Job 8
1 Then Bildad, from [the] Shuah [area], spoke to Job. He said,
The Baldad the Suhite answered, and said:
2 “Job, how much longer will you talk like this? What you say is [only] hot air.
How long wilt thou speak these things, and how long shall the words of thy mouth be like a strong wind?
3 Almighty God certainly never does [RHQ] what is unfair/unjust. He always does [LIT] what is right/fair.
Doth God pervert judgment, or doth the Almighty overthrow that which is just?
4 So, it is evident that your children have sinned against him, therefore he has caused them to be punished for evil things that they have done.
Although thy children have sinned against him, and he hath left them in the hand of their iniquity:
5 But, if you will [now] earnestly request [DOU] Almighty [God] to help you,
Yet if thou wilt arise early to God, and wilt beseech the Almighty:
6 and if you are pure and honest/righteous, he will surely do something good for you and reward you by giving your family back to you and enabling you to prosper.
If thou wilt walk clean and upright, he will presently awake onto thee, and will make the dwelling of thy justice peaceable:
7 And even though you [think that you] were not very prosperous/wealthy before, during the last part of your life you will become very wealthy.
Insomuch, that if thy former things were small, thy latter things would be multiplied exceedingly.
8 “I request you to think about what happened long ago and consider what our ancestors found out.
For inquire of the former generation, and search diligently into the memory of the fathers:
9 [It seems as though] we were born only yesterday and we know very little [HYP]; our time here on the earth [disappears quickly, like] a shadow [MET].
(For we are but of yesterday, and are ignorant that our days upon earth are but a shadow: )
10 So, why do you not allow your ancestors to teach you and tell you something? Allow them to tell you from what they learned!
And they shall teach thee: they shall speak to thee, and utter words out of their hearts.
11 Papyrus can certainly not [RHQ] grow in places where there is no marsh/swamp; reeds certainly cannot [RHQ] flourish/grow where there is no water.
Can the rush be green without moisture? or a sedge-bush grow without water?
12 [If they do not have enough water], while they are still blossoming, they wither more quickly than other plants wither.
When it is yet in flower, and is not plucked up with the hand, it withereth before all herbs.
13 Those who do not pay attention to what God says are like those [reeds]; godless people stop confidently expecting [that good things will happen to them].
Even so are the ways of all that forget God, and the hope of the hypocrite shall perish:
14 The things they confidently expect to happen do not happen; things they trust [will help them] are [as fragile as] [MET] a spider’s web.
His folly shall not please him, and his trust shall be like the spider’s web.
15 If they lean against a house (OR, trust in their wealth; OR, lean on a spider web), it does not (endure/protect them) [LIT]; they cling to things [to be protected], but those things do not remain firm.
He shall lean upon his house, and it shall not stand: he shall prop it up, and it shall not rise:
16 Godless people [are like plants] [MET] that are watered before the sun rises; their shoots spread all over the gardens.
He seemeth to have moisture before the sun cometh, and at his rising his blossom shall shoot forth.
17 The roots of those plants twist around piles of stones and cling tightly to rocks.
His roots shall be thick upon a heap of stones, and among the stones he shall abide.
18 But if those plants are pulled out, [it is as though] the place where they were planted says ‘They were never here!’ [And that is what happens to wicked people who do not heed what God says].
If one swallow him up out of his place, he shall deny him, and shall say: I know thee not.
19 Truly, evil people [MET] are not joyful [IRO] for a long time; other people come and take their places.
For this is the joy of his way, that others may spring again out of the earth.
20 :So, [I tell you, Job], God will not reject you if you are truly godly/righteous, but he does not help [IDM] evil people.
God will not cast away the simple, nor reach out his hand to the evildoer:
21 He will enable you [MTY] to continually laugh and to always shout [joyfully].
Until thy mouth be filled with laughter, and thy lips with rejoicing.
22 But those who hate you will be very ashamed, and the homes of wicked people will disappear.”
They that hate thee, shall be clothed with confusion: and the dwelling of the wicked shall not stand.
