Bildad Speaks of the Wicked
18 Then Bildad the Shuhite [a]responded,
2 “How long will you hunt for words?
Show understanding and then we can talk.
3 “Why are we (A)regarded as beasts,
As stupid in your eyes?
4 “O [b]you who tear yourself in your anger—
For your sake is the earth to be abandoned,
Or the rock to be moved from its place?
5 “Indeed, the (B)light of the wicked goes out,
And the [c]flame of his fire gives no light.
6 “The light in his tent is (C)darkened,
And his lamp goes out above him.
7 “His [d]vigorous stride is shortened,
And his (D)own scheme brings him down.
8 “For he is (E)thrown into the net by his own feet,
And he steps on the webbing.
9 “A snare seizes him by the heel,
And a trap snaps shut on him.
10 “A noose for him is hidden in the ground,
And a trap for him on the path.
11 “All around (F)terrors frighten him,
And (G)harry him at every step.
12 “His strength is (H)famished,
And calamity is ready at his side.
13 “[e]His skin is devoured by disease,
The firstborn of death (I)devours his [f]limbs.
14 “He is (J)torn from [g]the security of his tent,
And [h]they march him before the king of (K)terrors.
15 “[i]There dwells in his tent nothing of his;
(L)Brimstone is scattered on his habitation.
16 “His (M)roots are dried below,
And his (N)branch is cut off above.
17 “(O)Memory of him perishes from the earth,
And he has no name abroad.
18 “[j]He is driven from light (P)into darkness,
And (Q)chased from the inhabited world.
19 “He has no (R)offspring or posterity among his people,
Nor any survivor where he sojourned.
20 “Those [k]in the west are appalled at (S)his [l]fate,
And those [m]in the east are seized with horror.
21 “Surely such are the (T)dwellings of the wicked,
And this is the place of him who does not know God.”
Footnotes
- Job 18:1 Lit answered and said
- Job 18:4 Lit he...tears himself...his
- Job 18:5 Lit spark
- Job 18:7 Lit steps of his strength
- Job 18:13 Heb It eats parts of his skin
- Job 18:13 Or parts
- Job 18:14 Lit his tent his trust
- Job 18:14 Or you or she shall march
- Job 18:15 A suggested reading is Fire dwells in his tent
- Job 18:18 Lit They drive him...And chase him
- Job 18:20 Lit who come after
- Job 18:20 Lit day
- Job 18:20 Lit who have gone before
Cross references
- Job 18:3 : Ps 73:22
- Job 18:5 : Job 21:17; Prov 13:9; 20:20; 24:20
- Job 18:6 : Job 12:25
- Job 18:7 : Job 15:6
- Job 18:8 : Job 22:10; Ps 9:15; 35:8; Is 24:17, 18
- Job 18:11 : Job 15:21
- Job 18:11 : Job 18:18; 20:8
- Job 18:12 : Is 8:21
- Job 18:13 : Zech 14:12
- Job 18:14 : Job 8:22; 18:6
- Job 18:14 : Job 15:21
- Job 18:15 : Ps 11:6
- Job 18:16 : Is 5:24; Hos 9:16; Amos 2:9; Mal 4:1
- Job 18:16 : Job 15:30, 32
- Job 18:17 : Job 24:20; Ps 34:16; Prov 10:7
- Job 18:18 : Job 5:14; Is 8:22
- Job 18:18 : Job 20:8; 27:21-23
- Job 18:19 : Job 27:14, 15; Is 14:22
- Job 18:20 : Ps 37:13; Jer 50:27; Obad 12
- Job 18:21 : Job 21:28