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8:1  Job's friend Bildad, who came from Shuah, decided to speak. He said this to Job:
8:2  ‘You should not continue to talk like this. Your words are like a wind that blows strongly.
8:3  Surely you know that God is fair. The Almighty God never changes right things into wrong things.
8:4  Your children did things that were wrong. That is why God punished them.
8:5  But you should pray to Almighty God. You should ask him to help you.
8:6  If you are honest and live in the right way, God will do something to help you. He will give you a family again that will bring you honour.
8:7  You will be successful in the future, with more riches than you had before.
8:8  Think about the people who lived before us. Study the things that our ancestors learned.
8:9  We have not lived for very long, so we do not know very much. Our lives are like shadows that quickly disappear.
8:10  But the people who lived before us can teach you. They can tell you the things that they have learned.
8:11  Some plants only grow tall in wet ground. Reeds only grow well where there is water.
8:12  If the water is no longer there, they will quickly die. They will die before they are ready for people to cut them. They become useless more quickly than grass.
8:13  People who turn away from God are like those plants. Their hope quickly disappears.
8:14  They trust in useless things to help them. Those things are as weak as a spider's web.
8:15  If they expect something like that to help them, it will fall down and leave them. If they take hold of it, it will not keep them safe.
8:16  People who turn away from God are like weeds. When there is plenty of water and the sun shines on them, they grow all over the garden.
8:17  Their roots grow around a heap of stones. They have a strong home among the rocks.
8:18  But finally, someone pulls those weeds out of the ground. When that happens, nobody knows that the weeds were ever there.
8:19  People who are like weeds only have that kind of joy. When they disappear, other weeds grow in their place.
8:20  Listen! God never turns away from a man who is not guilty. Nor will he ever help wicked people.
8:21  He will surely make you happy again. You will be able to laugh and shout with joy.
8:22  People who hate you will be ashamed. Wicked people will have nowhere to live.’