Job 18
1 Then answered Bildad the Shuchite, and said,
Then Bildad the Shuhite spoke up and said,
2 When will ye at length put an end to words? Come to an understanding, and afterward let us speak.
“How long will you go on talking, hunting for the right words to say? Talk sense if you want us to reply!
3 For what cause are we counted as beasts, reputed stupid your eyes?
Do you think we're dumb animals? Do we look stupid to you?
4 Thou, the one that teareth himself to pieces in his anger— shall for thy sake the earth be forsaken, and the rock be moved away out of its place?
You tear yourself apart with your anger. Do you think the earth has to be abandoned, or the mountains moved, just because of you?
5 Ah, truly the light of the wicked will be quenched, and the spark of his fire shall not give light.
It's certain that the life of the wicked will end like a lamp that is snuffed out—their flame will shine no more.
6 The light becometh dark in his tent, and his lamp will be quenched above him.
The light in their home goes out, the lamp hanging above is extinguished.
7 His powerful steps will be narrowed, and his own counsel will cast him down.
Instead of taking strong strides they stumble, and their own plans cause them to fall.
8 For he is driven into the net by his own feet, and he taketh his walk upon a snare.
Their own feet trip them up and they are caught in a net; as they walk along they fall into a pit.
9 The trap will seize him by the heel, and the robber will prevail over him.
A trap grabs them by the heel; a snare tightens around them.
10 The cord is hidden for him in the ground, and a trap is set for him on the pathway.
A noose is hidden on the ground for them; a rope is stretched across the path to trip them.
11 All around do terrors scare him, and chase him as he walketh along.
Terrors scare the wicked, coming at them from every side, chasing them, biting at their heels.
12 His first-born will suffer hunger, and calamity will be ready for his wife.
Hunger robs them of strength; disaster waits for them when they fall.
13 It will devour the limbs of his body: yea, the first-born of death will devour his limbs.
Disease devours their skin; deadly disease consumes their limbs.
14 Then will be plucked up out of his tent his confidence, and [the evil] will urge him forward to the king of terrors.
They are torn from the homes they trusted in and taken to the king of terrors.
15 It will dwell in his tent, because it is no more his: there will be strewed sulphur on his habitation.
People they don't know will live in their homes; sulfur will be scattered where they used to live.
16 Beneath, his roots will be dried up, and above will his boughs he cut away.
They wither away, roots below and branches above;
17 His resemblance vanisheth from the earth, and no name remaineth for him in the streets.
the memory of them fades from the earth; nobody remembers their names any more.
18 Men will thrust him out from light into darkness, and out of the world will they drive him.
They are thrown out of light into darkness, driven from the world.
19 He will have neither son nor grandson among his people, nor any that escapeth in the places of his sojourning.
They have no children or descendants among their people, and no survivors where they used to live.
20 Because of his [calamitous] day are they that come after him astonished, and they that went before are seized with shuddering.
People of the west are appalled at what happens to them. People of the east are shocked.
21 Yea, such are the dwellings of the unjust, and this is the place of one that knew not God.
This is what happens to the homes of the wicked, to the places of those who reject God.”
