| English Standard Version | NET Bible |
| 1Then Bildad the Shuhite answered and said: | 1Then Bildad the Shuhite spoke up and said: |
| 2“How long will you say these things, and the words of your mouth be a great wind? | 2"How long will you speak these things, seeing that the words of your mouth are like a great wind? |
| 3Does God pervert justice? Or does the Almighty pervert the right? | 3Does God pervert justice? Or does the Almighty pervert what is right? |
| 4If your children have sinned against him, he has delivered them into the hand of their transgression. | 4If your children sinned against him, he gave them over to the penalty of their sin. |
| 5If you will seek God and plead with the Almighty for mercy, | 5But if you will look to God, and make your supplication to the Almighty, |
| 6if you are pure and upright, surely then he will rouse himself for you and restore your rightful habitation. | 6if you become pure and upright, even now he will rouse himself for you, and will restore your righteous abode. |
| 7And though your beginning was small, your latter days will be very great. | 7Your beginning will seem so small, since your future will flourish. |
| 8“For inquire, please, of bygone ages, and consider what the fathers have searched out. | 8"For inquire now of the former generation, and pay attention to the findings of their ancestors; |
| 9For we are but of yesterday and know nothing, for our days on earth are a shadow. | 9For we were born yesterday and do not have knowledge, since our days on earth are but a shadow. |
| 10Will they not teach you and tell you and utter words out of their understanding? | 10Will they not instruct you and speak to you, and bring forth words from their understanding? |
| 11“Can papyrus grow where there is no marsh? Can reeds flourish where there is no water? | 11Can the papyrus plant grow tall where there is no marsh? Can reeds flourish without water? |
| 12While yet in flower and not cut down, they wither before any other plant. | 12While they are still beginning to flower and not ripe for cutting, they can wither away faster than any grass! |
| 13Such are the paths of all who forget God; the hope of the godless shall perish. | 13Such is the destiny of all who forget God; the hope of the godless perishes, |
| 14His confidence is severed, and his trust is a spider’s web. | 14whose trust is in something futile, whose security is a spider's web. |
| 15He leans against his house, but it does not stand; he lays hold of it, but it does not endure. | 15He leans against his house but it does not hold up, he takes hold of it but it does not stand. |
| 16He is a lush plant before the sun, and his shoots spread over his garden. | 16He is a well-watered plant in the sun, its shoots spread over its garden. |
| 17His roots entwine the stone heap; he looks upon a house of stones. | 17It wraps its roots around a heap of stones and it looks for a place among stones. |
| 18If he is destroyed from his place, then it will deny him, saying, ‘I have never seen you.’ | 18If he is uprooted from his place, then that place will disown him, saying, 'I have never seen you!' |
| 19Behold, this is the joy of his way, and out of the soil others will spring. | 19Indeed, this is the joy of his way, and out of the earth others spring up. |
| 20“Behold, God will not reject a blameless man, nor take the hand of evildoers. | 20"Surely, God does not reject a blameless man, nor does he grasp the hand of the evildoers. |
| 21He will yet fill your mouth with laughter, and your lips with shouting. | 21He will yet fill your mouth with laughter, and your lips with gladness. |
| 22Those who hate you will be clothed with shame, and the tent of the wicked will be no more.” | 22Those who hate you will be clothed with shame, and the tent of the wicked will be no more." |
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