CHAPTER 8
1 Then Bildad (the) Shuhite answered, and said,
2 How long shalt thou speak such things? The spirit of the word of thy mouth is manyfold (or The many words from thy mouth be just so much wind).
3 Whether God supplanteth, either deceiveth, doom, and whether Almighty God destroyeth that, that is just? (Did God ever pervert judgement, or did Almighty God ever destroy what is fair?)
4 Yea, though thy sons sinned against him, and he left them in the hand of their wickedness;
5 nevertheless, if thou risest early to God, and beseechest Almighty God,
6 if thou goest clean and rightful, anon he shall wake fully to thee, and shall make peaceable the dwelling place of thy rightfulness; (if thou goest clean and upright, at once he shall watch over thee, and he shall make the dwelling place of thy righteousness prosperous;)
7 in so much that thy former things were little, and that thy last things be multiplied greatly. (in so much that though thy first things were few, but thy last things shall be greatly multiplied.)
8 For why, ask thou the former generations, and seek thou diligently the mind of [the] fathers (or and diligently seek thou the wisdom of the forefathers).
9 For we be men of yesterday, and know not (anything); for our days be as (a) shadow on the earth.
10 And they shall teach thee, [and] they shall speak to thee, and (out) of their heart they shall bring forth true speeches (or and they shall bring forth truth from their hearts).
11 Whether a (bul)rush may grow without moisture? either a reed (can grow) without water?
12 When it is yet in the flower, neither it is taken with hand, it waxeth dry before all herbs. (When it is still flowering, and it hath not yet been picked by hand, it groweth dry before all the other plants.)
13 So be the ways of all men, that forget God (or who forget God); and the hope of an hypocrite shall perish.
14 His cowardice shall not please God, and his trust shall be as a web of spiders.
15 He shall lean, either rest, upon his house, and it shall not stand; he shall underset it, and it shall not rise up altogether. (He shall lean, or shall rest, upon his house, but it shall not stand; he shall undergird it, but it shall not endure.)
16 The (bul)rush seemeth moist, before that the sun come; and in the rising of the sun, the seed thereof shall go out.
17 The roots thereof shall be made thick upon an heap of stones, and it shall dwell among [the] stones.
18 If a man draweth it out of the place thereof, that place shall deny it, and it shall say (in effect), I know thee not.
19 For this is the gladness of his way, that again other rushes spring out of the earth. (For this is the joy of its way, that other bulrushes shall spring out of the earth.)
20 Forsooth God shall not cast away a simple man, neither he shall address his hand to (help) wicked men; (But God shall not throw away a person who is without guile, nor shall he direct his hand to help the wicked;)
21 till thy mouth be filled with laughter, and thy lips with hearty song.
22 They that hate thee shall be clothed with shame; and the tabernacle of wicked men shall not stand (or and the tents, or the homes, of the wicked shall not stand).