Job 18:16-21

16 The roots of him be made dry beneath; and be his ripe corn all-broken above. (His roots shall be made dry beneath; and all his branches shall wither above.)

17 His mind perish from the earth; and his name be not made solemn in streets. (His memory shall perish from the earth; and his name shall be forgotten in the streets.)

18 He shall put him out from light into darknesses; and he shall bear him over from the world. (He shall be put out from the light into the darkness; and he shall be carried over from this world into the next.)

19 Neither his seed, neither his kindred, shall be in his people, neither any remnants of them (shall be) left in his countries. (Neither his descendants, nor his kindred, shall be among his own people, nor shall any remnant of them be left in his land.)

20 The last men (of him) shall wonder in his days; and hideousness shall assail the first men. (The people who come after him shall wonder at his day; just as horror assailed those who came before him.)

21 Therefore these be the tabernacles of a wicked man; and this is the place of him, that knoweth not God. (And so such shall be the fate of the wicked; the end, or the place, of those, who do not know God.)

Job 18:16-21 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.