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[1]And Bildad the Shuhite answereth and saith: --
[2]Till when dost thou speak these things? And a strong wind -- sayings of thy mouth?
[3]Doth God pervert judgment? And doth the Mighty One pervert justice?
[4]If thy sons have sinned before Him, And He doth send them away, By the hand of their transgression,
[5]If thou dost seek early unto God, And unto the Mighty makest supplication,
[6]If pure and upright thou [art], Surely now He waketh for thee, And hath completed The habitation of thy righteousness.
[7]And thy beginning hath been small, And thy latter end is very great.
[8]For, 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.)
[10]Do 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?
[12]While it [is] in its budding -- uncropt, Even before any herb it withereth.
[13]So [are] the paths of all forgetting God, And the hope of the profane doth perish,
[14]Whose confidence is loathsome, And the house of a spider his trust.
[15]He leaneth on his house -- and it standeth not: He taketh hold on it -- and it abideth not.
[16]Green he [is] before the sun, And over his garden his branch goeth out.
[17]By a heap his roots are wrapped, A house of stones he looketh for.
[18]If [one] doth destroy him from his place, Then it hath feigned concerning him, I have not seen thee!
[19]Lo, this [is] the joy of his way, And from the dust others spring up.'
[20]Lo, God doth not reject the perfect, Nor taketh hold on the hand of evil doers.
[21]While he filleth with laughter thy mouth, And thy lips with shouting,
[22]Those hating thee do put on shame, And the tent of the wicked is not!
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