Dusk on a bare plain: one black goat-hair tent low in the frame, its door flap open on darkness and one thread of smoke rising, under a calm, empty, darkening sky.

The Book of

Job 18

Bildad speaks, round two. Job has just told them he finds no wise man among them. So Bildad paints a dark tent, and every stroke lands on Job.

21 verses≈ 3 min2 peopleBSB

Images are artistic interpretations.

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In this chapter

Where we are

1–3The testBlameless, stripped of everything, and his cry
4–14Round oneThe friends speak; Job answers
15–21Round twoMy Redeemer livesChapter 18
22–31Round threeThen wisdom, and Job's last defense
32–37ElihuA younger voice
38–41The LORD speaksOut of the whirlwind
42The endJob prays and is restored

Bildad: God Punishes the Wicked

Bildad

Bildad

Then Bildad the Shuhite replied:

“How long until you end these speeches?

Show some sense, and then we can talk.

Why are we regarded as cattle,

as stupid in your sight?

You who tear yourself in anger—

should the earth be forsaken on your account,

or the rocks be moved from their place?

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Bildad

Indeed, the lamp of the wicked is extinguished;

the flame of his fire does not glow.

The light in his tent grows dark,

and the lamp beside him goes out.

His vigorous stride is shortened,

and his own schemes trip him up.

Bildad

Indeed, the lamp of the wicked is extinguished; the flame of his fire does not glow.

Bildad

Terrors frighten him on every side

and harass his every step.

His strength is depleted,

and calamity is ready at his side.

Bildad

It devours patches of his skin;

the firstborn of death devours his limbs.

Reflect

When pain is treated as proof

Bildad looked at Job’s suffering and read a verdict. Has anyone done that to you? Have you done it to someone? Write what you would want to say, and what you might need to take back.

Bildad

At gray first light on a bare plain, one black goat-hair tent pulled half down, its guy ropes loose, one side sagging to the ground and a clay jar on its side by the door, no one there.

He is torn from the shelter of his tent

and is marched off to the king of terrors.

Bildad

At nightfall one lit doorway of a small walled town shows far behind, as a lone traveler in a plain robe walks away from it, small, into the dark desert under a calm empty night sky.

He is driven from light into darkness

and is chased from the inhabited world.

He has no offspring or posterity among his people,

no survivor where he once lived.

0:10

Narrated by Bob Souer · BSB audio, public domain

Bildad

Those in the west are appalled at his fate,

while those in the east tremble in horror.

Surely such is the dwelling of the wicked

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

Bildad

Surely such is the dwelling of the wicked and the place of one who does not know God.

Job 18:21

Pray

Pray for those whose names are spoken with blame. Thank God that He remembers. Pray for the grieving who have heard cruel words at the worst moment of their lives. Ask that you would never read God’s verdict in another person’s pain.

You’ve experienced

Job 18

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A verse to carry with you

Surely such is the dwelling of the wicked and the place of one who does not know God.

Job 18:21

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