Job 8 Expanded Bible
Bildad Speaks to Job
8 Then Bildad the Shuhite answered:
2 “How long will you [L continue to] say such things?
Your words are ·no more than [L a strong] wind [C he accuses Job of passion without substance].
3 God does not ·twist [pervert] justice;
·the Almighty [Shaddai] does not ·make wrong [twist; pervert] ·what is right [righteousness].
4 [L If] Your children sinned against God,
and he ·punished them for their sins [L sent them into the power of their transgression].
5 ·But [L If] you ·should ask God for help [L look for God]
and ·pray [plead] to ·the Almighty [Shaddai] for ·mercy [grace].
6 If you are ·good [pure] and ·honest [virtuous; 1:1, 8; 2:3],
he will ·stand up [L immediately rouse himself] for you
and ·bring you back [restore you] ·where you belong [to your right/righteous pasture/place/home].
7 ·Where you began will seem unimportant [L Though your start was small],
·because your future will be so successful [L your end will be exalted].
8 “Ask ·old people [L the previous generation];
·find out [reflect on] what their ancestors learned,
9 because we were only born yesterday and know nothing.
Our days on earth are only a shadow.
10 Those people will teach you and tell you
and speak about what they know.
11 ·Papyrus plants cannot [L Do papyrus plants…?] grow where there is no swamp,
·and reeds cannot [L or reeds…?] grow tall without water.
12 While they are still growing and not yet cut,
they will dry up quicker than grass [Ps. 37:2; 102:4, 11; 129:6].
13 That is ·what will happen to [L the path of] those who forget God;
the hope of the ·wicked [godless] will ·be gone [perish].
14 ·What they hope in is easily broken [L Their confidence is gossamer thread];
what they trust is like a spider’s web [C without substance].
15 They lean on ·the spider’s web [L its house], but it ·breaks [L does not stand].
They grab it, but it does not hold up.
16 They are like well-watered plants in the sunshine
that spread their roots all through the garden.
17 They wrap their roots around a pile of rocks
and look for a place among the stones.
18 But if a plant is torn from its place,
then that place rejects it and says, ‘I never saw you.’
19 Now ·joy has gone away [or it (the plant) dissolves on the way];
other plants grow up from the same dirt.
20 “Surely God does not reject the innocent
or ·give strength to [or grasp the hand of] those who do evil.
21 God will yet fill your mouth with laughter
and your lips with shouts of joy.
22 ·Your enemies [L Those who hate you] will be covered with shame,
and the tents of the wicked will be gone.”
The Expanded Bible, Copyright © 2011 Thomas Nelson Inc. All rights reserved.
