Bildad: God Punishes the Wicked

1Then Bildad the Shuhite replied:

2“How long until you end these speeches?

Show some sense, and then we can talk.

3Why are we regarded as cattle,

as stupid in your sight?

4You who tear yourself in anger—

should the earth be forsaken on your account,

or the rocks be moved from their place?

5Indeed, the lamp of the wicked is extinguished;

the flame of his fire does not glow.

6The light in his tent grows dark,

and the lamp beside him goes out.

7His vigorous stride is shortened,

and his own schemes trip him up.

8For his own feet lead him into a net,

and he wanders into its mesh.

9A trap seizes his heel;

a snare grips him.

10A noose is hidden in the ground,

and a trap lies in his path.

11Terrors frighten him on every side

and harass his every step.

12His strength is depleted,

and calamity is ready at his side.

13It devours patches of his skin;

the firstborn of death devours his limbs.

14He is torn from the shelter of his tent

and is marched off to the king of terrors.

15Fire resides in his tent;

burning sulfur rains down on his dwelling.

16The roots beneath him dry up,

and the branches above him wither away.

17The memory of him perishes from the earth,

and he has no name in the land.

18He is driven from light into darkness

and is chased from the inhabited world.

19He has no offspring or posterity among his people,

no survivor where he once lived.

20Those in the west are appalled at his fate,

while those in the east tremble in horror.

21Surely such is the dwelling of the wicked

and the place of one who does not know God.”