Job 18:10-20

10 A rope is hidden on the ground for him. A trap is on his path [to catch] him.

11 "Terrors suddenly pounce on him from every side and chase him every step he takes.

12 Hunger undermines his strength. Disaster is waiting beside him.

13 His skin is eaten away by disease. Death's firstborn son eats away at the limbs of his body.

14 He is dragged from the safety of his tent and marched off to the king of terrors.

15 Fire lives in his tent. Sulfur is scattered over his home.

16 His roots dry up under him. His branches wither over him.

17 All memory about him will vanish from the earth, and his reputation will not be known on the street corner.

18 He will be driven from the light into the dark and chased out of the world.

19 He will not have any children or descendants among his people or any survivor where he used to live.

20 People in the west are shocked by what happens to him. People in the east are seized with horror.

Job 18:10-20 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.