to the Almighty, —
6 If you [are] pure and upright, Surely now He wakes for you, And has completed The habitation of your righteousness.
If thou wilt be pure and upright, Surely he will yet arise for thee, And prosper thy righteous habitation;
7 And your beginning has been small, And your latter end is very great.
So that thy beginning shall be small, And thy latter end very great.
8 For inquire, please, of a former generation, And prepare for a search of their fathers,
For inquire, I pray thee, of the former age, And mark what hath been searched out by their fathers;
9 For we [are] of yesterday, and we do not know, For our days [are] a shadow on earth.
(For we are of yesterday and know nothing, Since our days upon the earth are but a shadow; )
10 Do they not show you—speak to you, And from their heart bring forth words?
Will not they instruct thee, and tell thee, And utter words from their understanding?
11 Does a rush rise without a marsh? A reed increase without water?
“Can the paper-reed grow up without mire? Can the bulrush grow without water?
12 While it [is] in its budding—uncropped, Even before any herb it withers.
While it is yet in its greenness, and is not cut down, It withereth before any other herb.
13 So [are] the paths of all forgetting God, And the hope of the profane perishes,
Such is the fate of all who forget God; So perisheth the hope of the ungodly.
14 Whose confidence is loathsome, And the house of a spider his trust.
His confidence shall come to nought, And his trust shall prove a spider's web.
15 He leans on his house—and it does not stand, He takes hold on it—and it does not abide.
He shall lean upon his house, and it shall not stand; He shall lay fast hold on it, but it shall not endure.
16 He [is] green before the sun, And over his garden his branch goes out.
He is in full green before the sun, And his branches shoot forth over his garden;
17 His roots are wrapped by a heap, He looks for a house of stones.
His roots are entwined about the heap, And he seeth the place of stones;
18 If [one] destroys him from his place, Then it has feigned concerning him, I have not seen you!
When he shall be destroyed from his place, It shall deny him, saying, 'I never saw thee.'
19 Behold, this [is] the joy of His way, And from the dust others spring up.
Lo! such is the joy of his course! And others shall spring up from his place”
20 Behold, God does not reject the perfect, Nor takes hold on the hand of evildoers.
Behold, God will not cast away an upright man; Nor will he help the evil-doers.
21 While He fills your mouth with laughter, And your lips with shouting,
While he filleth thy mouth with laughter, And thy lips with gladness,
22 Those hating you put on shame, And the tent of the wicked is not!”
They that hate thee shall be clothed with shame, And the dwelling-place of the wicked shall come to nought.
