Job 18:1-21

  • Bildad’s second speech (1-21)

    • Depicts the lot of sinners (5-20)

    • Implies that Job does not know God (21)

18  Bilʹdad+ the Shuʹhite said in reply:   “How long before you stop making such speeches? Show some understanding so that we may then speak.   Why should we be viewed as animals+And be considered stupid* in your eyes?   Even if you tear yourself* to pieces in your anger,Will the earth be abandoned for your sake,Or will the rock move away from its place?   Yes, the light of the wicked will be extinguished,And the flame of his fire will not shine.+   The light in his tent will certainly grow dark,And the lamp over him will be extinguished.   His vigorous stride is shortened,And his own counsel will make him fall.+   For his feet will lead him into a net,And he will wander onto its mesh.   A trap will seize him by the heel;A snare will catch him.+ 10  A rope is hidden for him on the ground,And a trap lies in his path. 11  Terrors frighten him on all sides+And chase him at his feet. 12  His strength fails him,And disaster+ will make him stagger.* 13  His skin is eaten away;The most deadly disease* consumes his limbs. 14  He is torn away from the security of his tent+And marched to the king of terrors.* 15  Strangers* will live in his tent;Sulfur will be scattered on his home.+ 16  His roots will dry up beneath him,And his branches will wither above him. 17  The memory of him will fade from the earth,And in the street his name will be unknown.* 18  He will be driven from the light into the darknessAnd chased away from the productive land. 19  He will have no offspring and no descendants among his people,And he will be without a survivor in the place where he lives.* 20  When his day comes, the people in the West will be appalledAnd the people in the East will be seized with horror. 21  This is what happens to the tents of a wrongdoerAnd to the place of the one who has not known God.”

Footnotes

Or possibly, “unclean.”
Or “your soul.”
Or “limp.”
Lit., “The firstborn of death.”
Or “a terrible death.”
Lit., “Something not his.”
Lit., “he will have no name.”
Or “the place of his temporary residence.”