Job 18 - 21

Bildad Speaks of the Downfall of the Wicked

Then Bildad the Shuhite answered and said,
2

“How long until you put an end to your words?

Show understanding and then we can talk.

Why are we regarded as beasts,

As dense in your eyes?

O you who tear yourself in your anger—

For your sake is the earth to be forsaken,

Or the rock to be moved from its place?

“Indeed, the light of the wicked goes out,

And the flame of his fire gives no light.

The light in his tent is darkened,

And his lamp goes out above him.

His vigorous stride is shortened,

And his own counsel brings him down.

For he is thrown into the net by his own feet,

And he steps on the netting.

A snare seizes him by the heel,

And a device snaps shut on him.

A rope for him is hidden in the ground,

And a trap for him on the path.

All around terrors frighten him,

And harass him at every step.

His vigor is famished,

And disaster is ready at his side.

The firstborn of death eats parts of his skin;

It eats parts of him.

He is torn from the security of his tent,

And they march him in step before the king of terrors.

There dwells in his tent nothing of his;

Brimstone is scattered on his abode.

His roots are dried below,

And his branch is cut off above.

Memory of him perishes from the earth,

And he has no name abroad.

He is driven from light into darkness,

And chased from the inhabited world.

He has neither offspring nor posterity among his people,

Nor any survivor where he sojourned.

Those in the west are appalled at his fate,

And those in the east are seized with horror.

Surely such are the dwellings of the unjust,

And this is the place of him who does not know God.”

My Redeemer Lives

Then Job answered and said,
2

“How long will you torment my soul

And crush me with words?

These ten times you have dishonored me;

You are not ashamed that you wrong me.

Even if I have truly erred,

My error lodges with me.

If truly you magnify yourselves against me

And argue my disgrace to me,

Know then that God has wronged me

And has closed His net around me.

“Behold, I cry, ‘Violence!’ but I get no answer;

I shout for help, but there is no justice.

He has walled up my way so that I cannot pass,

And He has put darkness on my paths.

He has stripped my honor from me

And removed the crown from my head.

He breaks me down on every side, and I am gone;

And He has uprooted my hope like a tree.

He has also kindled His anger against me

And counted me as His adversary.

His troops come together,

And build up their way against me

And camp around my tent.

“He has removed my brothers far from me,

And my acquaintances are completely estranged from me.

My relatives have failed,

And my familiar friends have forgotten me.

Those who sojourn in my house and my maidservants count me a stranger.

I am a foreigner in their sight.

I call to my servant, but he does not answer;

I have to implore him with my mouth.

My breath is offensive to my wife,

And I am loathsome to my own brothers.

Even young children reject me;

I rise up, and they speak against me.

All the men of my counsel abhor me,

And those I love have turned against me.

My bone clings to my skin and my flesh,

And I have escaped only by the skin of my teeth.

Pity me, pity me, O you my friends,

For the hand of God has smitten me.

Why do you persecute me as God does,

And are not satisfied with my flesh?

“Oh that my words were written!

Oh that they were inscribed in a book!

That with an iron stylus and lead

They were engraved in the rock forever!

As for me, I know that my Redeemer lives,

And at the last He will rise up over the dust of this world.

Even after my skin is destroyed,

Yet from my flesh I shall behold God,

Whom I myself shall behold,

And whom my eyes will see and not another.

My heart faints within me!

If you say, ‘How shall we persecute him?’

‘And the root of the matter is found in him?’

Then be afraid of the sword for yourselves,

For wrath brings the punishment of the sword,

So that you may know there is judgment.”

Zophar Says the Joy of the Wicked Is Short

Then Zophar the Naamathite answered and said,
2

“Therefore my disquieting thoughts make me respond,

Even because of my haste within me.

I listened to the discipline which dishonors me,

And the spirit of my understanding makes me answer.

Do you know this from of old,

From the establishment of man on earth,

That the shouts of joy of the wicked are short,

And the gladness of the godless momentary?

Though his loftiness goes up to the heavens,

And his head touches the clouds,

He perishes forever like his refuse;

Those who have seen him will say, ‘Where is he?’

He flies away like a dream, and they cannot find him;

Even like a vision of the night he is chased away.

The eye which saw him sees him no longer,

And his place no longer beholds him.

His sons seek the favor of the poor,

And his hands give back his wealth.

His bones are full of his youthful vigor,

But it lies down with him in the dust.

“Though evil is sweet in his mouth

And he hides it under his tongue,

Though he desires it and will not forsake it,

And holds it to his palate,

Yet his food in his stomach is changed

To the venom of cobras within him.

He swallows up wealth,

But will vomit it up;

God will expel it from his belly.

He sucks the poison of cobras;

The viper’s tongue kills him.

He does not look at the streams,

The rivers flowing with honey and curds.

He returns what he has attained

And cannot swallow it;

As to the wealth of his trading,

He cannot even enjoy it.

For he has crushed and forsaken the poor;

He has seized a house which he has not built.

“Because he knew no ease within his belly,

In his covetousness, he does not let anything escape.

Nothing remains for him to devour;

Therefore his prosperity does not endure.

In the fullness of his plenty he will be confined;

The hand of everyone who is troubled will come against him.

So it will be that he fills his belly,

And God will send His burning anger on him

And will rain it on him while he is eating.

He may flee from the iron weapon,

But the bronze bow will pierce him.

It is drawn forth and comes out of his back,

Even the glittering point from his gall;

Bouts of dread come upon him.

Complete darkness is held in reserve for his treasures;

A fire unfanned will devour him;

It will consume the survivor in his tent.

The heavens will reveal his iniquity,

And the earth will rise up against him.

The increase of his house will depart;

His possessions will flow away in the day of His anger.

This is the wicked man’s portion from God,

Even the inheritance decreed to him by God.”

God Does Not Punish the Wicked

Then Job answered and said,
2

“Listen carefully to my speech,

And let this be your way of consolation.

Bear with me that I may speak;

Then after I have spoken, you may mock.

As for me, is my musing to man?

And why should I not be impatient?

Look at me, and be appalled,

And put your hand over your mouth.

Even when I remember, I am dismayed,

And horror seizes my flesh.

Why do the wicked still live,

Continue on, also become very powerful?

Their seed is established with them in their presence,

And their offspring before their eyes,

Their houses are safe from dread,

And the rod of God is not on them.

His ox mates and does not fail;

His cow calves and does not miscarry.

They send forth their little ones like the flock,

And their children skip about.

They lift up the tambourine and harp

And are glad at the sound of the pipe.

They spend their days in prosperity,

And suddenly they go down to Sheol.

They say to God, ‘Depart from us!

We do not even desire the knowledge of Your ways.

Who is the Almighty, that we should serve Him,

And what would we profit if we entreat Him?’

Behold, their prosperity is not in their hand;

The counsel of the wicked is far from me.

“How often is the lamp of the wicked put out,

Or does their disaster fall on them?

Does God apportion destruction in His anger?

Are they as straw before the wind,

And like chaff which the storm steals away?

You say, ‘God stores away a man’s wickedness for his sons.’

Let God repay him so that he may know it.

Let his own eyes see his decay,

And let him drink of the wrath of the Almighty.

For what desire does he have for his household after him,

When the number of his months is cut off?

Can anyone teach God knowledge,

In that He judges those on high?

One dies in his full strength,

Being wholly carefree and at ease;

His sides are filled out with fat,

And the marrow of his bones is moist,

But another dies with a bitter soul,

Never even eats anything good.

Together they lie down in the dust,

And worms cover them.

“Behold, I know your thoughts,

And the plans by which you do violence against me.

For you say, ‘Where is the house of the nobleman,

And where is the tent, the dwelling places of the wicked?’

Have you not asked those who pass by along the way,

And do you not recognize their witness?

That the wicked is reserved for the day of disaster;

They will be led forth at the day of fury.

Who will declare to his face about his actions,

And who will repay him for what he has done?

While he is led forth to the grave,

Men will keep watch over his tomb.

The clods of the valley will gently cover him;

Moreover, all men will draw up after him,

While countless ones go before him.

How then will you vainly comfort me,

Indeed when your answers remain full of falsehood?”