18:1 Then Bildad the Shuhite responded,
18:2 “How long will you hunt for words?
Show understanding, and then we can talk.
18:3 Why are we regarded as animals,
As stupid in your eyes?
18:4 ①You who tear yourself in your anger—
Should the earth be abandoned for your sake,
Or the rock moved from its place?
▷ ①Lit The one who tears himself in his
18:5 “Indeed, the light of the wicked goes out,
And the spark from his fire does not shine.
18:6 The light in his tent is darkened,
And his lamp goes out above him.
18:7 His ①vigorous stride is shortened,
And his own plan brings him down.
▷ ①Lit steps of his strength
18:8 For he is thrown into the net by his own feet,
And he steps on the webbing.
18:9 A snare seizes him by the heel,
And a trap snaps shut on him.
18:10 A noose for him is hidden in the ground,
And a trap for him on the pathway.
18:11 All around sudden terrors frighten him,
And harass him at every step.
18:12 His strength is famished,
And disaster is ready at his side.
18:13 ①It devours parts of his skin,
The firstborn of death devours his ②limbs.
▷ ①Another reading isHis skin is devoured by illness ②Or parts
18:14 He is torn from ①the security of his tent,
And ②they march him before the king of terrors.
▷ ①Lit his tent his trust ②Lit you march or she marches
18:15 ①Nothing of his dwells in his tent;
Brimstone is scattered on his home.
▷ ①Another reading is Fire dwells in his tent
18:16 His roots are dried below,
And his branch withers above.
18:17 The memory of him perishes from the earth,
And he has no name abroad.
18:18 ①He is driven from light into darkness,
And chased from the inhabited world.
▷ ①Lit They drive him...And chase him
18:19 He has no offspring or descendants among his people,
Nor any survivor where he resided.
18:20 Those in the west are appalled at his ①fate,
And those in the east are seized with horror.
▷ ①Lit day
18:21 Certainly these are the dwellings of the wicked,
And this is the place of him who does not know God.”