1Then Bildad the Shuhite answered,
2“How long will you speak these things?
Shall the words of your mouth be a mighty wind?
3Does God pervert justice?
Or does the Almighty pervert righteousness?
4If your children have sinned against Him,
He has delivered them into the hand of their disobedience.
5If you want to seek God diligently,
make your supplication to the Almighty.
6If you were pure and upright,
surely now He would awaken for you,
and make the habitation of your righteousness prosperous.
7Though your beginning was small,
yet your latter end would greatly increase.
8“Please inquire of past generations.
Find out about the learning of their fathers.
9(For we are but of yesterday, and know nothing,
because our days on earth are a shadow.)
10Shall they not teach you, tell you,
and utter words out of their heart?
11“Can the papyrus grow up without mire?
Can the rushes grow without water?
12While it is yet in its greenness, not cut down,
it withers before any other reed.
13So are the paths of all who forget God.
The hope of the godless man will perish,
14whose confidence will break apart,
whose trust is a spider’s web.
15He will lean on his house, but it will not stand.
He will cling to it, but it will not endure.
16He is green before the sun.
His shoots go out along his garden.
17His roots are wrapped around the rock pile.
He sees the place of stones.
18If he is destroyed from his place,
then it will deny him, saying, ‘I have not seen you.’
19Behold, this is the joy of his way.
Out of the earth, others will spring.
20“Behold, God will not cast away a blameless man,
neither will He uphold the evildoers.
21He will still fill your mouth with laughter,
your lips with shouting.
22Those who hate you will be clothed with shame.
The tent of the wicked will be no more.”
1Respondens autem Baldad Suhites, dixit: 2Usquequo loqueris talia, et spiritus multiplex sermones oris tui? 3Numquid Deus supplantat judicium? aut Omnipotens subvertit quod justum est? 4Etiam si filii tui peccaverunt ei, et dimisit eos in manu iniquitatis suæ: 5tu tamen si diluculo consurrexeris ad Deum, et Omnipotentem fueris deprecatus; 6si mundus et rectus incesseris: statim evigilabit ad te, et pacatum reddet habitaculum justitiæ tuæ, 7in tantum ut si priora tua fuerint parva, et novissima tua multiplicentur nimis. 8Interroga enim generationem pristinam, et diligenter investiga patrum memoriam 9(hesterni quippe sumus, et ignoramus, quoniam sicut umbra dies nostri sunt super terram), 10et ipsi docebunt te, loquentur tibi, et de corde suo proferent eloquia. 11Numquid vivere potest scirpus absque humore? aut crescere carectum sine aqua? 12Cum adhuc sit in flore, nec carpatur manu, ante omnes herbas arescit. 13Sic viæ omnium qui obliviscuntur Deum, et spes hypocritæ peribit. 14Non ei placebit vecordia sua, et sicut tela aranearum fiducia ejus. 15Innitetur super domum suam, et non stabit; fulciet eam, et non consurget. 16Humectus videtur antequam veniat sol, et in ortu suo germen ejus egredietur. 17Super acervum petrarum radices ejus densabuntur, et inter lapides commorabitur. 18Si absorbuerit eum de loco suo, negabit eum, et dicet: Non novi te. 19Hæc est enim lætitia viæ ejus, ut rursum de terra alii germinentur. 20Deus non projiciet simplicem, nec porriget manum malignis, 21donec impleatur risu os tuum, et labia tua jubilo. 22Qui oderunt te induentur confusione, et tabernaculum impiorum non subsistet.