| 1 | But Baldad the Suhite, responding, said: |
| 2 | How long will you speak this way, so that the words of your mouth are like a changeable wind? |
| 3 | Does God supplant judgment, or does the Almighty subvert that which is just? |
| 4 | And if now your children have sinned against him, and he has dismissed them into the power of their iniquity, |
| 5 | even so, you should arise early to God, so as to beseech the Almighty. |
| 6 | If you approach with purity and honesty, he will quickly be attentive to you, and a peaceful life will repay your righteousness, |
| 7 | so much so that, if your former things were small, your latter things would be multiplied greatly. |
| 8 | For inquire of the earliest generation, and investigate diligently the history of the fathers, |
| 9 | (of course, we are but of yesterday and are ignorant that our days on earth are like a shadow,) |
| 10 | and they will teach you; they will speak with you and will offer you the eloquence of their hearts. |
| 11 | Can the marsh plant live without moisture? Or can sedges grow without water? |
| 12 | When it is still in flower, and has not been pulled up by hand, it withers before all other plants. |
| 13 | Just so are the ways of all who forget God, and the hope of the hypocrite will perish. |
| 14 | His frenzy will not please him, and his faith will be like a spider's web. |
| 15 | He will lean on his house, and it will not stand; he will prop it up, but it will not rise. |
| 16 | He seems to have moisture before the sun arrives; and at sunrise, his sprout shoots forth. |
| 17 | His roots will crowd together over a heap of stones, and among the stones he will remain. |
| 18 | If someone is devoured right beside him, he will deny him and will say: "I do not know you." |
| 19 | For this is the benefit of his way, that others in turn may spring up from the earth. |
| 20 | God will not discard the simple, nor will he extend his hand to the spiteful, |
| 21 | even until your mouth is filled with laughter and your lips with rejoicing. |
| 22 | Those who hate you, will be clothed with confusion, and the tabernacle of the impious will not continue. |
