Job 18
1599 Geneva Bible
18 1 Bildad rehearseth the pains of the unfaithful and wicked.
1 Then answered Bildad the Shuhite, and said,
2 When will [a]ye make an end of your words? [b]cause us to understand, and then we will speak.
3 Wherefore are we counted as beasts, and are vile in your sight?
4 Thou art [c]as one that teareth his soul in his anger. Shall the [d]earth be forsaken for thy sake? or the rock removed out of his place?
5 Yea, the light of the wicked shall be [e]quenched, and the spark of his fire shall not shine.
6 The light shall be dark in his dwelling, and his candle shall be put out with him.
7 The steps of his strength shall be restrained, and his own counsel shall cast him down.
8 For he is taken in the net by his feet, and he [f]walketh upon the snares.
9 The grenne shall take him by the heel, and the chief shall come upon him.
10 A snare is laid for him in the ground, and a trap for him in the way.
11 Fearfulness shall make him afraid on every side, and shall drive him to his feet.
12 His strength shall be [g]famine: and destruction shall be ready at his side.
13 It shall devour the inner parts of his skin, and the [h]firstborn of death shall devour his strength.
14 His hope shall be rooted out of his dwelling, and shall cause him to go to the [i]king of fear.
15 Fear shall dwell in his house (because it is not [j]his) [k]and brimstone shall be scattered upon his habitation.
16 His roots shall be dried up beneath, and above shall his branch be cut down.
17 His remembrance shall perish from the earth, and he shall have no name in the street.
18 They shall drive him out of the [l]light unto darkness, and chase him out of the world.
19 He shall neither have son nor nephew among his people, nor any posterity in his dwellings.
20 The posterity shall be astonied at his [m]day, and fear shall come upon the ancient.
21 Surely such are the habitations of the wicked, and this is the place of him that knoweth not God.
Footnotes
- Job 18:2 Which count yourselves just, as Job 12:4.
- Job 18:2 Whom you take to be but beasts, as Job 12:7.
- Job 18:4 That is, like a madman.
- Job 18:4 Shall God change the order of nature for thy sake, by dealing with thee otherwise than he doth with all men?
- Job 18:5 When the wicked is in his prosperity, then God changeth his state: and this is his ordinary working for their sins.
- Job 18:8 Meaning, that the wicked are in continual danger.
- Job 18:12 That which should nourish him shall be consumed by famine.
- Job 18:13 That is, some strong and violent death shall consume his strength: or as the Hebrew word signifieth, his members or parts.
- Job 18:14 That is, with most great fear.
- Job 18:15 Meaning, not truly come by.
- Job 18:15 Though all the world would favor him, yet God would destroy him and his.
- Job 18:18 He shall fall from prosperity to adversity.
- Job 18:20 When they shall see what came unto him.
Job 18
New Catholic Bible
Bildad’s Second Speech[a]
Chapter 18
The Light of the Wicked Is Extinguished.
1 Then Bildad the Shuhite responded:
2 “When will you cease this torrent of words?
Once you start to think rationally,
then we can have a sensible discussion.
3 Why do you treat us like animals
and regard us as ignorant?
4 In your anger you tear yourself to pieces,
but the earth will not be forsaken on your account,
nor will a single rock be moved from its place.
5 “The light of the wicked is extinguished,
and the flame of his fire no longer shines.
6 The light in his tent begins to fade
and the lamp above him is put out.
7 His vigorous stride begins to falter
and his own plans fail miserably.
8 He rushes headlong into a net,
and his feet are ensnared.
9 “A trap seizes him by the heel,
leaving him unable to escape.
10 A noose lies hidden on the ground for him;
pitfalls lie across his path.
11 Terrors alarm him on every side,
hounding his every step.
12 His strength is weakened by hunger,
and disaster awaits him on all sides.
13 “His skin is eaten away by disease;
the firstborn of death devours his limbs.[b]
14 He is dragged from the security of his tent
and carted off to the king of terrors.[c]
15 Anyone can live in his tent since it is no longer his;
brimstone[d] is scattered over his dwelling.
16 His roots dry up below,
and his branches wither above.
17 “All memory of him vanishes from the earth;
his name is quickly forgotten.
18 He is thrust from light into darkness
and banished from the world.
19 He leaves no offspring or posterity among his people;
there is no survivor where he once lived.
20 Inhabitants of the west are appalled at his fate,
while those of the east are struck with horror.
21 Such indeed is the dwelling of the impious;
such is the home of everyone who cares nothing for God.”
Footnotes
- Job 18:1 The wrath of Job has the result of provoking Bildad to impatience. In the divine order of the universe, he says, there is no place for the problem of Job, whose words constitute a blasphemy.
- Job 18:13 The ancients regarded illnesses as the children of death; the allusion here, then, is to very serious illness.
- Job 18:14 King of terrors: i.e., death. In various civilizations the ruler of the realm of the dead was called Nergal, Pluto, or Moloch (see Isa 57:9).
- Job 18:15 Brimstone: an element used to disinfect a tent and remove every trace of the occupant.
Geneva Bible, 1599 Edition. Published by Tolle Lege Press. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without written permission from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations in articles, reviews, and broadcasts.
