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." |