Job

1And Bildad the Shuhite answereth and saith: —

2Till when dost thou speak these things? And a strong wind — sayings of thy mouth?

3Doth God pervert judgment? And doth the Mighty One pervert justice?

4If thy sons have sinned before Him, And He doth send them away, By the hand of their transgression,

5If thou dost seek early unto God, And unto the Mighty makest supplication,

6If pure and upright thou [art], Surely now He waketh for thee, And hath completed The habitation of thy righteousness.

7And thy beginning hath been small, And thy latter end is very great.

8For, ask I pray thee of a former generation, And prepare to a search of their fathers,

9(For of yesterday we [are], and we know not, For a shadow [are] our days on earth.)

10Do they not shew thee — speak to thee, And from their heart bring forth words?

11'Doth a rush wise without mire? A reed increase without water?

12While it [is] in its budding — uncropped, Even before any herb it withereth.

13So [are] the paths of all forgetting God, And the hope of the profane doth perish,

14Whose confidence is loathsome, And the house of a spider his trust.

15He leaneth on his house — and it standeth not: He taketh hold on it — and it abideth not.

16Green he [is] before the sun, And over his garden his branch goeth out.

17By a heap his roots are wrapped, A house of stones he looketh for.

18If [one] doth destroy him from his place, Then it hath feigned concerning him, I have not seen thee!

19Lo, this [is] the joy of his way, And from the dust others spring up.'

20Lo, God doth not reject the perfect, Nor taketh hold on the hand of evil doers.

21While he filleth with laughter thy mouth, And thy lips with shouting,

22Those hating thee do put on shame, And the tent of the wicked is not!

1The Baldad the Suhite answered, and said:

2How long wilt thou speak these things, and how long shall the words of thy mouth be like a strong wind?

3Doth God pervert judgment, or doth the Almighty overthrow that which is just?

4Although thy children have sinned against him, and he hath left them in the hand of their iniquity:

5Yet if thou wilt arise early to God, and wilt beseech the Almighty:

6If thou wilt walk clean and upright, he will presently awake onto thee, and will make the dwelling of thy justice peaceable:

7Insomuch, that if thy former things were small, thy latter things would be multiplied exceedingly.

8For inquire of the former generation, and search diligently into the memory of the fathers:

9(For we are but of yesterday, and are ignorant that our days upon earth are but a shadow:)

10And they shall teach thee: they shall speak to thee, and utter words out of their hearts.

11Can the rush be green without moisture? or a sedge-bush grow without water?

12When it is yet in flower, and is not plucked up with the hand, it withereth before all herbs.

13Even so are the ways of all that forget God, and the hope of the hypocrite shall perish:

14His folly shall not please him, and his trust shall be like the spider’s web.

15He shall lean upon his house, and it shall not stand: he shall prop it up, and it shall not rise:

16He seemeth to have moisture before the sun cometh, and at his rising his blossom shall shoot forth.

17His roots shall be thick upon a heap of stones, and among the stones he shall abide.

18If one swallow him up out of his place, he shall deny him, and shall say: I know thee not.

19For this is the joy of his way, that others may spring again out of the earth.

20God will not cast away the simple, nor reach out his hand to the evildoer:

21Until thy mouth be filled with laughter, and thy lips with rejoicing.

22They that hate thee, shall be clothed with confusion: and the dwelling of the wicked shall not stand.