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 8,17 Hiob 8,17
His roots shall be dried up beneath,And above shall his branch {Or, wither}be cut off.
My root is {Hebrew: opened.}spread out {Or, by}to the waters,And the dew lieth all night upon my branch;
Therefore as the tongue of fire devoureth the stubble, and as the dry grass sinketh down in the flame, so their root shall be as rottenness, and their blossom shall go up as dust; because they have rejected the {Or, teaching}law of Jehovah of hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.
{Or, Scarce are they planted, scarce are they sown, scarce hath their stock taken root in the earth, when he bloweth upon them &c.}Yea, they have not been planted; yea, they have not been sown; yea, their stock hath not taken root in the earth: moreover he bloweth upon them, and they wither, and the whirlwind taketh them away as stubble.
Righteous art thou, O Jehovah, when I contend with thee; yet would I {Hebrew: speak of judgements.}reason the cause with thee: wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper? wherefore are all they at ease that deal very treacherously?
Thou hast planted them, yea, they have taken root; they grow, yea, they bring forth fruit: thou art near in their mouth, and far from their {Hebrew: reins.}heart.
And as they passed by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered away from the roots.
These are they who are {Or, spots}hidden rocks in your love-feasts when they feast with you, shepherds that without fear feed themselves; clouds without water, carried along by winds; autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots;