Job 8:1-22
8 And Bildad the Shuhite answered
2 “Till when will you keep up this talkand shall the words of your mouth be a big wind?
3 Will Deity play tricks with justiceor Shaddai with right?
4 * If your sons sinned against himhe let them bear the consequences of their crime;
5 If you will direct your quest toward Deityand beseech Shaddai,
6 * If you are pure and right-mindedhe will rouse for you nowand revive your righteous standing,
7 And your past will have been littleand your future will be right ample.
8 For ask a past generationand observe their fathers’ researches,
9 ** Because we are yesterday’s growth; we do not know;for our days on earth are a shadow.
10 Will not they instruct you, tell you,and bring out words from their hearts?
11 Will papyrus stalks make a jungle in anything but a morass?will reeds thrive without water?
12 Still unripe, unplucked,before any grass they dry out.
13 * Such are the paths of all who forget Deity,and the hope of an irreligious man comes to nothing,
14 One whose reliance is a gossamerand the object of his confidence is a spider’s tent.
15 He leans on his house and does not stand,takes hold of it and does not get on his feet.
16 * He is lush before the sunand his runners run out over his garden,
17 ** His roots are matted about a stone-heap,he takes hold of a structure of rocks.
18 If He annihilates him from his placeit will disavow him, ‘I never saw you.’
19 * That is the triumphant climax of his career,and another sprouts up from the ground.
20 * Deity does not repudiate a conscientious mannor lend a hand to evil-doers.
21 * He will yet fill your mouth with laughterand your lips with hurrahs.
22 Those who hate you will be wrapped in shame,and wrong-doers’ tent will be nowhere.”
Footnotes
^ 8:4 Lit. let them go into the hands of
^ 8:6 Lit. over you
^ 8:9 Lit. are yesterday
^ 8:9 Var. and our days on earth are like a shadow
^ 8:13 Var. Such is the future of
^ 8:16 (his garden) Susp.
^ 8:17 Codd. he beholds a
^ 8:17 Lit. a house of stones
^ 8:19 Lit. There, that is the joy of his course
^ 8:20 Lit. nor hold the hands of
^ 8:21 Codd.* Till he fills
