Job 8:8-13

Common English Bible

⁸ Ask a previous generation
        and verify the findings of your ancestors,
⁹     for we are only recently here and don’t know
        because our days on earth are a shadow.
¹⁰ Won’t they instruct you and tell you;
    will words not^[a] proceed from their hearts?

¹¹ Does papyrus grow apart from a marsh?
    Does a reed flourish without water?
¹²         While still tender, uncut,
        it will wither before every other grass.
¹³ So are the paths of all who forget God.
    Hope perishes for the godless,