Bildad's Second Speech
How Long Will You Talk?
1 Bildad from Shuah said:
2 How long will you talk?
Be sensible! Let us speak.
3 Or do you think that we
are dumb animals?
4 You cut yourself in anger.
Will that shake the earth
or even move the rocks?
* 5 The lamps of sinful people
soon are snuffed out,
6 leaving their tents dark.
7 Their powerful legs become weak,
and they stumble on schemes
of their own doing.
* 8 Before they know it,
9 they are trapped in a net,
10 hidden along the path.
11 Terror strikes and pursues
from every side.
12 Starving, they run,
only to meet disaster,
13 then afterwards to be eaten alive
by death itself.
14 Those sinners are dragged
from the safety of their tents
to die a gruesome death.
15 Then their tents and possessions
are burned to ashes,
16 and they are left like trees,
dried up from the roots.
17 They are gone and forgotten,
18 thrown far from the light
into a world of darkness,
19 without any children
to carry on their name.
20 Everyone, from east to west,
is overwhelmed with horror.
21 Such is the fate of sinners
and their families
who don't know God.
Bildad
1-2 Job, can't people like you ever be quiet?
If you stopped to listen, we could talk to you.
3 What makes you think we are as stupid as cattle?
4 You are only hurting yourself with your anger.
Will the earth be deserted because you are angry?
Will God move mountains to satisfy you?
5 The light of the wicked will still be put out;
its flame will never burn again.
6 The lamp in their tents will be darkened.
7 Their steps were firm, but now they stumble;
they fall—victims of their own advice.
8 They walk into a net, and their feet are caught;
9 a trap catches their heels and holds them.
10 On the ground a snare is hidden;
a trap has been set in their path.
11 All around them terror is waiting;
it follows them at every step.
12 They used to be rich, but now they go hungry;
disaster stands and waits at their side.
13 A deadly disease spreads over their bodies
and causes their arms and legs to rot.
14 They are torn from the tents where they lived secure,
and are dragged off to face King Death.
15 Now anyone may live in their tents—
after sulfur is sprinkled to disinfect them!
16 Their roots and branches are withered and dry.
17 Their fame is ended at home and abroad;
no one remembers them any more.
18 They will be driven out of the land of the living,
driven from light into darkness.
19 They have no descendants, no survivors.
20 From east to west, all who hear of their fate
shudder and tremble with fear.
21 That is the fate of evil people,
the fate of those who care nothing for God.