8:1 Then Bildad the Shuhite answered and said: 8:2 "How long will you say these things, and the words of your mouth be a great wind 8:3 Does God pervert justice Or does the Almighty pervert the right 8:4 If your children have sinned against him, he has delivered them into the hand of their transgression. 8:5 If you will seek God and plead with the Almighty for mercy, 8:6 if you are pure and upright, surely then he will rouse himself for you and restore your rightful habitation. 8:7 And though your beginning was small, your latter days will be very great. 8:8 "For inquire, please, of bygone ages, and consider what the fathers have searched out. 8:9 For we are but of yesterday and know nothing, for our days on earth are a shadow. 8:10 Will they not teach you and tell you and utter words out of their understanding 8:11 "Can papyrus grow where there is no marsh Can reeds flourish where there is no water 8:12 While yet in flower and not cut down, they wither before any other plant. 8:13 Such are the paths of all who forget God; the hope of the godless shall perish. 8:14 His confidence is severed, and his trust is a spider's web. 8:15 He leans against his house, but it does not stand; he lays hold of it, but it does not endure. 8:16 He is a lush plant before the sun, and his shoots spread over his garden. 8:17 His roots entwine the stone heap; he looks upon a house of stones. 8:18 If he is destroyed from his place, then it will deny him, saying, 'I have never seen you.' 8:19 Behold, this is the joy of his way, and out of the soil others will spring. 8:20 "Behold, God will not reject a blameless man, nor take the hand of evildoers. 8:21 He will yet fill your mouth with laughter, and your lips with shouting. 8:22 Those who hate you will be clothed with shame, and the tent of the wicked will be no more."