Job 8

Listen to Job 8

Bildad Speaks: Job Should Repent

1 Then 1Bildad the Shuhite answered and said:
2 "How long will you say these things, and the words of your mouth be a 2great wind?
3 3Does God pervert justice? Or does the Almighty pervert the right?
4 If your 4children have sinned against him, he has delivered them into the hand of their transgression.
5 If you will seek God and 5plead with the Almighty for mercy,
6 if you are pure and upright, surely then he will 6rouse himself for you and 7restore your rightful habitation.
7 And though your beginning was small, 8your latter days will be very great.
8 "For 9inquire, please, of bygone ages, and consider what 10the fathers have searched out.
9 For we are but of yesterday and know nothing, for our days on earth are 11a shadow.
10 Will they not teach you and tell you and utter words out of their understanding?
11 "Can papyrus grow where there is no marsh? Can reeds flourish where there is no water?
12 While yet in flower and not cut down, they 12wither before any other plant.
13 Such are the paths of all who 13forget God; 14the hope of 15the godless shall perish.
14 His confidence is severed, and his trust is 16a spider's web.[a]
15 He leans against his 17house, but it does not stand; he lays hold of it, but it does not endure.
16 He is a lush plant before the sun, and his 18shoots spread over his garden.
17 His roots entwine the stone heap; he looks upon a house of stones.
18 If he is destroyed from his 19place, then it will deny him, saying, 'I have never 20seen you.'
19 Behold, this is the joy of his way, and out of 21the soil others will spring.
20 "Behold, God will not reject a blameless man, nor take the hand of evildoers.
21 He will yet 22fill your mouth with laughter, and your lips with shouting.
22 Those who hate you will be 23clothed with shame, and the tent of the wicked will be no more."

Cross References 23

  • 1. Job 2:11
  • 2. 1 Kings 19:11; [Job 15:2]
  • 3. Job 34:12; [Genesis 18:25; Deuteronomy 32:4; 2 Chronicles 19:7; Ezra 9:15; Daniel 9:14; Romans 3:5]
  • 4. Job 1:5, 18, 19
  • 5. Job 9:15
  • 6. See Psalms 7:6
  • 7. [Proverbs 3:33]
  • 8. [Job 42:12; James 5:11]
  • 9. Deuteronomy 4:32; Deuteronomy 32:7; [Job 15:18]
  • 10. Job 15:18
  • 11. Job 14:2; Job 17:7; 1 Chronicles 29:15; Psalms 102:11; Psalms 109:23; Psalms 144:4; Ecclesiastes 6:12
  • 12. [Psalms 37:2; Psalms 129:6]
  • 13. See Psalms 9:17
  • 14. Proverbs 10:28; Proverbs 11:7
  • 15. Job 13:16; Job 15:34; Job 27:8
  • 16. [Isaiah 59:5, 6]
  • 17. Job 27:18
  • 18. Psalms 80:11
  • 19. See Job 7:10
  • 20. Job 7:8
  • 21. [1 Samuel 2:7, 8; Psalms 103:16; Psalms 113:7]
  • 22. Psalms 126:2
  • 23. Psalms 35:26; Psalms 132:18; [Psalms 109:29]

Footnotes 1

Job 8 Commentaries

The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.