1 Then Bildad {Bildad: careful disputant} the Shuhite {hashuchi: descendant of Shuah} answered and said.
2 How long will you speak these things, and will the words {imrei: spoken declarations} of your mouth be a mighty wind {ruach: powerful utterance}?
3 Does God {El, Supreme Judge} pervert justice {mishpat: legal judgment}? Or does the Almighty {Shaddai, Perfectly Just} pervert righteousness {tsedek: moral standard}?
4 If your sons sinned against Him {El, Just Judge}, then He sent them away by the hand of their transgression {pisham: willful rebellion}.
5 If you earnestly seek God {El, Gracious Hearer} and plead for mercy to the Almighty {Shaddai, All-Sufficient Helper},
6 If you are pure and upright, surely now He {Eloah, Just Restorer} will rouse Himself for you and will restore to wholeness the dwelling {nevat: home marked by justice} of your righteousness.
7 And though your beginning {reishitkha: early stage} may be small, yet your end will increase greatly {yisgeh: grow in success}.
8 For ask, please, of the former generation {dor: earlier age}, and prepare yourself for the inquiry of their ancestors {avotam: forebears}.
9 For we are but of yesterday {temol: very recent beginning} and know nothing, for our days upon the earth are a shadow {tsel: insubstantial and brief}.
10 Will they not instruct {yorukha: give careful guidance} you and tell you, and bring forth words from their heart {libam: inner decision center}?
11 Can the papyrus grow tall without a marsh {bitzah: saturated bog}, or can the reed thrive without water {mayim: essential supply}?
12 While it is still in its greenness {ibbo: its fresh greenness}, it is not cut off, and before any grass {chatzir: ordinary field plants}, it withers.
13 Thus are the paths {orkhot: life patterns} of all who forget God {El, Worthy of Worship}, and the hope of the godless will perish.
14 He whose confidence {kislo: inner security feeling} will be cut off—his trust is a spider's house {uveit akavish: fragile shelter image}.
15 He will lean upon his house {beito: place of security}, but it will not stand; he will grasp it, but it will not hold up {yakum: endure or remain upright}.
16 He is moist before the sun, and upon his garden {gannato: personal cultivated plot} his shoot goes out {tetse: emerges with vigor}.
17 Upon a heap its roots {sharashav: deeply spreading} are entwined; it looks upon a house of stones {beit avanim: enduring place}.
18 If he is destroyed from his place {maqom: settled position}, then that place will deny {kichesh: relational rejection} him, saying, “I have not seen you.”
19 Behold, this is the joy {meshos: triumphant prosperity} of his way, and from the dust others {akher: later replacements} will spring up.
20 Surely God {El, Righteous Upholder} does not reject the blameless, and He does not strengthen the hand {yad: sphere of power} of evildoers.
21 He {Elohim, Joy Restorer} will yet fill your mouth with laughter and your lips with a shout of joy {teruah: jubilant proclamation}.
22 Your enemies shall be clothed in shame {voshet: public disgrace}, and the tent of the wicked {reshaim: morally corrupt} will be no more.