8:1 Then Bildad the Shuhite replied:

8:2 "How long will you say such things? Your words are a blustering wind.

8:3 Does God pervert justice? Does the Almighty pervert what is right?

8:4 When your children sinned against him, he gave them over to the penalty of their sin.

8:5 But if you will look to God and plead with the Almighty,

8:6 if you are pure and upright, even now he will rouse himself on your behalf and restore you to your rightful place.

8:7 Your beginnings will seem humble, so prosperous will your future be.

8:8 "Ask the former generations and find out what their fathers learned,

8:9 for we were born only yesterday and know nothing, and our days on earth are but a shadow.

8:10 Will they not instruct you and tell you? Will they not bring forth words from their understanding?

8:11 Can papyrus grow tall where there is no marsh? Can reeds thrive without water?

8:12 While still growing and uncut, they wither more quickly than grass.

8:13 Such is the destiny of all who forget God; so perishes the hope of the godless.

8:14 What he trusts in is fragile; what he relies on is a spider's web.

8:15 He leans on his web, but it gives way; he clings to it, but it does not hold.

8:16 He is like a well-watered plant in the sunshine, spreading its shoots over the garden;

8:17 it entwines its roots around a pile of rocks and looks for a place among the stones.

8:18 But when it is torn from its spot, that place disowns it and says, 'I never saw you.'

8:19 Surely its life withers away, and from the soil other plants grow.

8:20 "Surely God does not reject a blameless man or strengthen the hands of evildoers.

8:21 He will yet fill your mouth with laughter and your lips with shouts of joy.

8:22 Your enemies will be clothed in shame, and the tents of the wicked will be no more."