Job 18
EasyEnglish Bible
Bildad speaks to Job again[a]
18 Then Bildad, the man from Shuah, replied. This is what he said:
2 ‘You should not continue to talk like that!
Stop and think carefully. Then we can talk.
3 You should not think that we are as foolish as cows.
4 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
5 The light of a wicked person's life will stop shining.
His fire will no longer burn brightly.
6 His tent will be dark.
The lamp that gives him light will stop burning.
7 Once he was strong
but now his legs are weak.
His own ideas cause him to fall down.
8 He does not know where he is going
and he walks into a dangerous trap.
9 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.’
Job 18
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
Chapter 18
Bildad’s Second Speech. 1 Then Bildad the Shuhite answered and said:
2 When will you put an end to words?
Reflect, and then we can have discussion.
3 Why are we accounted like beasts,
equal to them in your sight?
4 You who tear yourself in your anger—
shall the earth be neglected on your account
or the rock be moved out of its place?
5 Truly, the light of the wicked is extinguished;
the flame of his fire casts no light.
6 In his tent light is darkness;
the lamp above him goes out.(A)
7 His vigorous steps are hemmed in,
his own counsel casts him down.
8 A net catches him by the feet,
he wanders into a pitfall.
9 A trap seizes him by the heel,
a snare lays hold of him.
10 A noose is hidden for him on the ground,
a netting for him on the path.
11 On every side terrors frighten him;(B)
they harry him at each step.
12 His strength is famished,
disaster is ready at his side,
13 His skin is eaten to the limbs,
the firstborn of Death[a] eats his limbs.
14 He is plucked from the security of his tent;
and marched off to the king of terrors.[b]
15 Fire lodges in his tent,
over his abode brimstone is scattered.
16 Below, his roots dry up,
and above, his branches wither.
17 His memory perishes from the earth,(C)
and he has no name in the countryside.
18 He is driven from light into darkness,
and banished from the world.
19 He has neither offshoot nor offspring among his people,
no survivor where once he dwelt.
20 Those who come after shall be appalled at his fate;
those who went before are seized with horror.
21 So is it then with the dwelling of the impious;
such is the place of the one who does not know God!
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