< Job 8 >

1 And Bildad the Shuhite answers and says: 2 “Until when do you speak these things? And a strong wind—sayings of your mouth? 3 Does God pervert judgment? And does the Mighty One pervert justice? 4 If your sons have sinned before Him, And He sends them away, By the hand of their transgression, 5 If you seek for God early, And make supplication to the Mighty, 6 If you [are] pure and upright, Surely now He wakes for you, And has completed The habitation of your righteousness. 7 And your beginning has been small, And your latter end is very great. 8 For inquire, please, of a former generation, And prepare for a search of their fathers, 9 For we [are] of yesterday, and we do not know, For our days [are] a shadow on earth. 10 Do they not show you—speak to you, And from their heart bring forth words? 11 Does a rush rise without a marsh? A reed increase without water? 12 While it [is] in its budding—uncropped, Even before any herb it withers. 13 So [are] the paths of all forgetting God, And the hope of the profane perishes, 14 Whose confidence is loathsome, And the house of a spider his trust. 15 He leans on his house—and it does not stand, He takes hold on it—and it does not abide. 16 He [is] green before the sun, And over his garden his branch goes out. 17 His roots are wrapped by a heap, He looks for a house of stones. 18 If [one] destroys him from his place, Then it has feigned concerning him, I have not seen you! 19 Behold, this [is] the joy of His way, And from the dust others spring up. 20 Behold, God does not reject the perfect, Nor takes hold on the hand of evildoers. 21 While He fills your mouth with laughter, And your lips with shouting, 22 Those hating you put on shame, And the tent of the wicked is not!”

< Job 8 >