Job 18

“How long will you hunt for words?
Show understanding and then we can talk.

‘When will you end these speeches?
    Be sensible, and then we can talk.

“Why are we regarded as beasts,
As stupid in your eyes?

Why are we regarded as cattle
    and considered stupid in your sight?

“O ^[b]you who tear yourself in your anger—
For your sake is the earth to be abandoned,
Or the rock to be moved from its place?

You who tear yourself to pieces in your anger,
    is the earth to be abandoned for your sake?
    Or must the rocks be moved from their place?

“Indeed, the light of the wicked goes out,
And the ^[c]flame of his fire gives no light.

‘The lamp of a wicked man is snuffed out;
    the flame of his fire stops burning.

“The light in his tent is darkened,
And his lamp goes out above him.

The light in his tent becomes dark;
    the lamp beside him goes out.

“His ^[d]vigorous stride is shortened,
And his own scheme brings him down.

The vigour of his step is weakened;
    his own schemes throw him down.

“For he is thrown into the net by his own feet,
And he steps on the webbing.

His feet thrust him into a net;
    he wanders into its mesh.

“A snare seizes him by the heel,
And a trap snaps shut on him.

A trap seizes him by the heel;
    a snare holds him fast.

“A noose for him is hidden in the ground,
And a trap for him on the path.

A noose is hidden for him on the ground;
    a trap lies in his path.

“All around terrors frighten him,
And harry him at every step.

Terrors startle him on every side
    and dog his every step.

“His strength is famished,
And calamity is ready at his side.

Calamity is hungry for him;
    disaster is ready for him when he falls.

“^[e]His skin is devoured by disease,
The firstborn of death devours his ^[f]limbs.

It eats away parts of his skin;
    death’s firstborn devours his limbs.

“He is torn from ^[g]the security of his tent,
And ^[h]they march him before the king of terrors.

He is torn from the security of his tent
    and marched off to the king of terrors.

“^[i]There dwells in his tent nothing of his;
Brimstone is scattered on his habitation.

Fire resides^[a] in his tent;
    burning sulphur is scattered over his dwelling.

“His roots are dried below,
And his branch is cut off above.

His roots dry up below
    and his branches wither above.

“Memory of him perishes from the earth,
And he has no name abroad.

The memory of him perishes from the earth;
    he has no name in the land.

“^[j]He is driven from light into darkness,
And chased from the inhabited world.

He is driven from light into the realm of darkness
    and is banished from the world.

“He has no offspring or posterity among his people,
Nor any survivor where he sojourned.

He has no offspring or descendants among his people,
    no survivor where once he lived.

“Those ^[k]in the west are appalled at his ^[l]fate,
And those ^[m]in the east are seized with horror.

People of the west are appalled at his fate;
    those of the east are seized with horror.

“Surely such are the dwellings of the wicked,
And this is the place of him who does not know God.”