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Bildad the Shuhite answered:
2 “How long will you go on saying such things?
The words of your mouth are like a blustering wind.
3 Does God pervert justice?
Does the Almighty pervert what is right?
4 If your children have sinned against Him,
He gave them over to the penalty for their transgression.
5 But if you earnestly seek God,
and plead for mercy to the Almighty,
6 if you are pure and upright,
surely now He would rouse Himself on your behalf
and prosper you in your rightful dwelling place.
7 Then your beginnings will seem modest,
and your future days will bring great prosperity.
8 “Ask of the previous generations,
and consider what their fathers discovered,
9 for we were born only yesterday and know nothing,
and our days on earth are but a shadow.
10 Will they not teach you and tell you,
and speak of things from their understanding?
11 “Does papyrus grow where there is no marsh?
Can the reeds grow without water?
12 While they are still green and uncut,
they can wither before any other plant.
13 Such are the paths of all who forget God;
and the hope of the godless will perish.
14 His source of confidence is fragile;
what he trust in is a spider’s web.
15 He leans on his house, but it does not hold fast.
He grasps after it, but it cannot hold up,
16 He is like a green watered plant in the sun,
and his shoots spread out over the garden.
17 His roots wrap around a heap of rocks,
and he looks for a place among the stones.
18 But when he is torn from his place,
it will deny him, saying, ‘I never knew you’.
19 Behold, this is the joy of his lot in life,
then from the soil others spring forth.
20 “Behold, God does not reject a blameless man,
nor will He strengthen the hands of evil doers.
21 He will yet fill your mouth with laughter,
and your lips with rejoicing.
22 Those who hate you will be clothed with shame,
and the tents of the wicked will be no more.”