Job, 8

¹ Bilʹdad the Shuʹhite then said in reply:

² “How long will you keep speaking like this? The words of your mouth are but a mighty wind!

³ Will God pervert justice, Or will the Almighty pervert righteousness?

⁴ If your sons sinned against him, He let them be punished for their revolt;^*1

⁵ But if you would just look to God And plead with the Almighty for favor,

⁶ And if you were truly pure and upright, He would pay attention to you^*1 And restore you to your rightful place.

⁷ And though your beginning was small, Your future would be great.

⁸ Ask, please, the former generation, And pay attention to the things their fathers found out.

⁹ For we were born only yesterday, and we know nothing, Because our days on earth are a shadow.

¹⁰ Will they not instruct you And tell you what they know?^*1

¹¹ Will a papyrus plant grow tall where there is no marsh? Will a reed grow tall without water?

¹² While it is still in the bud, not yet plucked off, It will dry up before any other plant.

¹³ This is the outcome^*1 of all who forget God, For the hope of the godless^*2 will perish,

¹⁴ Whose confidence is in vain And whose trust is as fragile as a spider’s web.^*1

¹⁵ He will lean against his house, but it will not keep standing; He will try to hold on to it, but it will not last.

¹⁶ He is a moist plant in the sunlight, And his shoots spread out in the garden.

¹⁷ In a heap of stones, his roots become entwined; He looks for a house among the stones.^*1

¹⁸ But when he is uprooted^*1 from his place, That place will deny him and say, ‘I have never seen you.’

¹⁹ Yes, that is how he will disappear;^*1 Then others will spring up from the dust.

²⁰ Surely God will not reject those who keep integrity;^*1 Nor will he support^*2 evil men,

²¹ For he will yet fill your mouth with laughter And your lips with shouts of joy.

²² Those hating you will be clothed with shame, And the tent of wicked ones will be no more.”