Then answered Bildad the Shuĥite, and said,

Then Bildad the Shuchite raised his voice and said:

How long wilt thou speak these things? and how long shall the words of thy mouth be like a strong wind?

How long will you speak thus? A great wind are the words of your mouth.

Does God pervert judgment? or does the Almighty pervert justice?

Will G d pervert judgment [(and not punish the wicked)]?

If thy children have sinned against him, he has cast them out for their transgression.

When your sons sinned against Him, He drove them [(from the world)] through their offense.

If thou wilt seek to God, and make thy supplication to the Almighty;

If you seek out the L rd and make supplication of the Almighty,

if thou be pure and upright; surely now he will rouse himself for thee, and make the habitation of thy righteousness prosperous.

If you are pure and upright, He will now awaken [your merit] for you and make complete the habitation of your righteousness.

Though thy beginning was small, yet thy end will be very great.

And your former [good] will be [accounted] small, for your latter [good] will be extremely great.

For inquire, I pray thee, of the former age, and attend assiduously to what their fathers have sought out:

For inquire now about the past generation and ready yourself to [understand] the findings of their ancestors.

(for we are but of yesterday, and know nothing, because our days upon earth are a shadow:)

For it is [as if] we [were born] yesterday and knew nothing; for as a [passing] shadow are our days upon the earth.

shall not they teach thee, and tell thee, and utter words out of their heart?

Will they not teach you and tell you [what they have acquired] and bring forth [their own] words [of wisdom] from their hearts?

Can the rush shoot up without mire? can the reed grass grow without water?

[(And this is what they will tell you:)] Will the rush grow without mire? Will the reed grass grow without water?

Whilst it is yet in its greenness, and not cut down, it withers before any other herb.

As long as it preserves its moistness it will not be cut off; but [without it] it will dry up before any other herb.

So are the paths of all who forget God; and the hypocrite’s hope shall perish,

So is the way of all who forget the L rd [(to prosper so long as their measure is not yet full)], but [ultimately] the hope of the wicked one will go lost.

whose hope shall be cut off, and whose trust shall be a spider’s web.

His confidence will be cut off; as [fragile] as the house [i.e., the web] of the spider will be his trust.

He shall lean upon his house, but it shall not stand: he shall hold it fast, but it shall not endure.

He will lean on his house, but it will not stand; he will grab on to it, but it will not hold.

He is green before the sun, and his branch shoots forth over his garden wall.

He is moist before the [stroke of the] sun and over his garden his shoot emerges.

His roots are wrapped about the stone heap: he selects for himself a place of stones.

On a mound his roots entwine and he sees a house of stone [(a strong site, which he builds up as a stronghold)].

But if one destroy him from his place, then it shall deny him, saying, I have not seen thee.

But when He swallows him from his place, it denies him, [saying, as it were:] "I never saw you."

Behold, this is the joy of his way, and out of the earth shall others spring.

This, then is the "joy" of his [(the wicked one's)] way. And from [men who until now were as lowly as] the earth, another will sprout [(to appropriate all of his greatness)].

Behold, God will not cast away an innocent man, nor will he uphold evildoers.

For G d will not despise the innocent one, and He will not uphold evildoers [(your foes)].

He will yet fill thy mouth with laughing, and thy lips with rejoicing.

Until [(He will again have mercy upon you)] and He will fill your mouth with laughter and your lips with shouts [of joy].

They who hate thee shall be clothed with shame; and the tent of the wicked shall be no more.

Your foes will be clothed with shame and the tent of the wicked will be no more.