Yea, the light of the wicked shall be put out, and the spark of his fire shall not shine.
Parallel translations
- WEB “Yes, the light of the wicked shall be put out, The spark of his fire shall not shine.
- BSB Indeed, the lamp of the wicked is extinguished; the flame of his fire does not glow.
- 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 rejoiceth: but the lamp of the wicked shall be put out.
- Prov 20:20Whoso curseth his father or his mother, his lamp shall be put out in obscure darkness.
- Prov 24:20For there shall be no reward to the evil man; the candle of the wicked shall be put out.
- Job 21:17How oft is the candle of the wicked put out! and how oft cometh their destruction upon them! God distributeth sorrows in his anger.
- Isa 50:11Behold, all ye that kindle a fire, that compass yourselves about with sparks: walk in the light of your fire, and in the sparks that ye have kindled. This shall ye have of mine hand; ye shall lie down in sorrow.
- Prov 4:19The way of the wicked is as darkness: they know not at what they stumble.
- Job 20:5That the triumphing of the wicked is short, and the joy of the hypocrite but for a moment?
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
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