Then answered Bildad the Shuhite, and said,
How long wilt thou speak these things?
And how long shall the words of thy mouth be like a mighty wind?
Doth God pervert justice?
Or doth the Almighty pervert righteousness?
{Or, If thy children sinned…he delivered &c.}If thy children have sinned against him,
And he hath delivered them into the hand of their transgression;
If thou wouldest seek diligently unto God,
And make thy supplication to the Almighty;
If thou wert pure and upright:
Surely now he would awake for thee,
And make the habitation of thy righteousness prosperous.
And though thy beginning was small,
Yet thy latter end would greatly increase.
For inquire, I pray thee, of the former age,
And apply thyself to that which their fathers have searched out
(For we are but of yesterday, and know nothing,
Because our days upon earth are a shadow);
Shall not they teach thee, and tell thee,
And utter words out of their heart?
Can the {Or, papyrus}rush grow up without mire?
Can the {Or, reed-grass}flag grow without water?
Whilst it is yet in its greenness, and not cut down,
It withereth before any other herb.
So are the paths of all that forget God;
And the hope of the godless man shall perish:
Whose confidence shall {Or, be cut off}break in sunder,
And whose trust is a spider's {Hebrew: house.}web.
He shall lean upon his house, but it shall not stand:
He shall hold fast thereby, but it shall not endure.
He is green before the sun,
And his shoots go forth over his garden.
His roots are wrapped {Or, beside the spring}about the stone-heap,
He beholdeth the place of stones.
If he be destroyed from his place,
Then it shall deny him, saying, I have not seen thee.
Behold, this is the joy of his way;
And out of the {Or, dust}earth shall others spring.
Behold, God will not cast away a perfect man,
Neither will he uphold the evil-doers.
{Or, Till he fill}He will yet fill thy mouth with laughter,
And thy lips with shouting.
They that hate thee shall be clothed with shame;
And the tent of the wicked shall be no more.
Querverweise zu Hiob 8,15 Hiob 8,15
He shall be rooted out of his tent where he trusteth;And {Hebrew: it shall (or, thou shall) bring him.}he shall be brought to the king of terrors.
He buildeth his house as the moth,And as a booth which the keeper maketh.
God will likewise {Or, break thee down}destroy thee for ever;He will take thee up, and pluck thee out of thy tent,And root thee out of the land of the living. [Selah
The righteous also shall see it, and fear,And shall laugh at him, saying,
Lo, this is the man that made not God his {Or, stronghold}strength,But trusted in the abundance of his riches,And strengthened himself in his wickedness.
The wicked shall see it, and be grieved;He shall gnash with his teeth, and melt away:The desire of the wicked shall perish.
The hope of the righteous shall be gladness;But the expectation of the wicked shall perish.
Every one therefore that heareth these words of mine, and doeth them, shall be likened unto a wise man, who built his house upon the rock:
and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon the rock.
And every one that heareth these words of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, who built his house upon the sand:
and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and smote upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall thereof.
Every one that cometh unto me, and heareth my words, and doeth them, I will show you to whom he is like:
he is like a man building a house, who digged and went deep, and laid a foundation upon the rock: and when a flood arose, the stream brake against that house, and could not shake it: {Many ancient authorities read for it had been founded upon the rock: as in Matthew 7:25.}because it had been well builded.
But he that {Greek: heard.}heareth, and {Greek: did not.}doeth not, is like a man that built a house upon the earth without a foundation; against which the stream brake, and straightway it fell in; and the ruin of that house was great.