Does God pervert judgment?
1Bildad the Shuhite spoke:
2How long will you say such things?
Your words are long-winded blusterings.
3Does God pervert judgment?
Does the Almighty distort justice?
4If your children did him wrong,
he has made them pay for their sins.
5But if you will have recourse to God
and plead with the Almighty,
6if you are faultless and righteous,
even now he will care for you
and restore you to your rightful place.
7And your prosperity will be such
as to make you forget former times.
8Inquire of the past generations
and learn from their ancestors’ experience;
9for born but yesterday, we know nothing
and our days on earth are but a shadow.
10They will correct and teach you
with words that come from the heart.
11Can papyrus thrive without marsh?
Can reeds flourish without water?
12Even if still growing and uncut,
they wither more quickly than any plant.
13Such is the end of those who forget God;
the hope of the godless perishes.
14His trust is hanging by a thread;
a spider’s web is what he relies on.
15He leans on his house, but it does not stand;
he clings to it, but it crumbles.
16He is sturdy under the sun,
spreading its shoots in the garden,
17its roots entwined around the rocks,
holding fast to each stone.
18But when uprooted, the place rejects it:
“I have never known you.”
19And there it lies rotting by the road,
while other plants grow in its place.
20Indeed God does not reject the blameless,
nor lend his hand to the evildoer.
21He will again fill your mouth with laughter
and your lips with joyful shouts.
22Your enemies will be confused,
and the tent of the wicked will disappear.
