Job 18

Bildad speaks to Job again ^{▼▼18:0 Now Bildad tells Job how God will punish bad people. He thinks that Job is becoming a bad person. And he tells Job to listen to people who can help him. Job must become wise, he says. Then he will understand what has happened.}

1 Then Bildad replied. And this is what he said.

2 ‘You should not talk so much!

Be wise, and then we can talk.

3 You seem to think that we are as silly as cows.

You should not think that we are as silly as that.

4 You are so angry that you will hurt yourself.

You may be very angry, but you will not be able to change anything.

You may be angry. But that will not make the earth move.

Nor will you be able to make the rocks move from their place.

5 The light of a bad person will go out.

His fire will stop burning.

6 He will not be able to see anything in his tent because it is dark.

And the light that is near him will go out.

7 Once he was strong but now his legs are weak.

The things that he decided to do have confused him.

8 Where he is walking there is danger.

9 He cannot move because his foot is in a trap.

10 Someone has hidden the trap on the ground where he walks.

It is on the path in front of him.

11 A bad person is afraid of everything that is round him.

He thinks that there is trouble everywhere.

12 Years ago, he was rich but now he is hungry.

If he makes a mistake, he will have many troubles.

13 An illness will make his skin painful.

When he is nearly dead, he will not be able to use his arms or his legs.

14 He will die. Then, it will like a man who leaves his tent to go to another place.

It will be like a man who goes to meet a bad king. Then the bad person will be really afraid.

15 People will live in his house. They will not be his family.

They will live there after they have lit a fire to clean the house.

16 He is like a tree whose roots have died.

He is like a tree whose branches have fallen off.

17 Then he will not be famous, either in his own country or in any other country.

No one will remember him now.

18 He will have to leave the world where he has lived.

He will go to a place where it is always dark.

19 He will have no children or grandchildren.

He will have no family to live in his house where he lived.

20 People from the east heard about the things that happened to him.

People who lived in the west heard about them too.

And they were all afraid because of what they heard.

21 I am sure that there is a reason for all these things.

They happened because he is a bad man.

And they happened because he did not know God.’