Job
Summary
Job Chapter 8 introduces Bildad the Shuhite, the second of Job’s friends to speak. Bildad is more blunt than Eliphaz, suggesting that Job’s children died because of their own sin and that Job’s suffering is evidence of hidden iniquity. He appeals to the wisdom of the ancestors, arguing that God does not pervert justice and that the wicked are always destroyed like a weak plant or a spider's web. Bildad promises that if Job is truly pure, God will restore him to great prosperity. His speech emphasizes a rigid view of cause and effect, leaving no room for the suffering of the righteous.
Then Bildad the Shuhite replied:
"How long will you say such things? Your words are a blustering wind."
"Does God pervert justice? Does the Almighty pervert what is right?"
"When your children sinned against him, he gave them over to the penalty of their sin."
"But if you will look to God and plead with the Almighty,"
"if you are pure and upright, even now he will rouse himself on your behalf and restore you to your rightful place."
"Your beginnings will seem humble, so prosperous will your future be."
"Ask the former generations and find out what their fathers learned,"
"for we were born only yesterday and know nothing, and our days on earth are but a shadow."
"Will they not instruct you and tell you? Will they not bring forth words from their understanding?"
"Can papyrus grow tall where there is no marsh? Can reeds thrive without water?"
"While still growing and uncut, they wither more quickly than grass."
"Such is the destiny of all who forget God; so perishes the hope of the godless."
"What he trusts in is fragile; what he relies on is a spider’s web."
"He leans on his web, but it gives way; he clings to it, but it does not hold."
"He is like a well-watered plant in the sunshine, spreading its shoots over the garden;"
"it entwines its roots around a pile of rocks and looks for a place among the stones."
"But when it is torn from its spot, that place disowns it and says, 'I never saw you.'"
Look, this is the joy of his way, and from the earth others will grow.
"Surely God does not reject a blameless man or strengthen the hands of evildoers."
"He will yet fill your mouth with laughter and your lips with shouts of joy."
"Your enemies will be clothed in shame, and the tents of the wicked will be no more."