[1] Then Bildad the Shuhite answered and said:
[2] “How long will you say these things, and the words of your mouth be a great wind?
[3] “Does God pervert justice? Or does the Almighty pervert the right?
[4] “If your children have sinned against him, he has delivered them into the hand of their transgression.
[5] “If you will seek God and plead with the Almighty for mercy,
[6] “if you are pure and upright, surely then he will rouse himself for you and restore your rightful habitation.
[7] “And though your beginning was small, your latter days will be very great.
[8] “For inquire, please, of bygone ages, and consider what the fathers have searched out.
[9] “For we are but of yesterday and know nothing, for our days on earth are a shadow.
[10] “Will they not teach you and tell you and utter words out of their understanding?
[11] “Can papyrus grow where there is no marsh? Can reeds flourish where there is no water?
[12] “While yet in flower and not cut down, they wither before any other plant.
[13] “Such are the paths of all who forget God; the hope of the godless shall perish.
[14] “His confidence is severed, and his trust is a spider’s web.
[15] “He leans against his house, but it does not stand; he lays hold of it, but it does not endure.
[16] “He is a lush plant before the sun, and his shoots spread over his garden.
[17] “His roots entwine the stone heap; he looks upon a house of stones.
[18] “If he is destroyed from his place, then it will deny him, saying, ‘I have never seen you.’
[19] “Behold, this is the joy of his way, and out of the soil others will spring.
[20] “Behold, God will not reject a blameless man, nor take the hand of evildoers.
[21] “He will yet fill your mouth with laughter, and your lips with shouting.
[22] “Those who hate you will be clothed with shame, and the tent of the wicked will be no more.”