< Job 18 >
1 Then Bildad the Shuhite replied:
And Bildad the Shuhite answers and says:
2 “How long until you end these speeches? Show some sense, and then we can talk.
“When do you set an end to words? Consider, and afterward we speak.
3 Why are we regarded as cattle, as stupid in your sight?
Why have we been reckoned as livestock? We have been defiled in your eyes!
4 You who tear yourself in anger— should the earth be forsaken on your account, or the rocks be moved from their place?
He is tearing himself in his anger. Is earth forsaken for your sake? And is a rock removed from its place?
5 Indeed, the lamp of the wicked is extinguished; the flame of his fire does not glow.
Also, the light of the wicked is extinguished. And there does not shine a spark of his fire.
6 The light in his tent grows dark, and the lamp beside him goes out.
The light has been dark in his tent, And his lamp over him is extinguished.
7 His vigorous stride is shortened, and his own schemes trip him up.
The steps of his strength are restricted, And his own counsel casts him down.
8 For his own feet lead him into a net, and he wanders into its mesh.
For he is sent into a net by his own feet, And he habitually walks on a snare.
9 A trap seizes his heel; a snare grips him.
A trap seizes on the heel, The designing prevails over him.
10 A noose is hidden in the ground, and a trap lies in his path.
His cord is hidden in the earth, And his trap on the path.
11 Terrors frighten him on every side and harass his every step.
Terrors have terrified him all around, And they have scattered him—at his feet.
12 His strength is depleted, and calamity is ready at his side.
His sorrow is hungry, And calamity is ready at his side.
13 It devours patches of his skin; the firstborn of death devours his limbs.
It consumes the parts of his skin, Death’s firstborn consumes his parts.
14 He is torn from the shelter of his tent and is marched off to the king of terrors.
His confidence is drawn from his tent, And it causes him to step to the king of terrors.
15 Fire resides in his tent; burning sulfur rains down on his dwelling.
It dwells in his tent—out of his provender, Sulfur is scattered over his habitation.
16 The roots beneath him dry up, and the branches above him wither away.
From beneath his roots are dried up, And from above his crop is cut off.
17 The memory of him perishes from the earth, and he has no name in the land.
His memorial has perished from the land, And he has no name on the street.
18 He is driven from light into darkness and is chased from the inhabited world.
They thrust him from light to darkness, And cast him out from the habitable earth.
19 He has no offspring or posterity among his people, no survivor where he once lived.
He has no continuator, Nor successor among his people, And none is remaining in his dwellings.
20 Those in the west are appalled at his fate, while those in the east tremble in horror.
At this day, those [in the] west have been astonished, And those [in the] east have taken fright.
21 Surely such is the dwelling of the wicked and the place of one who does not know God.”
Only these [are] dwelling places of the perverse, And this [is] the place God has not known.”