Job8
King James Version · Public Domain
1Then answered Bildad the Shuhite, and said,
2How long wilt thou speak these things? and how long shall the words of thy mouth be like a strong wind?
3Doth God pervert judgment? or doth the Almighty pervert justice?
4If thy children have sinned against him, and he have cast them away for their transgression;
5If thou wouldest seek unto God betimes, and make thy supplication to the Almighty;
6If thou wert pure and upright; surely now he would awake for thee, and make the habitation of thy righteousness prosperous.
7Though thy beginning was small, yet thy latter end should greatly increase.
8For enquire, I pray thee, of the former age, and prepare thyself to the search of their fathers:
9(For we are but of yesterday, and know nothing, because our days upon earth are a shadow:)
10Shall not they teach thee, and tell thee, and utter words out of their heart?
11Can the rush grow up without mire? can the flag grow without water?
12Whilst it is yet in his greenness, and not cut down, it withereth before any other herb.
13So are the paths of all that forget God; and the hypocrite's hope shall perish:
14Whose hope shall be cut off, and whose trust shall be a spider's web.
15He shall lean upon his house, but it shall not stand: he shall hold it fast, but it shall not endure.
16He is green before the sun, and his branch shooteth forth in his garden.
17His roots are wrapped about the heap, and seeth the place of stones.
18If he destroy him from his place, then it shall deny him, saying, I have not seen thee.
19Behold, this is the joy of his way, and out of the earth shall others grow.
20Behold, God will not cast away a perfect man, neither will he help the evil doers:
21Till he fill thy mouth with laughing, and thy lips with rejoicing.
22They that hate thee shall be clothed with shame; and the dwelling place of the wicked shall come to nought.
Study Guide
Public-domain commentary and original-language notes for Job 8.
Chapter Summary
In this chapter: Bildad reproves Job. (1–7). Hypocrites will be destroyed. (8–19). Bildad applies God's just dealing to Job. (20–22).
vv1-7
Job spake much to the purpose; but Bildad, like an eager, angry disputant, turns it all off with this, How long wilt thou speak these things? Men's meaning is not taken aright, and then they are rebuked, as if they were evil-doers. Even in disputes on religion, it is too common to treat others with sharpness, and their arguments with contempt. Bildad's discourse shows that he had not a favourable opinion of Job's character. Job owned that God did not pervert judgment; yet it did not therefore follow that his children were cast-aways, or that they did for some great transgression. Extraordinary afflictions are not always the punishment of extraordinary sins, sometimes they are the trials of extraordinary graces: in judging of another's case, we ought to take the favorable side. Bildad puts Job in hope, that if he were indeed upright, he should yet see a good end of his present troubles. This is God's way of enriching the souls of his people with graces and comforts. The beginning is small, but the progress is to perfection. Dawning light grows to noon-day.
vv8-19
Bildad discourses well of hypocrites and evil-doers, and the fatal end of all their hopes and joys. He proves this truth of the destruction of the hopes and joys of hypocrites, by an appeal to former times. Bildad refers to the testimony of the ancients. Those teach best that utter words out of their heart, that speak from an experience of spiritual and divine things. A rush growing in fenny ground, looking very green, but withering in dry weather, represents the hypocrite's profession, which is maintained only in times of prosperity. The spider's web, spun with great skill, but easily swept away, represents a man's pretensions to religion when without the grace of God in his heart. A formal professor flatters himself in his own eyes, doubts not of his salvation, is secure, and cheats the world with his vain confidences. The flourishing of the tree, planted in the garden, striking root to the rock, yet after a time cut down and thrown aside, represents wicked men, when most firmly established, suddenly thrown down and forgotten. This doctrine of the vanity of a hypocrite's confidence, or the prosperity of a wicked man, is sound; but it was not applicable to the case of Job, if confined to the present world.
vv20-22
Bildad here assures Job, that as he was so he should fare; therefore they concluded, that as he fared so he was. God will not cast away an upright man; he may be cast down for a time, but he shall not be cast away for ever. Sin brings ruin on persons and families. Yet to argue, that Job was an ungodly, wicked man, was unjust and uncharitable. The mistake in these reasonings arose from Job's friends not distinguishing between the present state of trial and discipline, and the future state of final judgment. May we choose the portion, possess the confidence, bear the cross, and die the death of the righteous; and, in the mean time, be careful neither to wound others by rash judgments, nor to distress ourselves needlessly about the opinions of our fellow-creatures.
Key Words
בִּלְדַּד: Bildad, one of Job's friends
שׁוּחִי: a Shuchite or descendant of Shuach
עָנָה: properly, to eye or (generally) to heed, i.e. pay attention; by implication, to respond; by extension to begin to speak; specifically to sing, shout, testify, announce
אָמַר: to say (used with great latitude)
אָן: where?; hence, whither?, when?; also hither and thither
עַד: as far (or long, or much) as, whether of space (even unto) or time (during, while, until) or degree (equally with)
מָלַל: to speak (mostly poetical) or say
אֵלֶּה: these or those
אֵמֶר: something said
פֶּה: the mouth (as the means of blowing), whether literal or figurative (particularly speech); specifically edge, portion or side; adverbially (with preposition) according to
Cross References
Job 8Poole notes this is the classic proof that the Judge of all the earth must do right.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Elihu echoes Bildad's exact premise that God and the Almighty will not pervert judgment.
Supported by JFB
Direct fulfillment of Bildad's prediction that Job's latter end should greatly increase.
Supported by JFB
Isaiah uses the identical graphic metaphor of trusting in a flimsy spider's web.
Supported by JFB
Connects Bildad's charge of the children's sin to Job's early anxieties and sacrifices.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Verbal parallel comparing human life to a transient shadow on the earth.
Supported by JFB
Matches the poetic imagery of human days passing away quickly like a shadow.
Supported by JFB
Jacob similarly reflects on the brevity of his days compared to his fathers.
Supported by JFB
Verbal echo of the place denying the wicked: 'neither shall his place know him any more.'
Eliphaz previously offered the same advice to seek early and commit the cause to God.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Echoes Eliphaz's premise that the innocent and upright do not perish under judgment.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Parallels Bildad's appeal to ask the fathers and search the former generations.
Contrasts the rapid withering of the hypocrite with the godly who flourishes by water.
Parallels Jesus' teaching on building a house on sand that will not stand.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Verbal parallel where God fills the mouth with laughter and tongue with singing.