Job 18

1 Then answered Bildad the Shuhite, and said,

Then Bildad replied [again]:

2 How long will it be ere ye make an end of words? mark, and afterwards 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 vile in your sight?

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

4 He teareth himself in his anger: shall the earth be forsaken for thee? and shall the rock be removed out of his 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 spark 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 be dark in his tabernacle, and his candle shall be put out with him.

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 cast into a net by his own feet, and he walketh upon a snare.

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

9 The gin shall take him by the heel, and the robber shall prevail against him.

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

10 The snare is laid for him in the ground, and a trap for him 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 shall make him afraid on every side, and shall drive him to his feet.

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 shall be hungerbitten, and destruction shall be ready at his side.

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

13 It shall devour the strength of his skin: even the firstborn of death shall devour his strength.

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 tabernacle, and it shall bring him 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 It shall dwell in his tabernacle, because it is none of his: brimstone shall be scattered 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 in the street.

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

18 He shall be 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 shall neither have son nor nephew among his people, nor any remaining in his dwellings.

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

20 They that come after him shall be astonied at his day, as they that went before 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 wicked, and this is 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.”