Job 8

1 Then Bildad, from [the] Shuah [area], spoke to Job. He said,

Then answered Bildad the Shuhite, and saide,

2 “Job, how much longer will you talk like this? What you say is [only] hot air.

Howe long wilt thou talke of these things? and howe long shall the wordes of thy mouth be as a mightie winde?

3 Almighty God certainly never does [RHQ] what is unfair/unjust. He always does [LIT] what is right/fair.

Doeth God peruert iudgement? or doeth the Almightie subuert iustice?

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.

If thy sonnes haue sinned against him, and he hath sent them into the place of their iniquitie,

5 But, if you will [now] earnestly request [DOU] Almighty [God] to help you,

Yet if thou wilt early seeke vnto God, and pray to the Almightie,

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 be pure and vpright, then surely hee will awake vp vnto thee, and he wil make the habitation of thy righteousnesse prosperous.

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.

And though thy beginning be small, yet thy latter ende shall greatly encrease.

8 “I request you to think about what happened long ago and consider what our ancestors found out.

Inquire therefore, I pray thee, of the former age, and prepare thy selfe to search of their 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: for our dayes vpon earth are but a shadowe)

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!

Shall not they teach thee and tell thee, and vtter the wordes of their heart?

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 a rush grow without myre? or can ye grasse growe without water?

12 [If they do not have enough water], while they are still blossoming, they wither more quickly than other plants wither.

Though it were in greene and not cutte downe, yet shall it wither before any other herbe.

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].

So are the paths of al that forget God, and the hypocrites hope 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 confidence also shalbe cut off, and his trust shalbe as the house of a spyder.

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 leane vpon his house, but it shall not stand: he shall holde him fast by it, yet shall it not endure.

16 Godless people [are like plants] [MET] that are watered before the sun rises; their shoots spread all over the gardens.

The tree is greene before the sunne, and the branches spread ouer the garden thereof.

17 The roots of those plants twist around piles of stones and cling tightly to rocks.

The rootes thereof are wrapped about the fountaine, and are folden about ye house of stones.

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 any plucke it from his place, and it denie, saying, I haue not seene thee,

19 Truly, evil people [MET] are not joyful [IRO] for a long time; other people come and take their places.

Beholde, it will reioyce by this meanes, that it may growe in another molde.

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.

Behold, God will not cast away an vpright man, neither will he take the wicked by the hand,

21 He will enable you [MTY] to continually laugh and to always shout [joyfully].

Till he haue filled thy mouth with laughter, and thy lippes with ioy.

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 shame, and the dwelling of the wicked shall not remaine.