Chapter 8

¹Then Bildad the Shuhite answered,

²“How long will you speak these things?

Shall the words of your mouth be a mighty wind?

³Does God pervert justice?

Or does the Almighty pervert righteousness?

⁴If your children have sinned against him,

He has delivered them into the hand of their disobedience;

⁵If you want to seek God diligently,

Make your supplication to the Almighty.

⁶If you were pure and upright,

Surely now he would awaken for you,

And make the habitation of your righteousness prosperous.

⁷Though your beginning was small,

Yet your latter end would greatly increase.

⁸“Please inquire of past generations,

Find out about the learning of their fathers.

⁹(For we are but of yesterday, and know nothing,

Because our days on earth are a shadow.)

¹⁰Shall they not teach you, tell you,

And utter words out of their heart?

¹¹“Can the papyrus grow up without mire?

Can the rushes grow without water?

¹²While it is yet in its greenness, not cut down,

It withers before any other reed.

¹³So are the paths of all who forget God.

The hope of the godless man shall perish,

¹⁴Whose confidence shall break apart,

Whose trust is a spider’s web.

¹⁵He shall lean on his house, but it shall not stand.

He shall cling to it, but it shall not endure.

¹⁶He is green before the sun,

His shoots go forth over his garden.

¹⁷His roots are wrapped around the rock pile,

He sees the place of stones.

¹⁸If he is destroyed from his place,

Then it shall deny him, saying, ‘I have not seen you.’

¹⁹Behold, this is the joy of his way:

Out of the earth shall others spring.

²⁰“Behold, God will not cast away a blameless man,

Neither will he uphold the evil-doers.

²¹He will still fill your mouth with laughter,

Your lips with shouting.

²²Those who hate you shall be clothed with shame.

The tent of the wicked shall be no more.”