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 those who are now old. Find out what their ancestors learned.
9 It seems as though we were born yesterday. We are too young to know anything. Our days on earth are very short, like a shadow.
10 Maybe the old people can tell you something. Maybe they will teach you what they learned.
11 “Can papyrus 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 put their trust in something weak. It is like a spider’s web.
15 When they lean against it, it will break. When they reach out for it, it will not hold them up.
16 Such people are like a vine that gets plenty of water and sunshine, and its branches spread throughout the garden.
17 Its roots spread among the rocks, searching for good soil.
18 But if you move it, it will die, and no one can tell it was ever 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.