| 8:1 |
Then Bildad the Shuhite replied: |
| 8:2 |
"How long will you say such things? Your words are a blustering wind. |
| 8:3 |
Does God pervert justice? Does the Almighty pervert what is right? |
| 8:4 |
When your children sinned against him, he gave them over to the penalty of their sin. |
| 8:5 |
But if you will look to God and plead with the Almighty, |
| 8:6 |
if you are pure and upright, even now he will rouse himself on your behalf and restore you to your rightful place. |
| 8:7 |
Your beginnings will seem humble, so prosperous will your future be. |
| 8:8 |
"Ask the former generations and find out what their fathers learned, |
| 8:9 |
for we were born only yesterday and know nothing, and our days on earth are but a shadow. |
| 8:10 |
Will they not instruct you and tell you? Will they not bring forth words from their understanding? |
| 8:11 |
Can papyrus grow tall where there is no marsh? Can reeds thrive without water? |
| 8:12 |
While still growing and uncut, they wither more quickly than grass. |
| 8:13 |
Such is the destiny of all who forget God; so perishes the hope of the godless. |
| 8:14 |
What he trusts in is fragile; what he relies on is a spider's web. |
| 8:15 |
He leans on his web, but it gives way; he clings to it, but it does not hold. |
| 8:16 |
He is like a well-watered plant in the sunshine, spreading its shoots over the garden; |
| 8:17 |
it entwines its roots around a pile of rocks and looks for a place among the stones. |
| 8:18 |
But when it is torn from its spot, that place disowns it and says, 'I never saw you.' |
| 8:19 |
Surely its life withers away, and from the soil other plants grow. |
| 8:20 |
"Surely God does not reject a blameless man or strengthen the hands of evildoers. |
| 8:21 |
He will yet fill your mouth with laughter and your lips with shouts of joy. |
| 8:22 |
Your enemies will be clothed in shame, and the tents of the wicked will be no more." |
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