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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Job 8: MSG
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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.
Job 8
8
Bildad Affirms God's Justice
1Then answered Bildad the Shuhite, and said,
2How long wilt thou speak these things?
And how long shall the words of thy mouth be like a strong wind?
3Doth God pervert judgment?
Or doth the Almighty pervert justice?
4If thy children have sinned against him,
and he have cast them away for their transgression;
5if thou wouldest seek unto God betimes,
and make thy supplication to the Almighty;
6if thou wert pure and upright;
surely now he would awake for thee,
and make the habitation of thy righteousness prosperous.
7Though thy beginning was small,
yet thy latter end should greatly increase.
8For inquire, I pray thee, of the former age,
and prepare thyself to the search of their fathers:
9(for we are but of yesterday, and know nothing,
because our days upon earth are a shadow.)
10Shall not they teach thee, and tell thee,
and utter words out of their heart?
11Can the rush grow up without mire?
Can the flag grow without water?
12Whilst it is yet in his greenness, and not cut down,
it withereth before any other herb.
13So are the paths of all that forget God;
and the hypocrite's hope shall perish:
14whose hope shall be cut off,
and whose trust shall be a spider's web.
15He shall lean upon his house, but it shall not stand:
he shall hold it fast, but it shall not endure.
16He is green before the sun,
and his branch shooteth forth in his garden.
17His roots are wrapped about the heap,
and seeth the place of stones.
18If he destroy him from his place,
then it shall deny him, saying, I have not seen thee.
19Behold, this is the joy of his way,
and out of the earth shall others grow.
20Behold, God will not cast away a perfect man,
neither will he help the evildoers:
21till he fill thy mouth with laughing,
and thy lips with rejoicing.
22They that hate thee shall be clothed with shame;
and the dwelling place of the wicked shall come to nought.
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King James Version 1611, spelling, punctuation and text formatting modernized by ABS in 1962; typesetting © 2010 American Bible Society.