Job 8

¹Then Bildad the Shuhite answered and said :

²How long will you say these things , and the words of your mouth be a great wind ?

³Does God pervert justice ? Or does the Almighty pervert the right ?

⁴If your children have sinned against him, he has delivered them into the hand of their transgression .

⁵If you will seek God and plead with the Almighty for mercy ,

⁶if you are pure and upright , surely then he will rouse himself for you and restore your rightful habitation .

⁷And though your beginning was small , your latter days will be very great .

⁸For inquire , please , of bygone ages , and consider what the fathers have searched out .

⁹For we are but of yesterday and know nothing , for our days on earth are a shadow .

¹⁰Will they not teach you and tell you and utter words out of their understanding ?

¹¹Can papyrus grow where there is no marsh ? Can reeds flourish where there is no water ?

¹²While yet in flower and not cut down , they wither before any other plant .

¹³Such are the paths of all who forget God ; the hope of the godless shall perish .

¹⁴His confidence is severed , and his trust is a spider’s web .

¹⁵He leans against his house , but it does not stand ; he lays hold of it, but it does not endure .

¹⁶He is a lush plant before the sun , and his shoots spread over his garden .

¹⁷His roots entwine the stone heap ; he looks upon a house of stones .

¹⁸If he is destroyed from his place , then it will deny him, saying, I have never seen you.

¹⁹Behold , this is the joy of his way , and out of the soil others will spring .

²⁰Behold , God will not reject a blameless man, nor take the hand of evildoers .

²¹He will yet fill your mouth with laughter , and your lips with shouting .

²²Those who hate you will be clothed with shame , and the tent of the wicked will be no more .