Bildad: Job Should Repent

² “How long will you speak these things,
And the words of your mouth be like a strong wind?

³ Does God subvert judgment?
Or does the Almighty pervert justice?

⁴ If your sons have sinned against Him,
He has cast them away for their transgression.

⁵ If you would earnestly seek God
And make your supplication to the Almighty,

⁶ If you were pure and upright,
Surely now He would awake for you,
And prosper your rightful dwelling place.

⁷ Though your beginning was small,
Yet your latter end would increase abundantly.

⁸ “For inquire, please, of the former age,
And consider the things discovered by their fathers;

⁹ For we were born yesterday, and know nothing,
Because our days on earth are a shadow.

¹⁰ Will they not teach you and tell you,
And utter words from their heart?

¹¹ “Can the papyrus grow up without a marsh?
Can the reeds flourish without water?

¹² While it is yet green and not cut down,
It withers before any other plant.

¹³ So are the paths of all who forget God;
And the hope of the hypocrite shall perish,

¹⁴ Whose confidence shall be cut off,
And whose trust is a spider’s web.

¹⁵ He leans on his house, but it does not stand.
He holds it fast, but it does not endure.

¹⁶ He grows green in the sun,
And his branches spread out in his garden.

¹⁷ His roots wrap around the rock heap,
And look for a place in the stones.

¹⁸ If he is destroyed from his place,
Then it will deny him, saying, ‘I have not seen you.’

¹⁹ “ Behold, this is the joy of His way,
And out of the earth others will grow.

²⁰ Behold, God will not cast away the blameless,
Nor will He uphold the evildoers.

²¹ He will yet fill your mouth with laughing,
And your lips with rejoicing.

²² Those who hate you will be clothed with shame,
And the dwelling place of the wicked will come to nothing.”^[a]