Job 18

1 And Bildad the Shuhite answered and said,

Then Bildad replied [again]:

2 How long will ye hunt for words? Be intelligent, and then we will speak.

“When are you going to stop talking [RHQ]? If you would stop talking and listen, we could tell you something.

3 Wherefore are we counted as beasts, and reputed stupid in your sight?

Why do you think that we are [as stupid] as cattle? [DOU, RHQ]

4 Thou that tearest thyself in thine anger, shall the earth be forsaken for thee? and shall the rock be removed out of its place?

By being [very] angry and hurting yourself, do you think that doing that will shake the earth, or cause the rocks in the mountains to move? [RHQ]?

5 Yea, the light of the wicked shall be put out, and the flame of his fire shall not shine.

“What will happen is that the lives of wicked people [like you] end [as quickly as we can] put out a light or extinguish the flame of a fire.

6 The light shall become dark in his tent, and his lamp over him shall be put out.

And when the lamps above them [in their tents] are extinguished, there will be no light in those tents.

7 The steps of his strength shall be straitened, and his own counsel shall cast him down.

[For many years] they walked confidently, but later [in life it was as though] they stumbled and fell, because [they themselves did not heed] the advice [that they gave to others].

8 For he is sent into the net by his own feet, and he walketh on the meshes;

[It was as though] they walked into their own net or fell into a pit that they themselves have dug.

9 The gin taketh [him] by the heel, the snare layeth hold on him;

[It was as though] a trap grabbed their heels and held them fast [DOU],

10 A cord is hidden for him in the ground, and his trap in the way.

[as though the noose of] a rope that was hidden on the ground, [whose other end was fastened to the limb of a tree], seized them when they walked into it.

11 Terrors make him afraid on every side, and chase him at his footsteps.

Everywhere they went, there were things that caused them to be terrified; [it was as though] those things were pursuing them and biting at their heels.

12 His strength is hunger-bitten, and calamity is ready at his side.

They became hungry, with the result that they had no strength. They experienced disasters [PRS] constantly.

13 The firstborn of death devoureth the members of his body; it will devour his members.

Diseases spread all over their skin/bodies; diseases that (caused their bodies to decay/destroyed their arms and legs).

14 His confidence shall be rooted out of his tent, and it shall lead him away to the king of terrors:

[When they died, ] they were snatched away from their tents and brought to the one who rules over the dead.

15 They who are none of his shall dwell in his tent; brimstone shall be showered upon his habitation:

Now their tents will burn down, when burning sulfur rains down on those tents!

16 His roots shall be dried up beneath, and above shall his branch be cut off;

[Because those who died had no descendants], they were [like trees whose] roots have dried up and whose branches have all withered [MET].

17 His remembrance shall perish from the earth, and he shall have no name on the pasture-grounds.

No one on the earth will remember them any more; no [one on any] street [will even remember] their names [MTY].

18 He is driven from light into darkness, and chased out of the world.

They will be expelled from the earth where there is light, and they will be sent into the place where it is dark.

19 He hath neither son nor grandson among his people, nor any remaining in the places of his sojourn.

They will have no children or grandchildren, no descendants where they previously lived.

20 They that come after shall be astonished at his day, as they that went before [them] were affrighted.

People from the east to the west [who hear about what happened to them], will be shocked and horrified.

21 Surely, such are the dwellings of the unrighteous man, and such the place of him that knoweth not God.

And that is what happens to ungodly/sinful people [like you], to people who (have no interest in/have rejected) God.”