The Trial of Job

Chapter 18

Bildad reproves Job for presumption and impatience, 1-4. The calamities of the wicked, 5-21.

1 Then Bildad the Shuhite answered and said,

2  "How long will it be before you make an end of words?/
Mark, and afterward we will speak.

3  Why are we counted as beasts/
and reputed vile in your sight?

4  He tears himself in his anger./
Shall the earth be forsaken for you?/
And shall the rock be removed out of its place?

5  Indeed, the light of the wicked shall be put out/
and the spark of his fire shall not shine.

6  The light shall be dark in his tabernacle,/
and his lamp above him shall be put out.

7  The steps of his strength shall be hindered,/
and his own counsel shall cast him down.

8  For he is cast into a net by his own feet,/
and he walks upon a snare.

9  The snare shall take him by the heel,/
and the robber shall prevail against him.

10 The snare is laid for him in the ground,/
and a trap for him in the way.

11 Terrors shall make him afraid on every side/
and shall chase him at his heels.

12 His strength shall be hunger-bitten,/
and destruction shall be ready at his side.

13 It shall devour the strength of his skin./
Even the first-born of death shall devour his strength.

14 His confidence shall be rooted out of his tabernacle/
and it shall bring him to the king of terrors.

15 There shall dwell in his tabernacle that which is no longer his./
Brimstone shall be scattered upon his habitation.

16 His roots shall be dried up beneath,/
and his branch shall be cut off above.

17 His remembrance shall perish from the earth,/
and he shall have no name in the street.

18 He shall be driven from light into darkness/
and chased out of the world.

19 He shall have neither son nor posterity among his people,/
nor anyone remaining in his dwellings.

20 Those who come after him shall be astonished at his day,/
as those who went before were terrified.

21 Surely such are the dwellings of the wicked,/
and this is the place of him who does not know God."

Commentary

Matthew Henry Commentary - Job, Chapter 18[➚]

Notes

John Gill's Chapter Summary:

In this chapter is Bildad's second reply to Job, in which he falls with great fury upon him, very sharply inveighs against him, and very highly charges him; the charges he brings against him are talkativeness and inattention to what was said to him (verses 1-2); contempt of his friends, impatience under his affliction, and pride and arrogance, as if the whole world, the course of nature and providence, and God himself all must give way to him (verses 3-4); nevertheless, he is assured of the miserable state of a wicked man, sooner or later, which is described by the extinction of his light of prosperity (verses 5-6); by the defeat of his counsels, being ensnared in a net laid for him (verses 7-10); by the terrible judgments of the sword, famine, and pestilence, by one or the other of which he is brought to death, the king of terrors (verses 11-14); by the destruction of his habitation and of his posterity, so that he has none to hear his name, or perpetuate his memory (verses 15-17); by his being driven out of the world, leaving no issue behind him, to the astonishment of all who knew him (verses 18-20); and the chapter is closed with this observation, that this is the common case of wicked and irreligious persons (verse 21).

[v.2] - "How long will it be before you make an end of words?" - This can also be read as, "How long will you hunt for words?"

[v.12] - "destruction" - Or, "calamity."

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