1Then answered Baldad the Suhite, and said:
2How long wilt thou talk of such things? how long shall thy mouth speak so proud words?
3Doth God pervert the thing that is lawful? Or, doth the Almighty destroy the thing that is right?
4When thy sons sinned against him, did not he punish them for their wickedness?
5If thou wouldest now resort unto God by times, and make thy humble prayer to the Almighty:
6If thou wouldest live a pure and godly life: should he not wake up unto thee immediately, and give thee the beauty of righteousness again?
7In so much, that wherein soever thou hadst little afore, thou shouldest now have great abundance.
8Enquire of them that have been before thee, search diligently among thy forefathers:
9Namely, that we are but of yesterday, and consider not, that our days upon earth are but a very shadow.
10They shall shew thee, they shall tell thee, yea they will gladly confess the same.
11May a rush be green without moistness? may the grass grow without water?
12No: but (or ever it be shot forth, and or ever it be gathered) it withereth, before any other herb.
13Even so goeth it with all them, that forget God: and even thus also shall the hypocrite's hope come to naught.
14His confidence shall be destroyed, for he trusteth in a spider's web.
15He leaneth him upon his house, but he shall not stand: he holdeth him fast by it, yet shall he not endure.
16Often time a thing doth flourish, and men think that it may abide the Son shining:(Sonneshyne) it shooteth forth the branches in his garden,
17it taketh many roots, in so much that it is like a house of stones.
18But if it be taken out of his place, every man denyeth it, saying: I know thee not.
19Lo, thus is it with him, that rejoiceth in his own doings: and as for others, they grow out of the earth.
20Behold, God will not cast away a virtuous man, neither will he help the ungodly.
21Thy mouth shall be still with laughing, and thy lips with gladness.
22They that hate thee, shall be confounded, and the dwellings of the ungodly shall come to naught.