Job 18:5–14

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^18:5“Yes,⁹ the lamp¹⁰ of the wicked is extinguished;

his flame of fire¹¹ does not shine.

^18:6The light in his tent grows dark;

his lamp above him is extinguished.¹²

^18:7His vigorous steps¹³ are restricted,¹⁴

and his own counsel throws him down.¹⁵

^18:8For he has been thrown into a net by his feet¹⁶

and he wanders into a mesh.¹⁷

^18:9A trap¹⁸ seizes him by the heel;

a snare¹⁹ grips him.

^18:10A rope is hidden for him²⁰ on the ground

and a trap for him²¹ lies on the path.

^18:11Terrors²² frighten him on all sides

and dog²³ his every step.

^18:12Calamity is²⁴ hungry for him,²⁵

and misfortune is ready at his side.²⁶

^18:13It eats away parts of his skin;²⁷

the most terrible death²⁸ devours his limbs.

^18:14He is dragged from the security of his tent,²⁹

and marched off³⁰ to the king³¹ of terrors.

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Footnotes

9 Hebrew גַּם (gam, “also; moreover”), in view of what has just been said.
10 The lamp or the light can have a number of uses in the Bible. Here it is probably an implied metaphor for prosperity and happiness, for the good life itself.
11 The expression is literally “the flame of his fire,” but the pronominal suffix qualifies the entire bound construction. The two words together intensify the idea of the flame.
12 The interprets a little more precisely: “his lamp shall be put out with him.” This thesis of Bildad will be questioned by Job in 21:17—how often is the lamp of the wicked snuffed out?
13 Heb “the steps of his vigor,” the genitive being the attribute.
14 The verb צָרַר (tsarar) means “to be cramped; to be straitened; to be hemmed in.” The trouble has hemmed him in, so that he cannot walk with the full, vigorous steps he had before. The has “Let the meanest of men spoil his goods.”
15 The has “causes him to stumble,” which many commentators accept; but this involves the transposition of the three letters. The verb is שָׁלַךְ (shalakh, “throw”) not כָּשַׁל (kashal, “stumble”).
17 The word שְׂבָכָה (sévakhah) is used in scripture for the lattice window (2 Kgs 1:2). The Arabic cognate means “to be intertwined.” So the term could describe a net, matting, grating, or lattice. Here it would be the netting stretched over a pit.
18 This word פָּח (pakh) specifically refers to the snare of the fowler—thus a bird trap. But its plural seems to refer to nets in general (see Job 22:10).
19 This word does not occur elsewhere. But another word from the same root means “plait of hair,” and so this term has something to do with a net like a trellis or lattice.
20 Heb “his rope.” The suffix must be a genitive expressing that the trap was for him, to trap him, and so an objective genitive.
21 Heb “his trap.” The pronominal suffix is objective genitive here as well.
22 Bildad is referring here to all the things that afflict a person and cause terror. It would then be a metonymy of effect, the cause being the afflictions.
23 The verb פּוּץ (puts) in the Hiphil has the meaning “to pursue” and “to scatter.” It is followed by the expression “at his feet.” So the idea is easily derived: they chase him at his feet. But some commentators have other proposals. The most far-fetched is that of Ehrlich and Driver ( 24 [1953]: 259–60) which has “and compel him to urinate on his feet,” one of many similar readings the accepted from Driver.
24 The jussive is occasionally used without its normal sense and only as an imperfect (see §109.k).
25 There are a number of suggestions for אֹנוֹ (’ono). Some take it as “vigor”: thus “his strength is hungry.” Others take it as “iniquity”: thus “his iniquity/trouble is hungry.”
26 The expression means that misfortune is right there to destroy him whenever there is the opportunity.
27 The expression “the limbs of his skin” makes no sense, unless a poetic meaning of “parts” (or perhaps “layers”) is taken. The parallelism has “his skin” in the first colon, and “his limbs” in the second. One plausible suggestion is to take בַּדֵּי (badde, “limbs of”) in the first part to be בִּדְוָי (bidvay, “by a disease”; Dhorme, Wright, ). The verb has to be made passive, however. The versions have different things: The has “let the branches of his feet be eaten”; the has “his cities will be swallowed up by force”; the reads “let it devour the beauty of his skin”; and Job has “it will devour the linen garments that cover his skin.”
28 The “firstborn of death” is the strongest child of death (Gen 49:3), or the deadliest death (like the “firstborn of the poor, the poorest). The phrase means the most terrible death (A. B. Davidson, Job, 134).
29 Heb “from his tent, his security.” The apposition serves to modify the tent as his security.
30 The verb is the Hiphil of צָעַד (tsa’ad, “to lead away”). The problem is that the form is either a third feminine (Rashi thought it was referring to Job’s wife) or the second person. There is a good deal of debate over the possibility of the prefix t- being a variant for the third masculine form. The evidence in Ugaritic and Akkadian is mixed, stronger for the plural than the singular. Gesenius has some samples where the third feminine form might also be used for the passive if there is no expressed subject (see §144.b), but the evidence is not strong. The simplest choices are to change the prefix to a י (yod), or argue that the ת (tav) can be masculine, or follow Gesenius.
31 This is a reference to death, the king of all terrors. Other identifications are made in the commentaries: Mot, the Ugaritic god of death; Nergal of the Babylonians; Molech of the Canaanites, the one to whom people sent emissaries.

Cross references

16 See Ps 25:15.

In other versions

ESVEnglish Standard Version

“Indeed, the light of the wicked is put out,

and the flame of his fire does not shine.

The light is dark in his tent,

and his lamp above him is put out.

His strong steps are shortened,

and his own schemes throw him down.

For he is cast into a net by his own feet,

and he walks on its mesh.

A trap seizes him by the heel;

a snare lays hold of him.

A rope is hidden for him in the ground,

a trap for him in the path.

Terrors frighten him on every side,

and chase him at his heels.

His strength is famished,

and calamity is ready for his stumbling.

It consumes the parts of his skin;

the firstborn of death consumes his limbs.

He is torn from the tent in which he trusted

and is brought to the king of terrors.

NIVNew International Version (2011)

“The lamp of a wicked man is snuffed out;

the flame of his fire stops burning.

The light in his tent becomes dark;

the lamp beside him goes out.

The vigor of his step is weakened;

his own schemes throw him down.

His feet thrust him into a net;

he wanders into its mesh.

A trap seizes him by the heel;

a snare holds him fast.

A noose is hidden for him on the ground;

a trap lies in his path.

Terrors startle him on every side

and dog his every step.

Calamity is hungry for him;

disaster is ready for him when he falls.

It eats away parts of his skin;

death’s firstborn devours his limbs.

He is torn from the security of his tent

and marched off to the king of terrors.

CSBChristian Standard Bible

Yes, the light of the wicked is extinguished;

the flame of his fire does not glow.

The light in his tent grows dark,

and the lamp beside him is put out.

His powerful stride is shortened,

and his own schemes trip him up.

For his own feet lead him into a net,

and he strays into its mesh.

A trap catches him by the heel;

a noose seizes him.

A rope lies hidden for him on the ground,

and a snare waits for him along the path.

Terrors frighten him on every side

and harass him at every step.

His strength is depleted;

disaster lies ready for him to stumble.

Parts of his skin are eaten away;

death’s firstborn consumes his limbs.

He is ripped from the security of his tent

and marched away to the king of terrors.

NLTNew Living Translation

“Surely the light of the wicked will be snuffed out.

The sparks of their fire will not glow.

The light in their tent will grow dark.

The lamp hanging above them will be quenched.

The confident stride of the wicked will be shortened.

Their own schemes will be their downfall.

The wicked walk into a net.

They fall into a pit.

A trap grabs them by the heel.

A snare holds them tight.

A noose lies hidden on the ground.

A rope is stretched across their path.

“Terrors surround the wicked

and trouble them at every step.

Hunger depletes their strength,

and calamity waits for them to stumble.

Disease eats their skin;

death devours their limbs.

They are torn from the security of their homes

and are brought down to the king of terrors.

LEBThe Lexham English Bible

Furthermore, the light of the wicked is put out,

and the flame of his fire will not shine.

The light becomes dark in his tent,

and his lamp above him is put out.

“His strong steps are shortened,

and his own schemes throw him down,

for he is thrust into a net by his feet,

and he walks into a pitfall.

A trap seizes him by the heel;

a snare takes hold of him.

His rope is hidden in the ground,

and his trap on the path.

“Sudden terrors terrify him all around,

and they chase him at his heels.

His wealth will become hunger,

and disaster is ready for his stumbling.

It consumes parts of his skin;

the firstborn of death consumes his limbs.

He is torn from his tent in which he trusted,

and it brought him to the king of terrors.

KJV 1900King James Version

Yea, the light of the wicked shall be put out,

And the spark of his fire shall not shine.

The light shall be dark in his tabernacle,

And his candle shall be put out with him.

The steps of his strength shall be straitened,

And his own counsel shall cast him down.

For he is cast into a net by his own feet,

And he walketh upon a snare.

The gin shall take him by the heel,

And the robber shall prevail against him.

The snare is laid for him in the ground,

And a trap for him in the way.

Terrors shall make him afraid on every side,

And shall drive him to his feet.

His strength shall be hungerbitten,

And destruction shall be ready at his side.

It shall devour the strength of his skin:

Even the firstborn of death shall devour his strength.

His confidence shall be rooted out of his tabernacle,

And it shall bring him to the king of terrors.

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