Chapter 8

Baldad chargeth Job to have spoken unjustly, exhorting him to turn to God, and so he shall prosper better than heretofore: ℣.13 shewing that hypocrites shall not prosper, ℣.20 inferreth (falsely) that God afflicteth not the sincere, nor helpeth the malignant.

1. 1

   But Baldad the Suhite answering, said:

2. 2

   & shall the spirit of the word of thy mouth How long wilt thou speak such things, be multiplied?

3. 3

   Why, doth God supplant judgment? Or doth the Omnipotent subvert that which is just?

4. 4

   Although thy children have sinned to him, and he hath left them in the hand of their iniquity:

5. 5

   Yet if thou wilt arise early to God, & wilt beseech the Omnipotent:

6. 6

   If thou wilt walk clean & upright, he will forthwith awake unto thee, and will make the habitation of thy justice peaceable:

7. 7

   In so much, that if thy former things have been little, thy later things may be multiplied exceedingly.

8. 8

   For ask the old generation, and search diligently the memory of the fathers.

9. 9

   (For we are but as yesterday, & are ignorant that our days upon the earth are as a shadow.)

10. 10

    And they shall teach thee: they shall speak to thee, and from their heart shall utter words.

11. 11

    Can the rush be green without moisture? Or a sedgy place grow without water?

12. 12

    When it is yet in his flower, and is not plucked with the hand, it withereth before all herbs:

13. 13

    Even so the ways of all, that forget God, and the hope of the hypocrite shall perish:

14. 14

    His folly shall not please him, and his confidence as the spider's web.

15. 15

    He shall lean upon his house, and it shall not stand: he shall stay it up, and it shall not rise:

16. 16

    He seemeth moistened before the sun come, & in his rising his blossom shall go forth.

17. 17

    Upon a heap of rocks his roots shall be thick, and among stones he shall abide.

18. 18

    If he swallow him up out of his place, he will deny him, and will say: I know thee not.

19. 19

    For this is the joy of his way, that others may spring again of the earth.

20. 20

    God will not reject the simple, nor reach his hand to the malignant.

21. 21

    Until thy mouth be filled with laughter, & thy lips with jubilation.

22. 22

    They that hate thee, shall be clothed with confusion: and the tabernacle of the impious shall not stand.