Capítulo 8

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 seek God earnestly 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 prosperous state.

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

8 - "Ask the former generation and find out what their ancestors 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 they trust in is fragile The meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain.; what they rely on is a spider's web.

15 - They lean on the web, but it gives way; they cling to it, but it does not hold.

16 - They are 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 Or [Surely all the joy it has / is that] from the soil other plants grow.

20 - "Surely God does not reject one who is blameless 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."