Job 18

Then Bildad, Job’s friend who was a Shuhite, responded to Job. He said, 2 “Please stop talking! If you would stop talking and listen, we could tell you something. \* 3 You seem to think that we are as stupid as cattle. 4 But by being so angry, you are only hurting yourself. You seem to think that everyone should abandon the earth because life on earth is no longer worth living for anyone after what has happened to you. You seem to think that there should be a great earthquake {as a sign of what an awful thing has happened to you}. \* 5 But actually, what has happened to you is not momentous. Wicked people are bound to lose their prosperity. They will not continue to enjoy happiness. 6 It will be as if the light went out in the tent in which they were living, so that they could not enjoy living there. \* 7 Wicked people become weaker {because of the troubles they cause for themselves}. They try to take advantage of other people, but they hurt themselves instead. 8 Yes, it is as if they walk into a net that they do not realize is there or fall into a pit that someone has concealed as a trap. \* 9 It is as if their feet get caught in a trap that does not let them go. 10 It is as if a loop of rope that someone has hidden on the ground springs up and seizes them when they walk onto it. 11 Everywhere they go, things cause them to be terrified. It is as if those things are pursuing them and biting at their heels. \* 12 They will become weak, as if they did not have enough food to eat. They will always be at risk of disaster. 13 Diseases will spread all over their skin. Yes, a horrible disease will cause their bodies to decay. \* 14 They have a secure life, but it ends suddenly. They die without being able to do anything to save their lives. 15 Then all of their possessions will belong to other people. Wicked people will have nothing left, as if God had burned up everything they had by making burning stones fall on it. \* 16 They will be lifeless, like trees whose roots have dried up and whose branches have all withered. 17 No one on the earth will remember them anymore. No, no one anywhere in the world will recall what they were like. \* 18 Suddenly wicked people will die and no longer be alive. They will no longer be able to live in this world. 19 They will have no children or grandchildren living in their people group after they die. They will have no descendants living where they previously lived. 20 Anyone who hears about what happened to them will be shocked. \* 21 This is certainly what happens to unrighteous people. Yes, this is what happens to people who do not honor God.” \*