1Then Bildad the Shuhite replied,2‘Job, when will you stop these speeches of yours? Be reasonable! Then we can talk.3Why do you look at us as if we were cattle? Why do you think of us as being stupid?4Your anger is tearing you to pieces. Does the earth have to be deserted just to prove you are right? Must all the rocks be moved from their places?5‘The lamps of sinful people are blown out. Their flames will never burn again.6The lights in their tents become dark. The lamps beside those who are evil go out.7They walk more slowly than they used to. Their own evil plans make them fall.8Their feet take them into a net. They wander right into it.9A trap grabs hold of their heels. It refuses to let them go.10A trap lies in their path. A rope to catch them is hidden on the ground.11Terrors alarm them on every side. They follow them every step of the way.12Trouble would like to eat them up. Danger waits for them when they fall.13It eats away parts of their skin. Death itself feeds on their arms and legs.14They are torn away from the safety of their tents. They are marched off to the one who rules over death.15Fire races through their tents. Burning sulphur is scattered over their homes.16Their roots dry up under them. Their branches dry up above them.17No one on earth remembers them. Their names are forgotten in the land.18They are driven from light into the place of darkness. They are thrown out of the world.19Their family dies out among their people. No one is left where they used to live.20What has happened to them shocks the people in the west. It terrifies the people in the east.21Now you know what the homes of sinners are like. Those who don’t know God live in places like that.’
Job 18
English Standard Version
Bildad Speaks: God Punishes the Wicked
1Then Bildad the Shuhite answered and said: (Job 2:11; Job 8:1)2“How long will you hunt for words? Consider, and then we will speak. (Mt 22:15; Mr 12:13; Lu 20:20)3Why are we counted as cattle? Why are we stupid in your sight? (Ps 73:22)4You who tear yourself in your anger, shall the earth be forsaken for you, or the rock be removed out of its place? (Job 14:18; Job 16:9)5“Indeed, the light of the wicked is put out, and the flame of his fire does not shine. (Job 21:17; Ps 18:28; Pr 13:9; Pr 20:20; Pr 24:20)6The light is dark in his tent, and his lamp above him is put out. (Job 10:22)7His strong steps are shortened, and his own schemes throw him down. (Job 5:13)8For he is cast into a net by his own feet, and he walks on its mesh.9A trap seizes him by the heel; a snare lays hold of him. (Ps 140:5)10A rope is hidden for him in the ground, a trap for him in the path.11Terrors frighten him on every side, and chase him at his heels. (Job 15:21; Job 20:25; Job 27:20; Job 30:15; Jer 6:25; Jer 46:5; Jer 49:29)12His strength is famished, and calamity is ready for his stumbling. (Ps 38:17)13It consumes the parts of his skin; the firstborn of death consumes his limbs. (Isa 14:30)14He is torn from the tent in which he trusted and is brought to the king of terrors. (Re 9:11)15In his tent dwells that which is none of his; sulfur is scattered over his habitation. (Ps 11:6; Eze 38:22)16His roots dry up beneath, and his branches wither above. (Job 14:2; Job 29:19; Ho 9:16)17His memory perishes from the earth, and he has no name in the street. (Ps 34:16; Ps 109:13; Ps 109:15; Pr 10:7)18He is thrust from light into darkness, and driven out of the world. (Job 10:21)19He has no posterity or progeny among his people, and no survivor where he used to live. (Isa 14:22)20They of the west are appalled at his day, and horror seizes them of the east. (1Sa 26:10; Job 21:6; Ps 37:13; Jer 50:27; Eze 21:25; Eze 21:29; Ob 1:12)21Surely such are the dwellings of the unrighteous, such is the place of him who knows not God.” (Jud 2:10; Jer 9:3; Jer 10:25; 1Th 4:8; 2Th 1:8)