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Bildad: does God twist justice?

¹Then Bildad the Shuhite answered: ²How long will you go on talking like this? \q Your words are a blustering wind. ³Does God twist justice? \q Does the Almighty twist what is right? ⁴If your children sinned against him, \q he handed them over to the power of their own wrongdoing. ⁵But if you will seek God earnestly \q and plead with the Almighty for mercy, ⁶if you are pure and upright, \q then he will rise up for you at once \q and restore your rightful home. ⁷Though your beginning was small, \q your future will be very great. ⁸Ask the generation that went before, \q and consider what their ancestors discovered. ⁹For we were born only yesterday and know nothing; \q our days on earth are a shadow. ¹⁰Will they not teach you and tell you, \q bringing out words from their understanding? ¹¹Can papyrus grow tall where there is no marsh? \q Can reeds flourish without water? ¹²While it is still in flower and not yet cut, \q it withers sooner than any other plant. ¹³Such is the end of all who forget God; \q the hope of the godless will perish. ¹⁴What they rely on snaps like a thread; \q what they trust in is a spider’s web.^{a 15}They lean on their house, but it will not stand; \q they cling to it, but it will not hold. ¹⁶They are like a lush plant in the sunshine, \q sending out shoots all over the garden.^{b 17}Their roots twine around a pile of rocks; \q they look for a hold among the stones.^{c 18}But when they are torn from their place, \q it disowns them: “I never saw you.” ¹⁹See, that is the joy of their way, \q and from the soil others will spring up.^{d 20}Surely God does not reject anyone who is blameless, \q nor does he take evildoers by the hand. ²¹He will yet fill your mouth with laughter \q and your lips with shouts of joy.^{e 22}Those who hate you will be clothed with shame, \q and the tent of the wicked will be gone.