| 1 | Then Bildad the Shuhite answered, |
| 2 | "How long will you speak these things? Shall the words of your mouth be a mighty wind? |
| 3 | Does God pervert justice? Or does the Almighty pervert righteousness? |
| 4 | If your children have sinned against him, He has delivered them into the hand of their disobedience. |
| 5 | If you want to seek God diligently, make your supplication to the Almighty. |
| 6 | If you were pure and upright, surely now he would awaken for you, and make the habitation of your righteousness prosperous. |
| 7 | Though your beginning was small, yet your latter end would greatly increase. |
| 8 | "Please inquire of past generations. Find out about the learning of their fathers. |
| 9 | (For we are but of yesterday, and know nothing, because our days on earth are a shadow.) |
| 10 | Shall they not teach you, tell you, and utter words out of their heart? |
| 11 | "Can the papyrus grow up without mire? Can the rushes grow without water? |
| 12 | While it is yet in its greenness, not cut down, it withers before any other reed. |
| 13 | So are the paths of all who forget God. The hope of the godless man shall perish, |
| 14 | Whose confidence shall break apart, Whose trust is a spider's web. |
| 15 | He shall lean on his house, but it shall not stand. He shall cling to it, but it shall not endure. |
| 16 | He is green before the sun. His shoots go forth over his garden. |
| 17 | His roots are wrapped around the rock pile. He sees the place of stones. |
| 18 | If he is destroyed from his place, then it shall deny him, saying, 'I have not seen you.' |
| 19 | Behold, this is the joy of his way: out of the earth, others shall spring. |
| 20 | "Behold, God will not cast away a blameless man, neither will he uphold the evildoers. |
| 21 | He will still fill your mouth with laughter, your lips with shouting. |
| 22 | Those who hate you shall be clothed with shame. The tent of the wicked shall be no more." |
