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Then Bildad the Shuhite replied:
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“How long will you say such things? Your words are a blustering wind.
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Does God pervert justice? Does the Almighty pervert what is right?
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When your children sinned against him, he gave them over to the penalty of their sin.
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But if you will seek God earnestly and plead with the Almighty,
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if you are pure and upright, even now he will rouse himself on your behalf and restore you to your prosperous state.
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Your beginnings will seem humble, so prosperous will your future be.
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“Ask the former generation and find out what their ancestors learned,
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for we were born only yesterday and know nothing, and our days on earth are but a shadow.
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Will they not instruct you and tell you? Will they not bring forth words from their understanding?
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Can papyrus grow tall where there is no marsh? Can reeds thrive without water?
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While still growing and uncut, they wither more quickly than grass.
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Such is the destiny of all who forget God; so perishes the hope of the godless.
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What they trust is fragile; what they rely on is spider’s web.
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They lean on the web, but it gives way; they cling to it, but it does not hold.
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They are like a well-watered plant in the sunshine, spreading its shoots over the garden;
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it entwines its roots around a pile of rocks and looks for a place among the stones.
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But when it is torn from its spot, that place disowns it and says, ‘I never saw you.’
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Surely its life withers away, and from the soil other plants grow.
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“Surely God does not reject one who is blameless or strengthen the hands of evildoers.
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He will yet fill your mouth with laughter and your lips with shouts of joy.
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Your enemies will be clothed in shame, and the tents of the wicked will be no more.”
