8 Then Bildad (from Shuah) answered:

2 For how much longer will you keep saying that stuff?

The words coming out of your mouth are like a strong wind.

3 Does God pervert justice?

Does the provider pervert what is right?

4 If your children sinned against him,

then he let their disobedience take them on.

5 If you genuinely search for God,

and you request a favour from the provider,

6 and if you’re pure and honourable,

he’ll rouse himself to help you

and restore your rightful home.

7 Your beginning started off small,

but your ending will see a large increase.

8 Why don’t you ask previous generations,

≈and consider what their ancestors had learnt,

9 because we were born just ‘yesterday’

and don’t know anything.

Our days on the earth are just a shadow in comparison.

10 Won’t they speak to you and teach you?

They’ll advise from their understanding.

11 Can papyrus grow tall where there’s no swamp?

Can reeds grow where there’s no water?

12 They’re not harvested when they’re still flowering,

but they wither before any other plants.

13 The paths of people who forget God are like them.

The hope of godless people will just disappear.

14 Their confidence snaps,

and their trust is broken like a spider’s web.

15 He leans against his house but it collapses.

He takes hold of it, but it doesn’t stand again.

16 It’s a fresh plant in the sunshine,

and its shoots spread out over the garden.

17 Its roots are twisted around over a heap.

They find the cracks between stones.

18 If it’s destroyed from its place,

it’ll deny that it even saw you.

19 That’s the happiness of its path.

Another one will spring up from the dust.

20 God doesn’t reject people who’re blameless.

And he doesn’t join in with those who do evil.

21 He’ll still fill your mouth with laughter,

≈and your lips with a happy shout.

22 Those who hate you will be exposed and shamed,

and the homes of wicked people will cease to exist.