The memory of him perishes from the earth, And he has no name among the renowned.
Parallel translations
- WEB His memory shall perish from the earth. He shall have no name in the street.
- KJV His remembrance shall perish from the earth, and he shall have no name in the street.
- BSB The memory of him perishes from the earth, and he has no name in the land.
- NASB “The memory of him perishes from the earth, And he has no name abroad.
- NLT All memory of their existence will fade from the earth; no one will remember their names.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Bildad declares the wicked man's memory and name will vanish from the earth. To be forgotten was, in that culture, a grievous loss.
Overview
In a society where a lasting name and remembered legacy were deeply valued, Bildad pronounces the wicked man's name erased from the land and from public life ('the street'). This contrasts sharply with the righteous, whose memory is blessed (Proverbs 10:7). The gospel offers an even greater hope: names written in the Lamb's book of life, never to be forgotten (Revelation 3:5).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 6
- Ps 34:16Yahweh’s face is against those who do evil, to cut off their memory from the earth.
- Prov 10:7The memory of the righteous is blessed, but the name of the wicked will rot.
- Ps 109:13Let his posterity be cut off. In the generation following let their name be blotted out.
- Prov 2:22But the wicked will be cut off from the land. The treacherous will be rooted out of it.
- Job 13:12Your memorable sayings are proverbs of ashes, Your defenses are defenses of clay.
- Ps 83:4“Come,” they say, “let’s destroy them as a nation, that the name of Israel may be remembered no more.”
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Job's cry for a mediator who can lay his hand on both God and man, and his confidence that 'my Redeemer lives' and will stand on the earth, reaches forward to Jesus the living Redeemer.
How Job 18:17 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.