| New Living Translation | English Standard Version |
| 1Then Bildad the Shuhite replied to Job: | 1Then Bildad the Shuhite answered and said: |
| 2“How long will you go on like this? You sound like a blustering wind. | 2“How long will you say these things, and the words of your mouth be a great wind? |
| 3Does God twist justice? Does the Almighty twist what is right? | 3Does God pervert justice? Or does the Almighty pervert the right? |
| 4Your children must have sinned against him, so their punishment was well deserved. | 4If your children have sinned against him, he has delivered them into the hand of their transgression. |
| 5But if you pray to God and seek the favor of the Almighty, | 5If you will seek God and plead with the Almighty for mercy, |
| 6and if you are pure and live with integrity, he will surely rise up and restore your happy home. | 6if you are pure and upright, surely then he will rouse himself for you and restore your rightful habitation. |
| 7And though you started with little, you will end with much. | 7And though your beginning was small, your latter days will be very great. |
| 8“Just ask the previous generation. Pay attention to the experience of our ancestors. | 8“For inquire, please, of bygone ages, and consider what the fathers have searched out. |
| 9For we were born but yesterday and know nothing. Our days on earth are as fleeting as a shadow. | 9For we are but of yesterday and know nothing, for our days on earth are a shadow. |
| 10But those who came before us will teach you. They will teach you the wisdom of old. | 10Will they not teach you and tell you and utter words out of their understanding? |
| 11“Can papyrus reeds grow tall without a marsh? Can marsh grass flourish without water? | 11“Can papyrus grow where there is no marsh? Can reeds flourish where there is no water? |
| 12While they are still flowering, not ready to be cut, they begin to wither more quickly than grass. | 12While yet in flower and not cut down, they wither before any other plant. |
| 13The same happens to all who forget God. The hopes of the godless evaporate. | 13Such are the paths of all who forget God; the hope of the godless shall perish. |
| 14Their confidence hangs by a thread. They are leaning on a spider’s web. | 14His confidence is severed, and his trust is a spider’s web. |
| 15They cling to their home for security, but it won’t last. They try to hold it tight, but it will not endure. | 15He leans against his house, but it does not stand; he lays hold of it, but it does not endure. |
| 16The godless seem like a lush plant growing in the sunshine, its branches spreading across the garden. | 16He is a lush plant before the sun, and his shoots spread over his garden. |
| 17Its roots grow down through a pile of stones; it takes hold on a bed of rocks. | 17His roots entwine the stone heap; he looks upon a house of stones. |
| 18But when it is uprooted, it’s as though it never existed! | 18If he is destroyed from his place, then it will deny him, saying, ‘I have never seen you.’ |
| 19That’s the end of its life, and others spring up from the earth to replace it. | 19Behold, this is the joy of his way, and out of the soil others will spring. |
| 20“But look, God will not reject a person of integrity, nor will he lend a hand to the wicked. | 20“Behold, God will not reject a blameless man, nor take the hand of evildoers. |
| 21He will once again fill your mouth with laughter and your lips with shouts of joy. | 21He will yet fill your mouth with laughter, and your lips with shouting. |
| 22Those who hate you will be clothed with shame, and the home of the wicked will be destroyed.” | 22Those who hate you will be clothed with shame, and the tent of the wicked will be no more.” |
| Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. | ESV Text Edition: 2016. The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®) copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. The ESV® text has been reproduced in cooperation with and by permission of Good News Publishers. Unauthorized reproduction of this publication is prohibited. All rights reserved. |
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