Chapter 8

  Then answered Bildad the Shuhite, and said,  

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  How long wilt thou speak these things? And [how long] shall the words of thy mouth be [like] a mighty wind?  

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  Doth God pervert justice? Or doth the Almighty pervert righteousness?  

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  If thy children have sinned against him, And he hath delivered them into the hand of their transgression;  

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  If thou wouldest seek diligently unto God, And make thy supplication to the Almighty;  

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  If thou wert pure and upright: Surely now he would awake for thee, And make the habitation of thy righteousness prosperous.  

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  And though thy beginning was small, Yet thy latter end would greatly increase.  

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  For inquire, I pray thee, of the former age, And apply thyself to that which their fathers have searched out:  

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  (For we are but of yesterday, and know nothing, Because our days upon earth are a shadow);  

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  Shall not they teach thee, and tell thee, And utter words out of their heart?  

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  Can the rush grow up without mire? Can the flag grow without water?  

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  Whilst it is yet in its greenness, [and] not cut down, It withereth before any [other] herb.  

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  So are the paths of all that forget God; And the hope of the godless man shall perish:  

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  Whose confidence shall break in sunder, And whose trust is a spider's web.  

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  He shall lean upon his house, but it shall not stand: He shall hold fast thereby, but it shall not endure.  

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  He is green before the sun, And his shoots go forth over his garden.  

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  His roots are wrapped about the [stone] -heap, He beholdeth the place of stones.  

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  If he be destroyed from his place, Then it shall deny him, [saying], I have not seen thee.  

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  Behold, this is the joy of his way; And out of the earth shall others spring.  

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  Behold, God will not cast away a perfect man, Neither will he uphold the evil-doers.  

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  He will yet fill thy mouth with laughter, And thy lips with shouting.  

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  They that hate thee shall be clothed with shame; And the tent of the wicked shall be no more.  

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