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8 <1> Then Bildad from Shuah answered:
<2> "How long will you talk like that?
Your words are nothing but hot air!
<3> God is always fair.
God All-Powerful does what is right.
<4> If your children sinned against God,
he punished them.
They paid for their sins.
<5> But now, look to God
and pray to the All-Powerful.
<6> If you are pure and good,
he will quickly come to help you.
He will give your family back to you.
<7> Then you will have a lot more
than you had in the beginning!
<8> "Ask the old people.
Find out what their ancestors[23] learned.
<9> It seems as though we were born yesterday.
We are too young to know for sure.
Our days on earth are very short, like a shadow.
<10> Maybe the old people can tell you about it.
Maybe they will teach you what they learned.
<11> "Can papyrus[24] grow tall on a dry land?
Can reeds grow without water?
<12> No, they will dry up before harvest.
They will be too small to cut and use.
<13> People who forget God are like that.
Those who oppose him have no hope.
<14> They have nothing to trust in.
Their courage will snap like a spider's web
<15> when someone leans against it.
They might reach out to it for support,
but it will break and they will fall.
<16> People are like a grapevine.
If it has plenty of water and sunshine,
its branches will spread throughout the garden.
<17> Its roots will spread among the rocks,
searching for good soil.
<18> But if you move it, it will die,
and you couldn't tell it had been there.
<19> Everything might have been going well,
but another vine will take its place.
<20> God does not support evil people
and he does not abandon the innocent.
<21> So perhaps you might laugh again.
Maybe shouts of joy will come from your lips.
<22> Maybe your enemies will be humiliated,
and the homes of the wicked will be destroyed."
© Copyright 2004 World Bible Translation Center.