Job 18

Bildad: God Punishes the Wicked

¹ Then Bildad the Shuhite replied:

² “How long until you end these speeches?

Show some sense, and then we can talk.

³ Why are we regarded as cattle,

as stupid in your sight?

⁴ You who tear yourself in anger—

should the earth be forsaken on your account,

or the rocks be moved from their place?

⁵ Indeed, the lamp of the wicked is extinguished;

the flame of his fire does not glow.

⁶ The light in his tent grows dark,

and the lamp beside him goes out.

⁷ His vigorous stride is shortened,

and his own schemes trip him up.

⁸ For his own feet lead him into a net,

and he wanders into its mesh.

⁹ A trap seizes his heel;

a snare grips him.

¹⁰ A noose is hidden in the ground,

and a trap lies in his path.

¹¹ Terrors frighten him on every side

and harass his every step.

¹² His strength is depleted,

and calamity is ready at his side.

¹³ It devours patches of his skin;

the firstborn of death devours his limbs.

¹⁴ He is torn from the shelter of his tent

and is marched off to the king of terrors.

¹⁵ Fire resides in his tent;

burning sulfur rains down on his dwelling.

¹⁶ The roots beneath him dry up,

and the branches above him wither away.

¹⁷ The memory of him perishes from the earth,

and he has no name in the land.

¹⁸ He is driven from light into darkness

and is chased from the inhabited world.

¹⁹ He has no offspring or posterity among his people,

no survivor where he once lived.

²⁰ Those in the west are appalled at his fate,

while those in the east tremble in horror.

²¹ Surely such is the dwelling of the wicked

and the place of one who does not know God.”