8:1 Then Bildad the Shuhite spoke up and said:
8:2 “How long will you speak these things, seeing that the words of your mouth are like a great wind?
8:3 Does God pervert justice? Or does the Almighty pervert what is right?
8:4 If 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 make your supplication to the Almighty,
8:6 if you become pure and upright, even now he will rouse himself for you, and will restore your righteous abode.
8:7 Your beginning will seem so small, since your future will flourish.
8:8 “For inquire now of the former generation, and pay attention to the findings of their ancestors;
8:9 For we are recent and do not have knowledge, since our days on earth are but a shadow.
8:10 Will they not instruct you and speak to you, and bring forth words from their understanding?
8:11 Can the papyrus plant grow tall where there is no marsh? Can reeds flourish without water?
8:12 While they are still in their early flowering and not ripe for cutting, they can wither away faster than any grass!
8:13 Such is the destiny of all who forget God, and the hope of the godless perishes,
8:14 whose trust is in something futile, whose security is a spider’s web.
8:15 He leans against his house but it does not hold up, he takes hold of it but it does not stand.
8:16 He is a well-watered plant in the sun, its shoots spread over its garden.
8:17 It wraps its roots around a heap of stones and it looks for a place among stones.
8:18 If he is uprooted from his place, then that place will disown him, saying, ‘I have never seen you!’