Job 18
1 And Bildad the Shuhite answereth and saith: —
Then Bildad replied [again]:
2 When do ye set an end to words? Consider ye, and afterwards do we speak.
“When are you going to stop talking [RHQ]? If you would stop talking and listen, we could tell you something.
3 Wherefore have we been reckoned as cattle? We have been defiled in your eyes!
Why do you think that we are [as stupid] as cattle? [DOU, RHQ]
4 (He is tearing himself in his anger.) For thy sake is earth forsaken? And removed is a rock from 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 Also, the light of the wicked is extinguished. And there doth not shine a spark 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 been dark in his tent, And his lamp over him is extinguished.
And when the lamps above them [in their tents] are extinguished, there will be no light in those tents.
7 Straitened are the steps of his strength, And cast him down doth his own counsel.
[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 sent into a net by his own feet, And on a snare he doth walk habitually.
[It was as though] they walked into their own net or fell into a pit that they themselves have dug.
9 Seize on the heel doth a gin, Prevail over him do the designing.
[It was as though] a trap grabbed their heels and held them fast [DOU],
10 Hidden in the earth is his cord, And his trap 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 terrified him have terrors, And they have scattered him — at 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 Hungry is his sorrow, And calamity is ready at his side.
They became hungry, with the result that they had no strength. They experienced disasters [PRS] constantly.
13 It consumeth the parts of his skin, Consume his parts doth death's first-born.
Diseases spread all over their skin/bodies; diseases that (caused their bodies to decay/destroyed their arms and legs).
14 Drawn from his tent is his confidence, And it causeth him to step 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 dwelleth in his tent — out of his provender, Scattered over his habitation is sulphur.
Now their tents will burn down, when burning sulfur rains down on those tents!
16 From beneath his roots are dried up, And from above cut off is his crop.
[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 hath perished from the land, And he hath no name on the street.
No one on the earth will remember them any more; no [one on any] street [will even remember] their names [MTY].
18 They thrust him from light unto darkness, And from the habitable earth cast him out.
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 hath no continuator, Nor successor among his people, And none is remaining in his dwellings.
They will have no children or grandchildren, no descendants where they previously lived.
20 At this day westerns have been astonished And easterns have taken fright.
People from the east to the west [who hear about what happened to them], will be shocked and horrified.
21 Only these [are] tabernacles of the perverse, And this the place God hath not known.
And that is what happens to ungodly/sinful people [like you], to people who (have no interest in/have rejected) God.”
