1 Then Bildad the Shuhite answered,

2 "How long will you speak these things?

Shall the words of your mouth be a mighty wind?

3 Does God pervert justice?

Or does the Almighty pervert righteousness?

4 If your children have sinned against him,

he has delivered them into the hand of their disobedience.

5 If you want to seek God diligently,

make your supplication to the Almighty.

6 If you were pure and upright,

surely now he would awaken for you,

and make the habitation of your righteousness prosperous.

7 Though your beginning was small,

yet your latter end would greatly increase.

8 "Please inquire of past generations.

Find out about the learning of their fathers.

9 (For we are but of yesterday, and know nothing,

because our days on earth are a shadow.)

10 Shall they not teach you, tell you,

and utter words out of their heart?

11 "Can the papyrus grow up without mire?

Can the rushes grow without water?

12 While it is yet in its greenness, not cut down,

it withers before any other reed.

13 So are the paths of all who forget God.

The hope of the godless man will perish,

14 whose confidence will break apart,

whose trust is a spider’s web.

15 He will lean on his house, but it will not stand.

He will cling to it, but it will not endure.

16 He is green before the sun.

His shoots go out along his garden.

17 His roots are wrapped around the rock pile.

He sees the place of stones.

18 If he is destroyed from his place,

then it will deny him, saying, ‘I have not seen you.’

19 Behold, this is the joy of his way.

Out of the earth, others will spring.

20 "Behold, God will not cast away a blameless man,

neither will he uphold the evildoers.

21 He will still fill your mouth with laughter,

your lips with shouting.

22 Those who hate you will be clothed with shame.

The tent of the wicked will be no more."

1 Then Bildad, the Shuhite, answered and said,

2 How long wilt thou speak such things and [how long shall] the words of thy mouth [be like] a strong wind?

3 Shall God pervert that which is right or shall the Almighty pervert justice?

4 Because thy sons sinned against him, he cast them away in the place of their rebellion;

5 if thou would seek God early and make thy supplication to the Almighty,

6 if thou [wert] pure and upright, surely now he would awake upon thee and make the habitation of thy righteousness prosperous.

7 [In such a way] that thy beginning would have been small, [in comparison] to the great increase of thy latter.

8 Ask, I pray thee, of the former age, and be willing to enquire of thy fathers regarding them;

9 for we are but of yesterday and know nothing because our days upon earth are as a shadow.

10 Shall they not teach thee [and] tell thee and utter [these] words out of their heart?

11 Can the rush grow up without mire? Can the meadow grow without water?

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

13 So [are] the paths of all that forget God, and the hypocrite's hope shall perish.

14 For his hope shall be cut off, and his trust is a spider's web.

15 He shall lean upon his house, but it shall not stand; he shall hold it fast, but it shall not endure.

16 [Like a tree], he [is] green before the sun, and his branches go forth over his garden;

17 his roots weave themselves around a spring [and] secure themselves even in a stony place.

18 If he is uprooted from his place, then [it] shall deny him, saying, I have not seen thee.

19 Behold, this [is] the joy of his way, and out of the earth from where he was [transplanted] others, shall grow.

20 Behold, God will not cast away a perfect [man]; neither will he help the evil doers.

21 He will yet fill thy mouth with laughing and thy lips with shouts of joy.

22 Those that hate thee shall be clothed with shame, and the dwelling place of the wicked shall come to nought.: