Job
Chapter 8
Bildad the Shuhite answers Job's complaint. He argues that God never twists justice, so Job's children must have died for their own sin, and Job should plead with God to be restored. He points to the wisdom of past generations and uses plants as pictures: a reed dies without water, and people who forget God lose their hope the same way. He ends by promising Job laughter again if Job is truly blameless.
Plain reading written for preteens. Clear and complete, at about a fifth grade reading level.
Then answered Bildad the Shuhite, and said,
1Then Bildad, a man from the family of Shuah, answered Job. He said:
"Shuhite" means Bildad came from a people group descended from Shuah. It tells us where he is from, not anything about his character.
2How long wilt thou speak these things? and how long shall the words of thy mouth be like a strong wind?
2"How long will you keep talking like this? Your words blow on and on like a strong wind.
3Doth God pervert judgment? or doth the Almighty pervert justice?
3Does God twist what is fair? Does the Almighty ever bend justice the wrong way?
4If thy children have sinned against him, and he have cast them away for their transgression;
4Your children must have sinned against him. So he handed them over to the results of their own wrongdoing.
5If thou wouldest seek unto God betimes, and make thy supplication to the Almighty;
5But if you would look hard for God, and beg the Almighty for mercy,
The KJV says "seek unto God betimes." "Betimes" means early, or right away. It does not mean "sometimes."
6If thou wert pure and upright; surely now he would awake for thee, and make the habitation of thy righteousness prosperous.
6and if you are clean and honest, then even now he would act for you. He would give your home back what your good life deserves.
The KJV word "prosperous" here is about God restoring what Job had, not about Job getting rich as a reward.
7Though thy beginning was small, yet thy latter end should greatly increase.
7Your start may have looked small, but your later days would grow great.
8For enquire, I pray thee, of the former age, and prepare thyself to the search of their fathers:
8Please ask the people who lived long ago. Study carefully what their fathers learned.
9(For we are but of yesterday, and know nothing, because our days upon earth are a shadow:)
9We were born only yesterday, and we know nothing. Our days on earth pass like a shadow.
10Shall not they teach thee, and tell thee, and utter words out of their heart?
10Won't those older people teach you and tell you? Won't they speak out of what they truly understand?
11Can the rush grow up without mire? can the flag grow without water?
11Can a papyrus reed grow tall where there is no swamp? Can marsh grass grow with no water?
12Whilst it is yet in his greenness, and not cut down, it withereth before any other herb.
12While it is still green and nobody has cut it, it dries up faster than any other plant.
13So are the paths of all that forget God; and the hypocrite’s hope shall perish:
13That is how it ends for everyone who forgets God. The hope of a person who fakes goodness dies too.
14Whose hope shall be cut off, and whose trust shall be a spider’s web.
14What he counts on snaps like a thread. What he trusts is only a spider's web.
15He shall lean upon his house, but it shall not stand: he shall hold it fast, but it shall not endure.
15He leans on his house, but it will not hold. He grabs it tight, but it does not last.
16He is green before the sun, and his branch shooteth forth in his garden.
16He is like a well-watered plant in the sunshine, spreading its shoots across the garden.
17His roots are wrapped about the heap, and seeth the place of stones.
17Its roots wrap around a pile of rocks. It looks for a place among the stones.
18If he destroy him from his place, then it shall deny him, saying, I have not seen thee.
18But if he is pulled up from his spot, the ground will disown him and say, 'I never saw you.'
19Behold, this is the joy of his way, and out of the earth shall others grow.
19That is all the joy his way brings him. Then other plants grow up out of the same dirt.
20Behold, God will not cast away a perfect man, neither will he help the evil doers:
20Look: God will not throw away a man who is blameless. And he will not lend a hand to people who do evil.
The KJV calls the man "perfect." In old English that meant whole, complete, or blameless. It did not mean a person who never makes a mistake.
21Till he fill thy mouth with laughing, and thy lips with rejoicing.
21He will yet fill your mouth with laughing and your lips with shouts of joy.
22They that hate thee shall be clothed with shame; and the dwelling place of the wicked shall come to nought.
22The people who hate you will be covered with shame. The tent of the wicked will be gone.
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