Bildad's speech

1Then Bildad the Shuhite answered:

2“How 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 power of their transgression.

5If you will seek God

and make supplication to the Almighty,

6if you are pure and upright,

surely then he will rouse himself for you

and reward you with a rightful habitation.

7And though your beginning was small,

your latter days will be very great.

8“For inquire, I pray you, of bygone ages,

and consider what the fathers have found;

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?

11“Can 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 man shall perish.

14His confidence breaks in sunder,

and his trust is a spider's web.8.14 Heb house

15He leans against his house, but it does not stand;

he lays hold of it, but it does not endure.

16He thrives before the sun,

and his shoots spread over his garden.

17His roots twine about the stoneheap;

he lives among the rocks.8.17 Gk Vg: Heb uncertain

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 earth others will spring.

20“Behold, 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.”