Job 18

1 Then responded Bildad the Shuhite, and said: —

Then Bildad replied [again]:

2 How long will ye make a perversion of words? Ye should understand, and, afterwards, we could 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 accounted like beasts? or appear stupid, in thine eyes?

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

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?

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 Even the light of the lawless, shall go out, —Neither shall shine the flame of his fire;

“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, hath darkened in his tent, Yea, his lamp above him, goeth out;

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

7 The steppings of his strength are hemmed in, and his own counsel casteth 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 thrust into a net by his own feet, and, upon a trap, he marcheth;

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

9 There catcheth him—by the heel—a gin, there holdeth him fast—a noose:

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

10 Concealed in the ground is a cord for him, —and a snare for him, on the path.

[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 Round about, terrors have startled him, and have driven 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 Let his strength be famished, and, calamity, be ready at his side;

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

13 Let it devour the members of his body, Let the firstborn of death devour his members;

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

14 Uprooted, out of his tent, be his confidence, and let it drive him down 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 There shall dwell in his tent, what is naught-of-his, Let brimstone be strewed over his dwelling;

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

16 Beneath, let his roots be dried up, and, above, be cut off his branch;

[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 memorial, have perished out of the land, and let him have no name over the face of the open field;

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

18 Let them thrust him out of light into darkness, Yea, out of the world, let them chase him;

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

19 Let him have neither scion nor seed among his people, neither any survivor in his place of sojourn:

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

20 Over his day, have they been astounded who come behind, and, them who are in advance, a shudder hath seized.

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

21 Surely, these, are the dwellings of him that is perverse, 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.”