Job 8  Lexham English Bible

² “How long^[c] will you say these things,
and the words of your mouth be a mighty wind?
³ Does God pervert justice,
or^[d] Shaddai pervert righteousness?
⁴ If your children sinned against him,
then^[e] he sent them into the power^[f] of their transgression.
⁵ If you yourself^[g] would seek God,
then^[h] you would plead to Shaddai for grace.
⁶ If you are pure and upright,
indeed,^[i] now he will rouse himself for you,
and he will restore your righteous abode.
⁷ Though^[j] your beginning was small,
your end^[k] will be very great.
⁸ “Indeed,^[l] please inquire of former generations,
and consider what their ancestors have found,^[m]
9 for we are of yesterday, and we do not know,
for our days on earth are a shadow.
¹⁰ Will they themselves^[n] not teach you and tell you^[o]
and utter^[p] words from their heart?
¹¹ Can papyrus grow tall where there is not a marsh?
Will reeds flourish without water?^[q]
12 While it is in its flower and is not plucked,
yet^[r] it withers before^[s] all grass.
¹³ So are the paths of all who forget God;
and the hope of the godless will perish,
¹⁴ whose confidence is cut off
and whose trust^[t] is a spider’s house.
¹⁵ He will lean himself against his house, but^[u] it will not stand;
he will take hold of it, but^[v] it will not endure.
¹⁶ He is thriving^[w] before^[x] the sun,
and his plant shoots spread over his garden.
¹⁷ His roots twine over a stone heap;
he sees a house of stone.
¹⁸ If he destroys him from his place,
then^[y] it deceives him, saying, ‘I have never seen you.’
¹⁹ Look, this is the joy of his way,
and from dust others will spring up.
²⁰ “Look, God will not reject the blameless,
and he will not uphold the hand of evildoers.
²¹ Yet he will fill your mouth with laughter
and your lips with a shout of joy.
²² Those who hate you will be clothed with shame,
and the tent of the wicked will be no more.”^[z]