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Job 18
Anger is powerless against the course of justice
1 Bildad of Shuah spoke next. He said:
2 Will you never learn to check such words? Do you think we shall be slow to speak?
3 Why do you regard us as beasts, look on us as dumb animals?
4 Tear yourself to pieces if you will, but the world, for all your rage, will not turn to desert, the rocks will not shift from their places.
5 The wicked man’s light must certainly be put out, his brilliant flame cease to shine.
6 In his tent the light is dimmed, the lamp that shone on him is snuffed.
7 His vigorous stride grows cramped, his own cunning brings him down.
8 For into the net his own feet carry him, he walks among the snares.
9 A spring grips him by the heel, a trap snaps shut, and he is caught.
10 Hidden in the earth is a noose to snare him, pitfalls lie across his path.
11 Terrors attack him on every side, and follow behind him step for step.
12 Hunger becomes his companion, by his side Disaster stands.
13 Disease devours his flesh, Death’s First-Born[*a] gnaws his limbs.
14 He is torn from the shelter of his tent, and dragged before the King of Terrors.
15 The Lilith[*b] makes her home under his roof, while people scatter brimstone on his holding.
16 His roots grow withered below, and his branches are blasted above.
17 His memory fades from the land, his name is forgotten in his homeland.
18 Driven from light into darkness, he is an exile from the earth,
19 without issue or posterity among his own people, none to live on where he has lived.
20 His tragic end appals the West, and fills the East with terror.
21 A fate like his awaits every sinful house, the home of every man who knows not God.