Job 18

1 And Bildad the Shuhite answereth and saith: —

Then Bildad the Shuhite spoke up and said,

2 When do ye set an end to words? Consider ye, and afterwards do we speak.

“How long will you go on talking, hunting for the right words to say? Talk sense if you want us to reply!

3 Wherefore have we been reckoned as cattle? We have been defiled in your eyes!

Do you think we're dumb animals? Do we look stupid to you?

4 (He is tearing himself in his anger.) For thy sake is earth forsaken? And removed is a rock from its place?

You tear yourself apart with your anger. Do you think the earth has to be abandoned, or the mountains moved, just because of you?

5 Also, the light of the wicked is extinguished. And there doth not shine a spark of his fire.

It's certain that the life of the wicked will end like a lamp that is snuffed out—their flame will shine no more.

6 The light hath been dark in his tent, And his lamp over him is extinguished.

The light in their home goes out, the lamp hanging above is extinguished.

7 Straitened are the steps of his strength, And cast him down doth his own counsel.

Instead of taking strong strides they stumble, and their own plans cause them to fall.

8 For he is sent into a net by his own feet, And on a snare he doth walk habitually.

Their own feet trip them up and they are caught in a net; as they walk along they fall into a pit.

9 Seize on the heel doth a gin, Prevail over him do the designing.

A trap grabs them by the heel; a snare tightens around them.

10 Hidden in the earth is his cord, And his trap on the path.

A noose is hidden on the ground for them; a rope is stretched across the path to trip them.

11 Round about terrified him have terrors, And they have scattered him — at his feet.

Terrors scare the wicked, coming at them from every side, chasing them, biting at their heels.

12 Hungry is his sorrow, And calamity is ready at his side.

Hunger robs them of strength; disaster waits for them when they fall.

13 It consumeth the parts of his skin, Consume his parts doth death's first-born.

Disease devours their skin; deadly disease consumes their limbs.

14 Drawn from his tent is his confidence, And it causeth him to step to the king of terrors.

They are torn from the homes they trusted in and taken to the king of terrors.

15 It dwelleth in his tent — out of his provender, Scattered over his habitation is sulphur.

People they don't know will live in their homes; sulfur will be scattered where they used to live.

16 From beneath his roots are dried up, And from above cut off is his crop.

They wither away, roots below and branches above;

17 His memorial hath perished from the land, And he hath no name on the street.

the memory of them fades from the earth; nobody remembers their names any more.

18 They thrust him from light unto darkness, And from the habitable earth cast him out.

They are thrown out of light into darkness, driven from the world.

19 He hath no continuator, Nor successor among his people, And none is remaining in his dwellings.

They have no children or descendants among their people, and no survivors where they used to live.

20 At this day westerns have been astonished And easterns have taken fright.

People of the west are appalled at what happens to them. People of the east are shocked.

21 Only these [are] tabernacles of the perverse, And this the place God hath not known.

This is what happens to the homes of the wicked, to the places of those who reject God.”