Those in the west are astonished at his day, As those in the east are frightened.
Parallel translations
- WEB Those who come after shall be astonished at his day, as those who went before were frightened.
- KJV They that come after him shall be astonied at his day, as they that went before were affrighted.
- BSB Those in the west are appalled at his fate, while those in the east tremble in horror.
- NASB “Those in the west are appalled at his fate, And those in the east are seized with horror.
- NLT People in the west are appalled at their fate; people in the east are horrified.
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 says people everywhere, both later and earlier generations, are appalled and horrified at the wicked man's fate. His ruin becomes a byword.
Overview
The downfall of the wicked man strikes dread into all who hear of it, west and east, or those after and before. Bildad portrays his judgment as a public spectacle of horror. The verse reflects the biblical theme that God's judgments are meant to instill the fear of the Lord, even as the gospel calls sinners to flee that judgment by trusting Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Ps 37:13The Lord will laugh at him, for he sees that his day is coming.
- Jer 50:27Kill all her bulls. Let them go down to the slaughter. Woe to them! For their day has come, the time of their visitation.
- Ezek 21:25“‘You, deadly wounded wicked one, the prince of Israel, whose day has come, in the time of the iniquity of the end,
- Luke 19:44and will dash you and your children within you to the ground. They will not leave in you one stone on another, because you didn’t know the time of your visitation.”
- Job 2:12–13When they lifted up their eyes from a distance, and didn’t recognize him, they raised their voices, and wept; and they each tore his robe, and sprinkled dust on their heads toward the sky.
- Ps 137:7Remember, Yahweh, against the children of Edom, the day of Jerusalem; who said, “Raze it! Raze it even to its foundation!”
- Luke 19:42saying, “If you, even you, had known today the things which belong to your peace! But now, they are hidden from your eyes.
- Deut 29:23–24and that all of its land is sulfur, salt, and burning, that it is not sown, doesn’t produce, nor does any grass grow in it, like the overthrow of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, which Yahweh overthrew in his anger, and in his wrath;
- 1 Kgs 9:8Though this house is so high, yet everyone who passes by it will be astonished and hiss; and they will say, ‘Why has Yahweh done this to this land, and to this house?’
- Job 19:13–19“He has put my brothers far from me. My acquaintances are wholly estranged from me.
- Jer 18:16to make their land an astonishment, and a perpetual hissing. Everyone who passes thereby shall be astonished, and shake his head.
- Obad 1:11–15In the day that you stood on the other side, in the day that strangers carried away his substance, and foreigners entered into his gates, and cast lots for Jerusalem, even you were like one of them.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Commentaries & study tools
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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 18:20 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.