| 1 | Then answered Bildad the Shuhite, |
| 2 | How long will you say these things [Job]? And how long shall the words of your mouth be as a mighty wind? |
| 3 | Does God pervert justice? Or does the Almighty pervert righteousness? |
| 4 | If your children have sinned against Him, then He has delivered them into the power of their transgression. |
| 5 | If you will seek God diligently and make your supplication to the Almighty, |
| 6 | Then, if you are pure and upright, surely He will bestir Himself for you and make your righteous dwelling prosperous again. |
| 7 | And though your beginning was small, yet your latter end would greatly increase. |
| 8 | For inquire, I pray you, of the former age and apply yourself to that which their fathers have searched out, |
| 9 | For we are but of yesterday and know nothing, because our days upon earth are a shadow. |
| 10 | Shall not [the forefathers] teach you and tell you and utter words out of their hearts (the deepest part of their nature)? |
| 11 | Can the rush
or
papyrus grow up without marsh? Can the flag
or
reed grass grow without water? |
| 12 | While it is yet green, in flower, and not cut down, it withers before any other herb [when without water]. |
| 13 | So are the ways of all who forget God; and the hope of the godless shall perish. |
| 14 | For his confidence breaks, and [the object of] his trust is a spider’s web. |
| 15 | He shall lean upon his house, but it shall not stand; he shall hold fast to it, but it shall not last. |
| 16 | He is green before the sun, and his shoots go forth over his garden. |
| 17 | [Godless] his roots are wrapped about the [stone] heap, and see their way [promisingly] among the rocks. |
| 18 | But if [God] snatches him from his property, [then having passed into the hands of others] it [his property] will forget
and
deny him, [saying,] I have never seen you [before, as if ashamed of him—like his former friends]. |
| 19 | See, this is the joy of going the way [of the ungodly]! And from the dust others will spring up [to take his place]. |
| 20 | Behold, as surely as God will never uphold wrongdoers, He will never cast away a blameless man. |
| 21 | He will yet fill your mouth with laughter [Job] and your lips with joyful shouting. |
| 22 | Those who hate you will be clothed with shame, and the tents of the wicked shall be no more. |