Job 18

The Second Speech of Bildad

18Then Bildad the Shuhite replied,

²“Job, when will you stop these speeches of yours?

Be reasonable! Then we can talk.

³Why do you look at us as if we were cattle?

Why do you think of us as being stupid?

⁴Your anger is tearing you to pieces.

Does the earth have to be deserted just to prove you are right?

Must all of the rocks be moved from their places?

⁵“The lamps of sinful people are blown out.

Their flames will never burn again.

⁶The lights in their tents become dark.

The lamps beside those who are evil go out.

⁷They walk more slowly than they used to.

Their own evil plans make them fall.

⁸Their feet take them into a net.

They wander right into it.

⁹A trap grabs hold of their heels.

It refuses to let them go.

¹⁰A trap lies in their path.

A rope to catch them is hidden on the ground.

¹¹Terrors alarm them on every side.

They follow them every step of the way.

¹²Trouble would like to eat them up.

Danger waits for them when they fall.

¹³It eats away parts of their skin.

Death itself feeds on their arms and legs.

¹⁴They are torn away from the safety of their tents.

They are marched off to the one who rules over death.

¹⁵Fire races through their tents.

Burning sulfur is scattered over their homes.

¹⁶Their roots dry up under them.

Their branches dry up above them.

¹⁷No one on earth remembers them.

Their names are forgotten in the land.

¹⁸They are driven from light into darkness.

They are thrown out of the world.

¹⁹Their family dies out among their people.

No one is left where they used to live.

²⁰What has happened to them shocks the people in the west.

It terrifies the people in the east.

²¹Now you know what the homes of sinners are like.

Those who don’t know God live in places like that.”