Bildad Speaks of the Downfall of the Wicked

1Then Bildad the Shuhite answered and said,

2“How long until you put an end to your words?

Show understanding and then we can talk.

3Why are we regarded as beasts,

As dense in your eyes?

4O [†]you who tear yourself in your anger—

For your sake is the earth to be forsaken,

Or the rock to be moved from its place?

5“Indeed, the light of the wicked goes out,

And the [†]flame of his fire gives no light.

6The light in his tent is darkened,

And his lamp goes out above him.

7His [†]vigorous stride is shortened,

And his own counsel brings him down.

8For he is thrown into the net by his own feet,

And he steps on the netting.

9A snare seizes him by the heel,

And a device snaps shut on him.

10A rope for him is hidden in the ground,

And a trap for him on the path.

11All around terrors frighten him,

And harass him at every step.

12His vigor is famished,

And disaster is ready at his side.

13The firstborn of death eats parts of his skin;

It eats parts of him.

14He is torn from [†]the security of his tent,

And [†]they march him in step before the king of terrors.

15[†]There dwells in his tent nothing of his;

Brimstone is scattered on his abode.

16His roots are dried below,

And his branch is cut off above.

17Memory of him perishes from the earth,

And he has no name abroad.

18[†]He is driven from light into darkness,

And chased from the inhabited world.

19He has neither offspring nor posterity among his people,

Nor any survivor where he sojourned.

20Those [†]in the west are appalled at his [†]fate,

And those [†]in the east are seized with horror.

21Surely such are the dwellings of the unjust,

And this is the place of him who does not know God.”