Then Bildad the Shuhite answered and said,

How long will you speak these things? And how long will the words of our mouth be like a mighty wind?

Does God pervert justice? Or does the Almighty pervert righteousness?

If your children have sinned against Him, He has delivered them into the hand of their transgression.

If you seek earnestly after God And make supplication unto the Almighty,

If you are pure and upright, Then surely He will rouse Himself for you And restore well-being to your righteous habitation.

And though your beginning was small, Your end will be very great.

For inquire now of the former generation, And attend to what their fathers have sought out.

For we are of yesterday and know nothing, Because our days upon the earth are a shadow.

Will they not teach you and talk to you And utter forth words from their heart?

Can papyrus shoot up without marsh? Can reeds grow without water?

While it is still in its greenness and not cut down, It withers before all other grasses.

So are the paths of all who forget God; And the hope of the profane perishes,

Whose confidence is cut off, And whose trust is a spider's web.

He leans upon his house, but it will not stand; He holds fast to it, but it will not endure.

He is full of sap before the sun, And his shoots go forth over his garden.

His roots are entwined around a stone heap; He looks upon a place of stones.

If one destroys him from his place, Then it denies him, saying, I have not seen you.

Indeed, that is the joy of his way; And others spring forth out of the dust.

Indeed, God will not reject a perfect man, Nor will He support evildoers.

He will yet fill your mouth with laughter And your lips with shouting.

Those who hate you will be clothed with shame, And the tent of the wicked will be no more.