Indeed, the lamp of the wicked is extinguished; the flame of his fire does not glow.
Parallel translations
- WEB “Yes, the light of the wicked shall be put out, The spark of his fire shall not shine.
- KJV Yea, the light of the wicked shall be put out, and the spark of his fire shall not shine.
- NKJV “Thelight of the wicked indeed goes out, And the flame of his fire does not shine.
- NASB ¶“Indeed, the light of the wicked goes out, And the spark from his fire does not shine.
- NLT “Surely the light of the wicked will be snuffed out. The sparks of their fire will not glow.
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 that the light of the wicked is surely extinguished, his fire ceasing to shine. The doom of the wicked is certain.
Overview
Bildad begins his portrait of the godless with the image of a snuffed-out light, signifying the end of his life and prosperity. Light and lamp commonly symbolize life, joy, and posterity in Scripture. The principle that the wicked's light goes out is true (Proverbs 13:9), though Bildad wrongly applies it to Job, whose darkness is a trial, not a verdict of judgment.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- Prov 13:9The light of the righteous shines brightly, but the lamp of the wicked is extinguished.
- Prov 20:20Whoever curses his father or mother, his lamp will be extinguished in deepest darkness.
- Prov 24:20For the evil man has no future; the lamp of the wicked will be extinguished.
- Job 21:17How often is the lamp of the wicked put out? Does disaster come upon them? Does God, in His anger, apportion destruction?
- Isa 50:11Behold, all you who kindle a fire, who array yourselves with firebrands, walk in the light of your fire and of the firebrands you have lit! This is what you will receive from My hand: You will lie down in a place of torment.
- Prov 4:19But the way of the wicked is like the darkest gloom; they do not know what makes them stumble.
- Job 20:5the triumph of the wicked has been brief and the joy of the godless momentary?
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 18:5 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.