Job 18:12-21

12 Hungry is his sorrow, And calamity is ready at his side.

13 It consumeth the parts of his skin, Consume his parts doth death's first-born.

14 Drawn from his tent is his confidence, And it causeth him to step to the king of terrors.

15 It dwelleth in his tent -- out of his provender, Scattered over his habitation is sulphur.

16 From beneath his roots are dried up, And from above cut off is his crop.

17 His memorial hath perished from the land, And he hath no name on the street.

18 They thrust him from light unto darkness, And from the habitable earth cast him out.

19 He hath no continuator, Nor successor among his people, And none is remaining in his dwellings.

20 At this day westerns have been astonished And easterns have taken fright.

21 Only these [are] tabernacles of the perverse, And this the place God hath not known.

Job 18:12-21 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.