Job 18:15-20

15 Fire resides[a] in his tent; burning sulfur is scattered over his dwelling.
16 His roots dry up below and his branches wither above.
17 The memory of him perishes from the earth; he has no name in the land.
18 He is driven from light into the realm of darkness and is banished from the world.
19 He has no offspring or descendants among his people, no survivor where once he lived.
20 People of the west are appalled at his fate; those of the east are seized with horror.

Job 18:15-20 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO JOB 18

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, Job 18:1,2; 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, Job 18:3,4; 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, Job 18:5,6; by the defeat of his counsels, being ensnared in a net laid for him, Job 18:7-10; 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, Job 18:11-14; by the destruction of his habitation and of his posterity, so that he has none to hear his name, or perpetuate his memory, Job 18:15-17; by his being driven out of the world, leaving no issue behind him, to the astonishment of all that knew him, Job 18:18-20; and the chapter is closed with this observation, that this is the common case of wicked and irreligious persons, Job 18:21.

Cross References 16

  • 1. ver 18; Job 20:26
  • 2. S Genesis 19:24; Psalms 11:6
  • 3. Isaiah 5:24; Hosea 5:12; Hosea 9:1-16; Amos 2:9
  • 4. S Genesis 27:28; S Job 8:12; S Job 15:30; Malachi 4:1
  • 5. S Deuteronomy 32:26
  • 6. Deuteronomy 9:14; Psalms 9:5; Psalms 69:28; Proverbs 10:7; Isaiah 14:22
  • 7. Job 24:20; Psalms 34:16; Proverbs 2:22; Proverbs 10:7; Isaiah 49:15
  • 8. S Job 5:14
  • 9. S ver 11
  • 10. S Job 11:20; Job 30:8
  • 11. Psalms 37:28; Isaiah 1:4; Isaiah 14:20; Jeremiah 22:30
  • 12. Psalms 21:10; Psalms 109:13; Isaiah 14:22
  • 13. S 2 Kings 10:11; S Ezekiel 17:8
  • 14. Job 27:14-15
  • 15. Psalms 22:6-7; Isaiah 52:14; Isaiah 53:2-3; Ezekiel 27:35
  • 16. Psalms 37:13; Jeremiah 46:21; Jeremiah 50:27,31; Ezekiel 7:7

Footnotes 1

  • [a]. Or "Nothing he had remains"
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