Bildad Speaks Again

1Bildad from Shuah replied, saying:

2“When are you going to stop your word hunt?

Think first, and then we can talk.

3Why do you think we’re like dumb animals?

Do you think we’re stupid?

4You’re tearing yourself to pieces in your anger.

Will the land be abandoned because of you,

or the rock be moved from its place?”

The Wicked are Trapped

5“Indeed, the light of the wicked is extinguished;

the flame from his fire doesn’t shine.

6Light in his tent is dark,

and his lamp goes out above him.

7His strong steps are restricted,

and his own advice trips him up.

8“For he has stumbled into a net with his own feet;

he walked right into the network!

9The trap seizes him by the heel;

a snare tightens its hold on him.

10A rope lies hidden in the dirt;

a trap liesa waiting for him where he is walking.”

The Wicked Perish without Descendants

11“He is petrified by terror that surrounds him on all sides;

they chase at his heels.

12He is starved for strength;

and is ripe for a fall.

13Something gnaws on his skin;

a deadly diseaseb consumes his limbs.

14Torn from the security of his home,c

he is brought before the king of terrors.

15“There’s nothing in his tent that belongs to him;

sulfur is scattered all over his dwelling place.

16His roots wither underneath,

while his branches above are being cut off.

17No one remembers him anywhere in the land;

no one names streets in his honor.

18He is driven away from light to darkness,

made to wander the landscape.

19He has no children or descendants within his own people;

and no survivors where he once lived.

20Peopled who live west of him are appalled at his fate;e

those who live east of him are seized with terror.

21Indeed, the residences of the wicked are like this;

and so are the homes of those who don’t know God.”