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Job 8
EasyEnglish Bible
Job 8
EasyEnglish Bible
Job's friend Bildad speaks to him[a]
8 Job's friend Bildad, who came from Shuah, decided to speak. He said this to Job:
2 ‘You should not continue to talk like this.
Your words are like a wind that blows strongly.
3 Surely you know that God is fair.
The Almighty God never changes right things into wrong things.
4 Your children did things that were wrong.
That is why God punished them.
5 But you should pray to Almighty God.
You should ask him to help you.
6 If you are honest and live in the right way,
God will do something to help you.
He will give you a family again
that will bring you honour.
7 You will be successful in the future,
with more riches than you had before.
8 Think about the people who lived before us.
Study the things that our ancestors learned.
9 We have not lived for very long,
so we do not know very much.
Our lives are like shadows that quickly disappear.
10 But the people who lived before us can teach you.
They can tell you the things that they have learned.
11 Some plants only grow tall in wet ground.
Reeds only grow well where there is water.
12 If the water is no longer there,
they will quickly die.
They will die before they are ready for people to cut them.
They become useless more quickly than grass.
13 People who turn away from God are like those plants.
Their hope quickly disappears.
14 They trust in useless things to help them.
Those things are as weak as a spider's web.[b]
15 If they expect something like that to help them,
it will fall down and leave them.
If they take hold of it,
it will not keep them safe.
16 People who turn away from God are like weeds.
When there is plenty of water and the sun shines on them,
they grow all over the garden.
17 Their roots grow around a heap of stones.
They have a strong home among the rocks.
18 But finally, someone pulls those weeds out of the ground.
When that happens,
nobody knows that the weeds were ever there.
19 People who are like weeds only have that kind of joy.
When they disappear, other weeds grow in their place.
20 Listen! God never turns away from a man who is not guilty.
Nor will he ever help wicked people.
21 He will surely make you happy again.
You will be able to laugh and shout with joy.
22 People who hate you will be ashamed.
Wicked people will have nowhere to live.’
Footnotes
- 8:1 Bildad tells Job that God is powerful and is always fair. So if Job lives the right way, his life will soon be better. But that does not help Job. He still does not understand why bad things have happened to him.
- 8:14 A spider is an insect that uses very thin strings (threads) to make a web. It catches insects in the web for its food.
Job 8
The Voice
Job 8
The Voice
8 Then the second of Job’s three friends, Bildad the Shuhite, addressed Job.
2 Bildad: How long will you say these things,
your words whipping through air like a powerful wind?
3 Does God corrupt justice,
or does the Highest One[a] corrupt the good?
4 If your children sinned against Him,
He merely administered the punishment due them for those sins.
5 But if you search for God
and make your appeal to the Highest One,
6 If you are pure and righteous,
I have no doubt He will arise for you and restore you to your righteous place.
7 From your modest beginnings,
the future will be bright before you.
8 Ask those who have come and gone!
Explore what their fathers learned and taught them.
9 For we are not of ages past, nor even of years gone by.
We are ignorant creatures of yesterday,
and our time on earth is only a shadow.
10 But the ancients are not similarly bound, are they?
Won’t they speak to and instruct you?
Won’t they draw up words from deep within?
11 Can papyrus grow tall without a marsh?
Can reeds flourish without water?
12 Even if they are hardy and unbroken,
without water they will dry up before any other plant.
13 So it goes with any who forget God.
The hope of the godless soon withers and dies.
14 His confidence breaks,
for he trusts in the tenuous threads of a spider’s web.[b]
15 When he leans into his house of silken threads for support,
it won’t hold;
Though his arms grab to steady him,
it will break—he will fall and never get back up.
16 Still the godless appears to be a hardy plant,
thriving in full sun, sending his shoots across the garden.
17 The roots twine and grip the stone heap
and search for a home among the rocks.
18 If he is pulled up, the place will disown him saying,
“I have never seen you.”
19 See, his sole joy consists of this:[c]
knowing that others will spring from the earth to take his place.
20 Do you see it? God will not reject the innocent;
He will not reject you or support agents of evil.
21 He will fill your mouth with laughter;
your lips will spill over into cries of delight.
22 Those who hate you will don the garment of shame,
and the home of the wicked will disappear.
Job 8
New International Version
Job 8
New International Version
Bildad
8 Then Bildad the Shuhite(A) replied:
2 “How long will you say such things?(B)
Your words are a blustering wind.(C)
3 Does God pervert justice?(D)
Does the Almighty pervert what is right?(E)
4 When your children sinned against him,
he gave them over to the penalty of their sin.(F)
5 But if you will seek God earnestly
and plead(G) with the Almighty,(H)
6 if you are pure and upright,
even now he will rouse himself on your behalf(I)
and restore you to your prosperous state.(J)
7 Your beginnings will seem humble,
so prosperous(K) will your future be.(L)
8 “Ask the former generation(M)
and find out what their ancestors learned,
9 for we were born only yesterday and know nothing,(N)
and our days on earth are but a shadow.(O)
10 Will they not instruct(P) you and tell you?
Will they not bring forth words from their understanding?(Q)
11 Can papyrus grow tall where there is no marsh?(R)
Can reeds(S) thrive without water?
12 While still growing and uncut,
they wither more quickly than grass.(T)
13 Such is the destiny(U) of all who forget God;(V)
so perishes the hope of the godless.(W)
14 What they trust in is fragile[a];
what they rely on is a spider’s web.(X)
15 They lean on the web,(Y) but it gives way;
they cling to it, but it does not hold.(Z)
16 They are like a well-watered plant in the sunshine,
spreading its shoots(AA) over the garden;(AB)
17 it entwines its roots around a pile of rocks
and looks for a place among the stones.
18 But when it is torn from its spot,
that place disowns(AC) it and says, ‘I never saw you.’(AD)
19 Surely its life withers(AE) away,
and[b] from the soil other plants grow.(AF)
EasyEnglish Bible (EASY)
EasyEnglish Bible Copyright © MissionAssist 2019 - Charitable Incorporated Organisation 1162807. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
The Voice (VOICE)
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
New International Version (NIV) 
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
NIV Reverse Interlinear Bible: English to Hebrew and English to Greek. Copyright © 2019 by Zondervan.