Bildad’s First Response to Job

1 ThenBildad the Shuhite answered and said,

2 “How longwill you say these things,

and the words of your mouth be a mighty wind?

3 Does God pervert justice,

orShaddai pervert righteousness?

4 If your children sinned against him,

thenhe sent them into the powerof their transgression.

5 If you yourselfwould seek God,

thenyou would plead to Shaddai for grace.

6 If you are pure and upright,

indeed,now he will rouse himself for you,

and he will restore your righteous abode.

7 Thoughyour beginning was small,

your endwill be very great.

8 “Indeed,please inquire of former generations,

and consider what their ancestors have found,

9 for we are of yesterday, and we do not know,

for our days on earth are a shadow.

10 Will they themselvesnot teach you and tell you

and utterwords from their heart?

11 Can papyrus grow tall where there is not a marsh?

Will reeds flourish without water?

12 While it is in its flower and is not plucked,

yetit withers beforeall grass.

13 So are the paths of all who forget God;

and the hope of the godless will perish,

14 whose confidence is cut off

and whose trustis a spider’s house.

15 He will lean himself against his house, butit will not stand;

he will take hold of it, butit will not endure.

16 He is thrivingbeforethe sun,

and his plant shoots spread over his garden.

17 His roots twine over a stone heap;

he sees a house of stone.

18 If he destroys him from his place,

thenit deceives him, saying, ‘I have never seen you.’

19 Look, this is the joy of his way,

and from dust others will spring up.

20 “Look, God will not reject the blameless,

and he will not uphold the hand of evildoers.

21 Yet he will fill your mouth with laughter

and your lips with a shout of joy.

22 Those who hate you will be clothed with shame,

and the tent of the wicked will be no more.”