1Then answered Bildad the Shuhite, and said,

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

3Doth God pervert justice?
Or doth the Almighty pervert righteousness?

4If thy children have sinned against him,
And he hath delivered them into the hand of their transgression;

5If thou wouldest seek diligently unto God,
And make thy supplication to the Almighty;

6If thou wert pure and upright:
Surely now he would awake for thee,
And make the habitation of thy righteousness prosperous.

7And though thy beginning was small,
Yet thy latter end would greatly increase.

8For inquire, I pray thee, of the former age,
And apply thyself to that which their fathers have searched out

9(For we are but of yesterday, and know nothing,
Because our days upon earth are a shadow);

10Shall not they teach thee, and tell thee,
And utter words out of their heart?

11Can the rush grow up without mire?
Can the flag grow without water?

12While it is yet in its greenness, and not cut down,
It withereth before any other herb.

13So are the paths of all that forget God;
And the hope of the godless man shall perish:

14Whose confidence shall break in sunder,
And whose trust is a spider’s web.

15He shall lean upon his house, but it shall not stand:
He shall hold fast thereby, but it shall not endure.

16He is green before the sun,
And his shoots go forth over his garden.

17His roots are wrapped about the stone heap,
He beholdeth the place of stones.

18If he be destroyed from his place,
Then it shall deny him, saying, I have not seen thee.

19Behold, this is the joy of his way;
And out of the earth shall others spring.

20Behold, God will not cast away a perfect man,
Neither will he uphold the evildoers.

21He will yet fill thy mouth with laughter,
And thy lips with shouting.

22They that hate thee shall be clothed with shame;
And the tent of the wicked shall be no more.