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Bildad speaks to Job again[a]

18 Then Bildad, the man from Shuah, replied. This is what he said:

‘You should not continue to talk like that!
    Stop and think carefully. Then we can talk.
You should not think that we are as foolish as cows.
You are so angry that you are hurting yourself.
You will never change the way that things happen in the world.
Your anger will not cause the earth to shake,
    or any rocks to move from their places.

What happens to wicked people

The light of a wicked person's life will stop shining.
    His fire will no longer burn brightly.
His tent will be dark.
    The lamp that gives him light will stop burning.
Once he was strong
    but now his legs are weak.
    His own ideas cause him to fall down.
He does not know where he is going
    and he walks into a dangerous trap.
A trap catches his foot
    and he cannot move.
10 Someone has hidden a rope on the ground.
    It catches him as he walks along.
11 Everywhere a wicked person goes,
    things frighten him.
    He cannot escape from them.
12 Now he is hungry
    and his strength has disappeared.
Terrible trouble is ready to take hold of him
    whenever it has the chance.
13 A bad disease eats his skin.
It causes his arms and his legs to become useless
    and he dies.
14 Then he has to leave his tent
    where he had lived safely.
He will have to meet the terrible king of death.
15 Other people will live in his tent.
    They have used sulphur to burn all his things.[b]
16 He is like a tree whose roots have become dry,
    and its branches have fallen off.
17 Nobody remembers that he ever lived.
    They have forgotten his name.
18 The wicked person has had to leave this world.
He has gone from a place where there is light
    to a place where it is dark.
19 He has no children or grandchildren.
    He has no family to live in his home.
20 All people are very upset
    when they see what has happened to him.
Wherever they live,
    they are very upset.

21 I know that this is what happens to the homes of evil people.
It happens to people who turn away from God.’

Footnotes

  1. 18:1 Now Bildad tells Job how God punishes bad people. He tells Job to listen to people who can help him. He says that Job must become wise. Then he will understand what has happened to him.
  2. 18:15 They used sulphur to make a place clean.

Bildad Speaks

18 Then Bildad the Shuhite(A) replied:

How long until you stop talking?
Show some sense, and then we can talk.
Why are we regarded as cattle,
as stupid in your sight?
You who tear yourself in anger[a]
should the earth be abandoned on your account,
or a rock be removed from its place?

Yes, the light(B) of the wicked(C) is extinguished;
the flame of his fire does not glow.
The light in his tent grows dark,(D)
and the lamp beside him is put out.
His powerful stride is shortened,
and his own schemes trip him up.(E)
For his own feet lead him into a net,
and he strays into its mesh.
A trap catches him by the heel;
a noose seizes him.
10 A rope lies hidden for him on the ground,
and a snare waits for him along the path.
11 Terrors frighten him on every side(F)
and harass him at every step.
12 His strength is depleted;
disaster lies ready for him to stumble.[b]
13 Parts of his skin are eaten away;
death’s firstborn consumes his limbs.
14 He is ripped from the security of his tent
and marched away to the king of terrors.
15 Nothing he owned remains in his tent.
Burning sulphur(G) is scattered over his home.
16 His roots below dry up,
and his branches above wither away.(H)
17 All memory(I) of him perishes from the earth;
he has no name anywhere.[c]
18 He is driven from light to darkness
and chased from the inhabited world.
19 He has no children or descendants among his people,
no survivor where he used to live.(J)
20 Those in the west are appalled(K) at his fate,
while those in the east tremble in horror.
21 Indeed, such is the dwelling of the unjust man,
and this is the place of the one who does not know God.(L)

Footnotes

  1. 18:4 Lit He who tears himself in his anger
  2. 18:12 Or disaster hungers for him
  3. 18:17 Or name in the streets