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“Surely the light of the wicked will be snuffed out.
    The sparks of their fire will not glow.
The light in their tent will grow dark.
    The lamp hanging above them will be quenched.
The confident stride of the wicked will be shortened.
    Their own schemes will be their downfall.
The wicked walk into a net.
    They fall into a pit.
A trap grabs them by the heel.
    A snare holds them tight.
10 A noose lies hidden on the ground.
    A rope is stretched across their path.

11 “Terrors surround the wicked
    and trouble them at every step.
12 Hunger depletes their strength,
    and calamity waits for them to stumble.
13 Disease eats their skin;
    death devours their limbs.
14 They are torn from the security of their homes
    and are brought down to the king of terrors.
15 The homes of the wicked will burn down;
    burning sulfur rains on their houses.
16 Their roots will dry up,
    and their branches will wither.
17 All memory of their existence will fade from the earth;
    no one will remember their names.
18 They will be thrust from light into darkness,
    driven from the world.
19 They will have neither children nor grandchildren,
    nor any survivor in the place where they lived.
20 People in the west are appalled at their fate;
    people in the east are horrified.
21 They will say, ‘This was the home of a wicked person,
    the place of one who rejected God.’”

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The Wicked are Trapped

“Indeed, the light of the wicked is extinguished;
    the flame from his fire doesn’t shine.
Light in his tent is dark,
    and his lamp goes out above him.
His strong steps are restricted,
    and his own advice trips him up.

“For he has stumbled into a net with his own feet;
    he walked right into the network!
The trap seizes him by the heel;
    a snare tightens its hold on him.
10 A rope lies hidden in the dirt;
    a trap lies[a] waiting for him where he is walking.”

The Wicked Perish without Descendants

11 “He is petrified by terror that surrounds him on all sides;
    they chase at his heels.
12 He is starved for strength;
    and is ripe for a fall.
13 Something gnaws on his skin;
    a deadly disease[b] consumes his limbs.
14 Torn from the security of his home,[c]
    he is brought before the king of terrors.

15 “There’s nothing in his tent that belongs to him;
    sulfur is scattered all over his dwelling place.
16 His roots wither underneath,
    while his branches above are being cut off.
17 No one remembers him anywhere in the land;
    no one names streets in his honor.
18 He is driven away from light to darkness,
    made to wander the landscape.
19 He has no children or descendants within his own people;
    and no survivors where he once lived.
20 People[d] who live west of him are appalled at his fate;[e]
    those who live east of him are seized with terror.
21 Indeed, the residences of the wicked are like this;
    and so are the homes of those who don’t know God.”

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Footnotes

  1. Job 18:10 The Heb. lacks lies
  2. Job 18:13 Lit. a firstborn of death
  3. Job 18:14 Lit. tent
  4. Job 18:20 The Heb. lacks people
  5. Job 18:20 Lit. at his day