JOB 8
Bildad Speaks: Job Should Repent
[1] Then Bildad the Shuhite answered and said:
[2] “How long will you say these things,
and the words of your mouth be a great wind?
[3] Does God pervert justice?
Or does the Almighty pervert the right?
[4] If your children have sinned against him,
he has delivered them into the hand of their transgression.
[5] If you will seek God
and plead with the Almighty for mercy,
[6] if you are pure and upright,
surely then he will rouse himself for you
and restore your rightful habitation.
[7] And though your beginning was small,
your latter days will be very great.
[8] “For inquire, please, of bygone ages,
and consider what the fathers have searched out.
[9] For we are but of yesterday and know nothing,
for our days on earth are a shadow.
[10] Will 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?
[12] While yet in flower and not cut down,
they wither before any other plant.
[13] Such are the paths of all who forget God;
the hope of the godless shall perish.
[14] His confidence is severed,
and his trust is a spider’s web.
[15] He leans against his house, but it does not stand;
he lays hold of it, but it does not endure.
[16] He is a lush plant before the sun,
and his shoots spread over his garden.
[17] His roots entwine the stone heap;
he looks upon a house of stones.
[18] If he is destroyed from his place,
then it will deny him, saying, ‘I have never seen you.’
[19] Behold, this is the joy of his way,
and out of the soil others will spring.
[20] “Behold, God will not reject a blameless man,
nor take the hand of evildoers.
[21] He will yet fill your mouth with laughter,
and your lips with shouting.
[22] Those who hate you will be clothed with shame,
and the tent of the wicked will be no more.” (ESV)
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