Job

Then answered Bildad the Shuhite, and said,

1Then Bildad the Shuhite answered Job and said:

2How long will it be ere ye make an end of words? mark, and afterwards we will speak.

2"How long before you stop making speeches? Use some sense, and then we will talk.

3Wherefore are we counted as beasts, and reputed vile in your sight?

3Why do you treat us like cattle? Why do you look at us as if we were stupid?

4He teareth himself in his anger: shall the earth be forsaken for thee? and shall the rock be removed out of his place?

4You tear yourself apart in your anger. Should the earth be emptied out just for you? Should the rocks move from their places?

5Yea, the light of the wicked shall be put out, and the spark of his fire shall not shine.

5Listen. The lamp of a wicked man is put out. The flame of his fire stops glowing.

6The light shall be dark in his tabernacle, and his candle shall be put out with him.

6The light inside his tent goes dark. The lamp beside him goes out.

7The steps of his strength shall be straitened, and his own counsel shall cast him down.

7His strong, steady stride is cut short. His own schemes knock him down.

8For he is cast into a net by his own feet, and he walketh upon a snare.

8His own feet walk him into a net. He wanders straight into its tangled mesh.

9The gin shall take him by the heel, and the robber shall prevail against him.

9A trap grabs him by the heel. A snare holds him tight.

10The snare is laid for him in the ground, and a trap for him in the way.

10A rope is hidden for him in the ground. A trap waits for him on the path.

11Terrors shall make him afraid on every side, and shall drive him to his feet.

11Terrors frighten him from every side. They chase him at every step he takes.

12His strength shall be hungerbitten, and destruction shall be ready at his side.

12His strength is worn down by hunger. Disaster stands ready right beside him.

13It shall devour the strength of his skin: even the firstborn of death shall devour his strength.

13Sickness eats away patches of his skin. The firstborn of death eats away his arms and legs.

Note"The firstborn of death" is a picture phrase for the deadliest sickness there is, as if death itself had children.

14His confidence shall be rooted out of his tabernacle, and it shall bring him to the king of terrors.

14He is torn out of the tent he trusted. He is marched off to the king of terrors.

15It shall dwell in his tabernacle, because it is none of his: brimstone shall be scattered upon his habitation.

15Fire settles in his tent, which is no longer his. Burning sulfur is scattered over his home.

Note"Brimstone" is burning sulfur, a yellow rock that catches fire and gives off choking smoke.

16His roots shall be dried up beneath, and above shall his branch be cut off.

16Below him, his roots dry up. Above him, his branches are cut off.

17His remembrance shall perish from the earth, and he shall have no name in the street.

17The memory of him disappears from the earth. His name is not spoken in the streets.

18He shall be driven from light into darkness, and chased out of the world.

18He is driven out of the light and into the dark. He is chased right out of the world.

19He shall neither have son nor nephew among his people, nor any remaining in his dwellings.

19He has no son or grandson among his people. No one is left alive where he used to live.

Note"Nephew" in 1611 English meant a grandson or any later descendant, not a brother's son.

20They that come after him shall be astonied at his day, as they that went before were affrighted.

20People who come after him are shocked at what happened to him. People before him shook with horror.

21Surely such are the dwellings of the wicked, and this is the place of him that knoweth not God.

21This is what happens to the homes of wicked people. This is the place of the man who does not know God."