1And Bildad the Shuhite answered and said,

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

3Doth ²¹God pervert judgment, and the Almighty pervert justice?

4If thy children have sinned against him, he hath also given them over into the hand of their transgression.

5If thou seek earnestly unto ²²God, and make thy supplication to the Almighty,

6If thou be pure and upright, surely now he will awake for thee, and make the habitation of thy righteousness prosperous;

7And though thy beginning was small, yet thine end shall be very great.

8For inquire, I pray thee, of the former generation, and attend to the researches of their fathers;

9For we are [but] of yesterday, and know nothing, for our days upon earth are a shadow.

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

11Doth the papyrus shoot up without mire? doth the reed-grass grow without water?

12Whilst it is yet in its greenness [and] not cut down, it withereth before any [other] grass.

13So are the paths of all that forget ²³God; and the profane man's hope shall perish,

14Whose confidence shall be cut off, and his reliance is a spider's web.

15He shall lean upon his house, and it shall not stand; he shall lay hold on it, but it shall not endure.

16He is full of sap before the sun, and his sprout shooteth forth over his garden;

17His roots are entwined about the stoneheap; he seeth the place of stones.

18If he destroy him from his place, then it shall deny him: I have not seen thee!

19Behold, this is the joy of his way, and out of the dust shall others grow.

20Behold, ²⁴God will not cast off a perfect man, neither will he take evil-doers by the hand.

21Whilst he would fill thy mouth with laughing and thy lips with shouting,

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