Job 18:1-7

1 Then Bildad from Shuah replied [to Job],

2 "How long before your words will end? Think it through, and then we'll talk.

3 Why do you think of us as cattle? Why are we considered stupid in your eyes?

4 Why do you rip yourself apart in anger? Should the earth be abandoned for your sake or a boulder be dislodged?

5 "Indeed, the light of the wicked is snuffed out. The flame of his fire stops glowing.

6 The light in his tent becomes dark, and the lamp above him is snuffed out.

7 "His healthy stride is shortened, and his own planning trips him up.

Job 18:1-7 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.