Job 18

Bildad Speaks of the Wicked

1 Then Bildad the Shuhite responded,

2 “How long will you hunt for words?
Show understanding, and then we can talk.
3 “Why are we ^aregarded as animals,
As stupid in your eyes?
4 “ ▼

▼Lit The one who tears himself in his

You who tear yourself in your anger--
Should the earth be abandoned for your sake,
Or the rock moved from its place?

5 “Indeed, the ^clight of the wicked goes out,
And the spark from his fire does not shine.
6 “The light in his tent is ^ddarkened,
And his lamp goes out above him.
7 “His ▼

▼Lit steps of his strength

vigorous stride is shortened,
And his ^fown plan brings him down.
8 “For he is ^gthrown into the net by his own feet,
And he steps on the webbing.
9 “A snare seizes him by the heel,
And a trap snaps shut on him.
10 “A noose for him is hidden in the ground,
And a trap for him on the pathway.
11 “All around ^hsudden terrors frighten him,
And ⁱharass him at every step.
12 “His strength is ^jfamished,
And disaster is ready at his side.
13 “ ▼

▼Another reading is His skin is devoured by illness

It devours parts of his skin,
The firstborn of death ^ldevours his ▼

▼Or parts

limbs.
14 “He is ⁿtorn from ▼

▼Lit his tent his trust

the security of his tent,
And ▼

▼Lit you march or she marches

they march him before the king of ^qterrors.
15 “ ▼

▼Another reading is Fire dwells in his tent

Nothing of his dwells in his tent;
^sBrimstone is scattered on his home.
16 “His ^troots are dried below,
And his ^ubranch withers above.
17 “ ^vThe memory of him perishes from the earth,
And he has no name abroad.
18 “ ▼

▼Lit They drive him...And chase him

He is driven from light ^xinto darkness,
And ^ychased from the inhabited world.
19 “He has no ^zoffspring or descendants among his people,
Nor any survivor where he resided.
20 “Those in the west are appalled at ^aahis ▼

▼Lit day

fate,
And those in the east are seized with horror.
21 “Certainly these are the ^acdwellings of the wicked,
And this is the place of him who does not know God.”