1. Then Bildad the Shuhite spoke up and said:
2. “How long will you speak these things,
2. seeing that the words of your mouth
2. are like a great wind?
3. Does God pervert justice?
3. Or does the Almighty pervert what is right?
4. If your children sinned against him,
4. he gave them over to the penalty of their sin.
5. But if you will look to God,
5. and make your supplication to the Almighty,
6. if you become pure and upright,
6. even now he will rouse himself for you,
6. and will restore your righteous abode.
7. Your beginning will seem so small,
7. since your future will flourish.
8. “For inquire now of the former generation,
8. and pay attention to the findings
8. of their ancestors;
9. For we were born yesterday and do not have knowledge,
9. since our days on earth are but a shadow.
10. Will they not instruct you and speak to you,
10. and bring forth words
10. from their understanding?
11. Can the papyrus plant grow tall where there is no marsh?
11. Can reeds flourish without water?
12. While they are still beginning to flower
12. and not ripe for cutting,
12. they can wither away
12. faster than any grass!
13. Such is the destiny of all who forget God;
13. the hope of the godless perishes,
14. whose trust is in something futile,
14. whose security is a spider’s web.
15. He leans against his house but it does not hold up,
15. he takes hold of it but it does not stand.
16. He is a well-watered plant in the sun,
16. its shoots spread over its garden.
17. It wraps its roots around a heap of stones
17. and it looks for a place among stones.
18. If he is uprooted from his place,
18. then that place will disown him, saying,
18. ‘I have never seen you!’
19. Indeed, this is the joy of his way,
19. and out of the earth others spring up.
20. “Surely, God does not reject a blameless man,
20. nor does he grasp the hand
20. of the evildoers.
21. He will yet fill your mouth with laughter,
21. and your lips with gladness.
22. Those who hate you will be clothed with shame,
22. and the tent of the wicked will be no more.”