Job 18
1 And Bildad the Shuhite answers and says:
Then Bildad the Shuhite spoke up and said,
2 “When do you set an end to words? Consider, and afterward we speak.
“How long will you go on talking, hunting for the right words to say? Talk sense if you want us to reply!
3 Why have we been reckoned as livestock? We have been defiled in your eyes!
Do you think we're dumb animals? Do we look stupid to you?
4 He is tearing himself in his anger. Is earth forsaken for your sake? And is a rock removed from 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 Also, the light of the wicked is extinguished. And there does not shine a spark of his fire.
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 has been dark in his tent, And his lamp over him is extinguished.
The light in their home goes out, the lamp hanging above is extinguished.
7 The steps of his strength are restricted, And his own counsel casts him down.
Instead of taking strong strides they stumble, and their own plans cause them to fall.
8 For he is sent into a net by his own feet, And he habitually walks on 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 A trap seizes on the heel, The designing prevails over him.
A trap grabs them by the heel; a snare tightens around them.
10 His cord is hidden in the earth, And his trap on the path.
A noose is hidden on the ground for them; a rope is stretched across the path to trip them.
11 Terrors have terrified him all around, And they have scattered him—at his feet.
Terrors scare the wicked, coming at them from every side, chasing them, biting at their heels.
12 His sorrow is hungry, And calamity is ready at his side.
Hunger robs them of strength; disaster waits for them when they fall.
13 It consumes the parts of his skin, Death’s firstborn consumes his parts.
Disease devours their skin; deadly disease consumes their limbs.
14 His confidence is drawn from his tent, And it causes him to step to the king of terrors.
They are torn from the homes they trusted in and taken to the king of terrors.
15 It dwells in his tent—out of his provender, Sulfur is scattered over his habitation.
People they don't know will live in their homes; sulfur will be scattered where they used to live.
16 From beneath his roots are dried up, And from above his crop is cut off.
They wither away, roots below and branches above;
17 His memorial has perished from the land, And he has no name on the street.
the memory of them fades from the earth; nobody remembers their names any more.
18 They thrust him from light to darkness, And cast him out from the habitable earth.
They are thrown out of light into darkness, driven from the world.
19 He has no continuator, Nor successor among his people, And none is remaining in his dwellings.
They have no children or descendants among their people, and no survivors where they used to live.
20 At this day, those [in the] west have been astonished, And those [in the] east have taken fright.
People of the west are appalled at what happens to them. People of the east are shocked.
21 Only these [are] dwelling places of the perverse, And this [is] the place God has not known.”
This is what happens to the homes of the wicked, to the places of those who reject God.”
