17 My spirit is broken.

My days are extinguished.

A graveyardk awaits me.

2 Surely mockers surroundF me,

and my eyes must gaze at their rebellion.l

3 Accept my pledge! Put up security for me.m

Who else will be my sponsor?G

4 You have closed their minds to understanding,

therefore you will not honor them.

5 If a man denounces his friends for a price,

the eyes of his children will fail.

6 He has made me an object of scorn to the people;

I have become a man people spit at.H,n

7 My eyes have grown dim from grief,

and my whole body has become but a shadow.

8 The upright are appalledo at this,

and the innocent are roused against the godless.

9 Yet the righteous person will hold to his way,

and the one whose hands are cleanp will grow stronger.

10 But come back and try again, all of you.I

I will not find a wise man among you.

11 My days have slipped by;

my plans have been ruined,

even the things dear to my heart.

12 They turned night into day

and made light seem near in the face of darkness.q

13 If I await Sheol as my home,

spread out my bed in darkness,

14 and say to corruption, “You are my father,”

and to the maggot, “My mother” or “My sister,”r

15 where then is my hope?s

Who can see any hope for me?

16 Will it go down to the gates of Sheol,t

or will we descend together to the dust?

BILDAD SPEAKS

18 Then Bildad the Shuhiteu replied:

2 How long until you stop talking?

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 angerJ—

should the earth be abandoned on your account,

or a rock be removed from its place?

5 Yes, the lighta of the wickedb is extinguished;

the flame of his fire does not glow.

6 The light in his tent grows dark,c

and the lamp beside him is put out.

7 His powerful stride is shortened,

and his own schemes trip him up.d

8 For his own feet lead him into a net,

and he strays into its mesh.

9 A trap catches him by the heel;

a noose seizes him.

10 A rope lies hidden for him on the ground,

and a snare waits for him along the path.

11 Terrors frighten him on every sidee

and harass him at every step.

12 His strength is depleted;

disaster lies ready for him to stumble.A

13 Parts of his skin are eaten away;

death’s firstborn consumes his limbs.

14 He is ripped from the security of his tent

and marched away to the king of terrors.

15 Nothing he owned remains in his tent.

Burning sulfurf is scattered over his home.

16 His roots below dry up,

and his branches above wither away.g

17 All memoryh of him perishes from the earth;

he has no name anywhere.B

18 He is driven from light to darkness

and chased from the inhabited world.

19 He has no children or descendants among his people,

no survivor where he used to live.i

20 Those in the west are appalledj at his fate,

while those in the east tremble in horror.

21 Indeed, such is the dwelling of the unjust man,

and this is the place of the one who does not know God.k