Job 18
1 Then Bildad the Shuhite answered,
Then Bildad replied [again]:
2 “How long will you hunt for words? Consider, and afterwards we will speak.
“When are you going to stop talking [RHQ]? If you would stop talking and listen, we could tell you something.
3 Why are we counted as animals, which have become unclean in your sight?
Why do you think that we are [as stupid] as cattle? [DOU, RHQ]
4 You who tear yourself in your anger, will the earth be forsaken for you? Or will the rock be removed out of its place?
By being [very] angry and hurting yourself, do you think that doing that will shake the earth, or cause the rocks in the mountains to move? [RHQ]?
5 “Yes, the light of the wicked will be put out. The spark of his fire won’t shine.
“What will happen is that the lives of wicked people [like you] end [as quickly as we can] put out a light or extinguish the flame of a fire.
6 The light will be dark in his tent. His lamp above him will be put out.
And when the lamps above them [in their tents] are extinguished, there will be no light in those tents.
7 The steps of his strength will be shortened. His own counsel will cast him down.
[For many years] they walked confidently, but later [in life it was as though] they stumbled and fell, because [they themselves did not heed] the advice [that they gave to others].
8 For he is cast into a net by his own feet, and he wanders into its mesh.
[It was as though] they walked into their own net or fell into a pit that they themselves have dug.
9 A snare will take him by the heel. A trap will catch him.
[It was as though] a trap grabbed their heels and held them fast [DOU],
10 A noose is hidden for him in the ground, a trap for him on the path.
[as though the noose of] a rope that was hidden on the ground, [whose other end was fastened to the limb of a tree], seized them when they walked into it.
11 Terrors will make him afraid on every side, and will chase him at his heels.
Everywhere they went, there were things that caused them to be terrified; [it was as though] those things were pursuing them and biting at their heels.
12 His strength will be famished. Calamity will be ready at his side.
They became hungry, with the result that they had no strength. They experienced disasters [PRS] constantly.
13 The members of his body will be devoured. The firstborn of death will devour his members.
Diseases spread all over their skin/bodies; diseases that (caused their bodies to decay/destroyed their arms and legs).
14 He will be rooted out of the security of his tent. He will be brought to the king of terrors.
[When they died, ] they were snatched away from their tents and brought to the one who rules over the dead.
15 There will dwell in his tent that which is none of his. Sulfur will be scattered on his habitation.
Now their tents will burn down, when burning sulfur rains down on those tents!
16 His roots will be dried up beneath. His branch will be cut off above.
[Because those who died had no descendants], they were [like trees whose] roots have dried up and whose branches have all withered [MET].
17 His memory will perish from the earth. He will have no name in the street.
No one on the earth will remember them any more; no [one on any] street [will even remember] their names [MTY].
18 He will be driven from light into darkness, and chased out of the world.
They will be expelled from the earth where there is light, and they will be sent into the place where it is dark.
19 He will have neither son nor grandson among his people, nor any remaining where he lived.
They will have no children or grandchildren, no descendants where they previously lived.
20 Those who come after will be astonished at his day, as those who went before were frightened.
People from the east to the west [who hear about what happened to them], will be shocked and horrified.
21 Surely such are the dwellings of the unrighteous. This is the place of him who doesn’t know God.”
And that is what happens to ungodly/sinful people [like you], to people who (have no interest in/have rejected) God.”
