Job 18
1 Then responded Bildad the Shuhite, and said: —
Then Bildad the Shuhite spoke up and said,
2 How long will ye make a perversion of words? Ye should understand, and, afterwards, we could speak.
“How long will you go on talking, hunting for the right words to say? Talk sense if you want us to reply!
3 Wherefore are we accounted like beasts? or appear stupid, in thine eyes?
Do you think we're dumb animals? Do we look stupid to you?
4 One tearing in pieces his own soul in his anger, —For thy sake, shall the earth be forsaken? or the rock be moved 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 Even the light of the lawless, shall go out, —Neither shall shine the flame 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, hath darkened in his tent, Yea, his lamp above him, goeth out;
The light in their home goes out, the lamp hanging above is extinguished.
7 The steppings of his strength are hemmed in, and his own counsel casteth him down;
Instead of taking strong strides they stumble, and their own plans cause them to fall.
8 For he is thrust into a net by his own feet, and, upon a trap, he marcheth;
Their own feet trip them up and they are caught in a net; as they walk along they fall into a pit.
9 There catcheth him—by the heel—a gin, there holdeth him fast—a noose:
A trap grabs them by the heel; a snare tightens around them.
10 Concealed in the ground is a cord for him, —and a snare for him, on the path.
A noose is hidden on the ground for them; a rope is stretched across the path to trip them.
11 Round about, terrors have startled him, and have driven him to his feet.
Terrors scare the wicked, coming at them from every side, chasing them, biting at their heels.
12 Let his strength be famished, and, calamity, be ready at his side;
Hunger robs them of strength; disaster waits for them when they fall.
13 Let it devour the members of his body, Let the firstborn of death devour his members;
Disease devours their skin; deadly disease consumes their limbs.
14 Uprooted, out of his tent, be his confidence, and let it drive him down to the king of terrors;
They are torn from the homes they trusted in and taken to the king of terrors.
15 There shall dwell in his tent, what is naught-of-his, Let brimstone be strewed over his dwelling;
People they don't know will live in their homes; sulfur will be scattered where they used to live.
16 Beneath, let his roots be dried up, and, above, be cut off his branch;
They wither away, roots below and branches above;
17 His memorial, have perished out of the land, and let him have no name over the face of the open field;
the memory of them fades from the earth; nobody remembers their names any more.
18 Let them thrust him out of light into darkness, Yea, out of the world, let them chase him;
They are thrown out of light into darkness, driven from the world.
19 Let him have neither scion nor seed among his people, neither any survivor in his place of sojourn:
They have no children or descendants among their people, and no survivors where they used to live.
20 Over his day, have they been astounded who come behind, and, them who are in advance, a shudder hath seized.
People of the west are appalled at what happens to them. People of the east are shocked.
21 Surely, these, are the dwellings of him that is perverse, and, this, is the place of him that knoweth not GOD.
This is what happens to the homes of the wicked, to the places of those who reject God.”
