[1] Then the second of Job's three friends, Bildad the Shuhite, addressed Job. [2] Bildad: How long will you say these things, your words whipping through air like a powerful wind? [3] Does God corrupt justice, or does the Highest One corrupt the good? [4] If your children sinned against Him, He merely administered the punishment due them for those sins. [5] But if you search for God and make your appeal to the Highest One, [6] If you are pure and righteous, I have no doubt He will arise for you and restore you to your righteous place. [7] From your modest beginnings, the future will be bright before you. [8] Ask those who have come and gone! Explore what their fathers learned and taught them. [9] For we are not of ages past, nor even of years gone by. We are ignorant creatures of yesterday, and our time on earth is only a shadow. [10] But the ancients are not similarly bound, are they? Won't they speak to and instruct you? Won't they draw up words from deep within? [11] Can papyrus grow tall without a marsh? Can reeds flourish without water? [12] Even if they are hardy and unbroken, without water they will dry up before any other plant. [13] So it goes with any who forget God. The hope of the godless soon withers and dies. [14] His confidence breaks, for he trusts in the tenuous threads of a spider's web. [15] When he leans into his house of silken threads for support, it won't hold; Though his arms grab to steady him, it will break-he will fall and never get back up. [16] Still the godless appears to be a hardy plant, thriving in full sun, sending his shoots across the garden. [17] The roots twine and grip the stone heap and search for a home among the rocks. [18] If he is pulled up, the place will disown him saying, "I have never seen you." [19] See, his sole joy consists of this: knowing that others will spring from the earth to take his place. [20] Do you see it? God will not reject the innocent; He will not reject you or support agents of evil. [21] He will fill your mouth with laughter; your lips will spill over into cries of delight. [22] Those who hate you will don the garment of shame, and the home of the wicked will disappear.
