1Then Bildad the Shuhite answered and said,

2“How long will you say these things?
How long will the words of your mouth be a mighty wind?

3Does God pervert justice?
Does the Almighty pervert righteousness?

4Your children have sinned against him;
we know this, for he gave them into the hand of their sins.

5But suppose you diligently sought God
and presented your request to the Almighty.

6If you are pure and upright,
then he would surely stir himself on your behalf
and restore you to your rightful place.

7Even though your beginning was small,
still your final condition would be much greater.

8Please ask the former generations,
and give your attention to what our ancestors learned.

9(We were only born yesterday and know nothing
because our days on earth are a shadow).

10Will they not teach you and tell you?
Will they not speak words from their hearts?

11Can papyrus grow without a marsh?
Can reeds grow without water?

12While they are still green and not cut down,
they wither before any other plant.

13So also are the paths of all who forget God;
the hope of the godless will perish.

14His confidence will break apart,
and his trust is as weak as a spider's web.

15He leans on his house, but it will not support him;
he takes hold of it, but it does not stand.

16Under the sun he is green,
and his shoots go out over his entire garden.

17His roots are wrapped about the heaps of stone;
they look for good places among the rocks.

18But if this person is destroyed out of his place,
then that place will deny him and say, 'I never saw you.'

19See, this is the “joy” of such a person's behavior;
other plants will sprout out of the same soil in his place.

20See, God will not cast away an innocent man;
neither will he take the hand of evildoers.

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

22Those who hate you will be clothed with shame;
the tent of the wicked will be no more.”