Job 8
8
Bildad Speaks to Job
1Then Bildad the Shuhite answered:
2“How long will you say such things?
Your words are no more than wind.
3God does not twist justice;
the Almighty does not make wrong what is right.
4Your children sinned against God,
and he punished them for their sins.
5But you should ask God for help
and pray to the Almighty for mercy.
6If you are good and honest,
he will stand up for you
and bring you back where you belong.
7Where you began will seem unimportant,
because your future will be so successful.
8“Ask old people;
find out what their ancestors learned,
9because we were only born yesterday and know nothing.
Our days on earth are only a shadow.
10Those people will teach you and tell you
and speak about what they know.
11Papyrus plants cannot grow where there is no swamp,
and reeds cannot grow tall without water.
12While they are still growing and not yet cut,
they will dry up quicker than grass.
13That is what will happen to those who forget God;
the hope of the wicked will be gone.
14What they hope in is easily broken;
what they trust is like a spider’s web.
15They lean on the spider’s web, but it breaks.
They grab it, but it does not hold up.
16They are like well-watered plants in the sunshine
that spread their roots all through the garden.
17They wrap their roots around a pile of rocks
and look for a place among the stones.
18But if a plant is torn from its place,
then that place rejects it and says, ‘I never saw you.’
19Now joy has gone away;
other plants grow up from the same dirt.
20“Surely God does not reject the innocent
or give strength to those who do evil.
21God will yet fill your mouth with laughter
and your lips with shouts of joy.
22Your enemies will be covered with shame,
and the tents of the wicked will be gone.”
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Job 8: NCV
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The Holy Bible, New Century Version, Copyright © 2005 Thomas Nelson. All rights reserved.
Job 8
8
Bildad’s Response
Does God Mess Up?
1-7Bildad from Shuhah was next to speak:
“How can you keep on talking like this?
You’re talking nonsense, and noisy nonsense at that.
Does God mess up?
Does God Almighty ever get things backward?
It’s plain that your children sinned against him—
otherwise, why would God have punished them?
Here’s what you must do—and don’t put it off any longer:
Get down on your knees before God Almighty.
If you’re as innocent and upright as you say,
it’s not too late—he’ll come running;
he’ll set everything right again, reestablish your fortunes.
Even though you’re not much right now,
you’ll end up better than ever.
To Hang Your Life from One Thin Thread
8-19“Put the question to our ancestors,
study what they learned from their ancestors.
For we’re newcomers at this, with a lot to learn,
and not too long to learn it.
So why not let the ancients teach you, tell you what’s what,
instruct you in what they knew from experience?
Can mighty pine trees grow tall without soil?
Can luscious tomatoes flourish without water?
Blossoming flowers look beautiful before they’re cut or picked,
but without soil or water they wither more quickly than grass.
That’s what happens to all who forget God—
all their hopes come to nothing.
They hang their life from one thin thread,
they hitch their fate to a spider web.
One jiggle and the thread breaks,
one jab and the web collapses.
Or they’re like weeds springing up in the sunshine,
invading the garden,
Spreading everywhere, overtaking the flowers,
getting a foothold even in the rocks.
But when the gardener rips them out by the roots,
the garden doesn’t miss them one bit.
The sooner the godless are gone, the better;
then good plants can grow in their place.
20-22“There’s no way that God will reject a good person,
and there is no way he’ll help a bad one.
God will let you laugh again;
you’ll raise the roof with shouts of joy,
With your enemies thoroughly discredited,
their house of cards collapsed.”
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THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved. Used by permission of NavPress. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers.