Job 8

8 ¹Then Bildad the Shuhite answered: ²"How long will you go on speaking such things? The words of your mouth are nothing but a roaring wind. ³Does God pervert justice? Does the Almighty pervert what is right? ⁴If your children sinned against him, he handed them over to the consequence of their rebellion. ⁵But if you will earnestly seek God and plead with the Almighty for mercy, ⁶if you are pure and upright, surely now he will rouse himself for you and restore you to your rightful place. ⁷Though your beginning was small, your later years will flourish beyond measure. ⁸Ask the generations long past, and consider what their fathers searched out. ⁹For we were born just yesterday and know nothing; our days on earth are but a shadow. ¹⁰Will they not teach you and tell you, and bring forth words from their understanding? ¹¹Can papyrus grow tall where there is no marsh? Can reeds flourish without water? ¹²While still green and uncut, it withers faster than any grass. ¹³Such is the destiny of all who forget God; so perishes the hope of the godless. ¹⁴His confidence is fragile, and his trust is a spider's web. ¹⁵He leans on his house, but it does not stand; he holds fast to it, but it does not endure. ¹⁶He is like a well-watered plant in the sunshine, spreading its shoots over the garden. ¹⁷Its roots wrap around a heap of stones and search among the rocks for a place to grip. ¹⁸But when he is torn from his place, it disowns him, saying, 'I never saw you.' ¹⁹Such is the joy of his way—and from the soil others spring up in his place. ²⁰God will not reject a blameless man, nor will he lend a hand to evildoers. ²¹He will yet fill your mouth with laughter and your lips with shouts of joy. ²²Those who hate you will be clothed with shame, and the tent of the wicked will be no more."