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Then the second of Job’s three friends, Bildad the Shuhite, addressed Job.

Bildad: How long will you say these things,
        your words whipping through air like a powerful wind?
    Does God corrupt justice,
        or does the Highest One[a] corrupt the good?
    If your children sinned against Him,
        He merely administered the punishment due them for those sins.
    But if you search for God
        and make your appeal to the Highest One,
    If you are pure and righteous,
        I have no doubt He will arise for you and restore you to your righteous place.
    From your modest beginnings,
        the future will be bright before you.

    Ask those who have come and gone!
        Explore what their fathers learned and taught them.
    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.

Footnotes

  1. 8:3 Hebrew, Shaddai
  2. 8:14 Meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain.
  3. 8:19 Meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain.

Bildad

Then Bildad the Shuhite(A) replied:

“How long will you say such things?(B)
    Your words are a blustering wind.(C)
Does God pervert justice?(D)
    Does the Almighty pervert what is right?(E)
When your children sinned against him,
    he gave them over to the penalty of their sin.(F)
But if you will seek God earnestly
    and plead(G) with the Almighty,(H)
if you are pure and upright,
    even now he will rouse himself on your behalf(I)
    and restore you to your prosperous state.(J)
Your beginnings will seem humble,
    so prosperous(K) will your future be.(L)

“Ask the former generation(M)
    and find out what their ancestors learned,
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)

20 “Surely God does not reject one who is blameless(AG)
    or strengthen the hands of evildoers.(AH)
21 He will yet fill your mouth with laughter(AI)
    and your lips with shouts of joy.(AJ)
22 Your enemies will be clothed in shame,(AK)
    and the tents(AL) of the wicked will be no more.”(AM)

Footnotes

  1. Job 8:14 The meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain.
  2. Job 8:19 Or Surely all the joy it has / is that

Then answered Bildad the Shuhite, and said,

How long wilt thou speak these things? and how long shall the words of thy mouth be like a strong wind?

Doth God pervert judgment? or doth the Almighty pervert justice?

If thy children have sinned against him, and he have cast them away for their transgression;

If thou wouldest seek unto God betimes, and make thy supplication to the Almighty;

If thou wert pure and upright; surely now he would awake for thee, and make the habitation of thy righteousness prosperous.

Though thy beginning was small, yet thy latter end should greatly increase.

For enquire, I pray thee, of the former age, and prepare thyself to the search of their fathers:

(For we are but of yesterday, and know nothing, because our days upon earth are a shadow:)

10 Shall not they teach thee, and tell thee, and utter words out of their heart?

11 Can the rush grow up without mire? can the flag grow without water?

12 Whilst it is yet in his greenness, and not cut down, it withereth before any other herb.

13 So are the paths of all that forget God; and the hypocrite's hope shall perish:

14 Whose hope shall be cut off, and whose trust shall be a spider's web.

15 He shall lean upon his house, but it shall not stand: he shall hold it fast, but it shall not endure.

16 He is green before the sun, and his branch shooteth forth in his garden.

17 His roots are wrapped about the heap, and seeth the place of stones.

18 If he destroy him from his place, then it shall deny him, saying, I have not seen thee.

19 Behold, this is the joy of his way, and out of the earth shall others grow.

20 Behold, God will not cast away a perfect man, neither will he help the evil doers:

21 Till he fill thy mouth with laughing, and thy lips with rejoicing.

22 They that hate thee shall be clothed with shame; and the dwelling place of the wicked shall come to nought.