| | 1 | Then Bildad the Shuhite replied: | |
| | 2 | "How long will you say such things? Your words are a blustering wind. | |
| | 3 | Does God pervert justice? Does the Almighty pervert what is right? | |
| | 4 | When your children sinned against him, he gave them over to the penalty of their sin. | |
| | 5 | But if you will look to God and plead with the Almighty, | |
| | 6 | if you are pure and upright, even now he will rouse himself on your behalf and restore you to your rightful place. | |
| | 7 | Your beginnings will seem humble, so prosperous will your future be. | |
| | 8 | "Ask the former generations and find out what their fathers learned, | |
| | 9 | for we were born only yesterday and know nothing, and our days on earth are but a shadow. | |
| | 10 | Will they not instruct you and tell you? Will they not bring forth words from their understanding? | |
| | 11 | Can papyrus grow tall where there is no marsh? Can reeds thrive without water? | |
| | 12 | While still growing and uncut, they wither more quickly than grass. | |
| | 13 | Such is the destiny of all who forget God; so perishes the hope of the godless. | |
| | 14 | What he trusts in is fragile; what he relies on is a spider's web. | |
| | 15 | He leans on his web, but it gives way; he clings to it, but it does not hold. | |
| | 16 | He is like a well-watered plant in the sunshine, spreading its shoots over the garden; | |
| | 17 | it entwines its roots around a pile of rocks and looks for a place among the stones. | |
| | 18 | But when it is torn from its spot, that place disowns it and says, 'I never saw you.' | |
| | 19 | Surely its life withers away, and from the soil other plants grow. | |
| | 20 | "Surely God does not reject a blameless man or strengthen the hands of evildoers. | |
| | 21 | He will yet fill your mouth with laughter and your lips with shouts of joy. | |
| | 22 | Your enemies will be clothed in shame, and the tents of the wicked will be no more." | |
