Job 8:1-22 - Bildad's First Response To Job

¹ Then Bildad the Shuhite replied: ² How long will you go on saying these things?
Your words are a blast of wind.
³ Does God pervert justice?
Does the Almighty pervert what is right?
⁴ Since your children sinned against Him,
He gave them over to their rebellion.
⁵ But if you earnestly seek God
and ask the Almighty for mercy,
⁶ if you are pure and upright,
then He will move even now on your behalf
and restore the home where your righteousness dwells.
⁷ Then, even if your beginnings were modest,
your final days will be full of prosperity.

⁸ For ask the previous generation,
and pay attention to what their fathers discovered,
⁹ since we were born only yesterday and know nothing.
Our days on earth are but a shadow.
¹⁰ Will they not teach you and tell you
and speak from their understanding?
¹¹ Does papyrus grow where there is no marsh?
Do reeds flourish without water?
¹² While still uncut shoots,
they would dry up quicker than any other plant.
¹³ Such is the destiny of all who forget God;
the hope of the godless will perish.
¹⁴ His source of confidence is fragile;
what he trusts in is a spider’s web.
¹⁵ He leans on his web, but it doesn’t stand firm.
He grabs it, but it does not hold up.
¹⁶ He is a well-watered plant in the sunshine;
his shoots spread out over his garden.
¹⁷ His roots are intertwined around a pile of rocks.
He looks for a home among the stones.
¹⁸ If he is uprooted from his place,
it will deny knowing him, saying, “I never saw you.”
¹⁹ Surely this is the joy of his way of life;
yet others will sprout from the dust.
²⁰ Look, God does not reject a person of integrity,
and He will not support evildoers.
²¹ He will yet fill your mouth with laughter
and your lips with a shout of joy.
²² Your enemies will be clothed with shame;
the tent of the wicked will exist no longer.