Job 8

Then Bildad, Job’s friend who was a Shuhite, responded to Job. He said, 2 “Job, you should not continue to talk like this. You are saying a lot of things, but they are not sensible. 3 God always does things fairly. Yes, Shaddai always does what is right. \* 4 Your children sinned against God. This is evident, because God has punished them for the evil things they did. 5 But as for you, you should pray to God. Yes, you should ask Shaddai to help you. \* 6 If you are genuinely good, then God will certainly do something good for you. He will give you back the abundant prosperity that good people have. 7 God would make you so wealthy later in life that it would seem as if you were not very prosperous before! \* 8 You should really consider the wise teachings of the people who lived before us. Yes, you should think about what our ancestors learned about life. 9 I advise you to consider the wisdom of our ancestors because we have only been alive for a short time and we know very little. This is because our time here on the earth is very short, like a shadow that appears briefly and then goes away. 10 But if you consider the wisdom of our ancestors, you will learn useful things. Indeed, you will learn very profound things. \* 11 Papyrus certainly does not grow away from marshland. No, reeds certainly cannot grow where there is no water. 12 If their water dries up while they are blossoming, they wither, while plants that do have water keep flourishing. \* 13 People who do not pay attention to God are like those reeds. Such people hope for good things, but they do not get them. 14 Godless people confidently expect good things to happen to them, but those things do not happen. Godless people trust certain other people to help them, but those others prove unreliable. 15 Godless people think they are secure because they are wealthy, but ultimately they can not rely on their wealth for security. When they begin to fail despite their wealth, they try to preserve their status, but they fail anyway. \* 16 Godless people are like plants that formerly flourished in abundant sunshine, whose branches once spread out over the ground. 17 Godless people are like plants whose roots once twisted securely around piles of stones and clung tightly to rocks. 18 But a person can still pull a plant completely out of the ground even if it is that healthy and securely rooted. Then it will be as if the plant was never there in the first place. People who do not pay attention to God will perish just as completely. \* 19 So people who do not pay attention to God will be sad in the end. Other people will come and take their places. 20 So I tell you, Job, that God will help you if you do what is right. But God will not help you if you do what is wrong. \* 21 God can still make you happy, yes, very happy. 22 {When God blesses you,} everyone who opposed you will be very ashamed. God will completely destroy wicked people.” \*