• Bildad Claims God Rewards the Good

  • 1 Then Bildad the Shuhite answered and said,
  • 2 “How long will you say these things, And the words of your mouth be a mighty wind?
  • 3 “Does God pervert justice? Or does the Almighty pervert what is right?
  • 4 “If your sons sinned against Him, Then He sent them into the power of their transgression.
  • 5 “If you would seek God earnestly And plead for the grace of the Almighty,
  • 6 If you are pure and upright, Indeed now He would rouse Himself for you And make your righteous abode at peace.
  • 7 “Though your beginning was insignificant, Yet your end will increase greatly.
  • 8 “Please ask of past generations, And establish the things searched out by their fathers.
  • 9 “For we are only of yesterday and know nothing, Because our days on earth are but a shadow.
  • 10 “Will they not instruct you and tell you, And bring forth words from their hearts?
  • 11 “Can the papyrus grow up without a marsh? Can the rushes grow without water?
  • 12 “While it is still green and not cut down, Yet it dries up before any other plant.
  • 13 “So are the paths of all who forget God; And the hope of the godless will perish,
  • 14 Whose confidence is fragile, And whose trust a spider’s web.
  • 15 “He relies on his house, but it does not stand; He holds fast to it, but it is not established.
  • 16 “He thrives before the sun, And his shoots go forth over his garden.
  • 17 “His roots wrap around a rock pile; He looks upon a house of stones.
  • 18 “If He swallows him up from his place, Then it will deny him, saying, ‘I never saw you.’
  • 19 “Behold, this is the joy of His way; And out of the dust others will spring.
  • 20 “Behold, God will not reject a blameless man, Nor will He strengthen the hand of the 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 longer.”