The steps of his strength are shortened, And his own counsel casts him down.
Parallel translations
- WEB The steps of his strength shall be shortened. His own counsel shall cast him down.
- KJV The steps of his strength shall be straitened, and his own counsel shall cast him down.
- BSB His vigorous stride is shortened, and his own schemes trip him up.
- NASB “His vigorous stride is shortened, And his own plan brings him down.
- NLT The confident stride of the wicked will be shortened. Their own schemes will be their downfall.
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
The wicked man's confident strides are cut short, and his own schemes bring him down. His self-reliance leads to his fall.
Overview
Bildad pictures the godless man's vigorous steps suddenly shortened and his own counsel casting him headlong. The point is that the wicked is undone by his own devices. This reflects the biblical truth that those who plot evil fall into their own pit (Psalm 7:15), for sin carries within it the seeds of its own ruin.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Prov 4:12When you go, your steps will not be hampered. When you run, you will not stumble.
- Ps 18:36You have enlarged my steps under me, My feet have not slipped.
- Ps 33:10Yahweh brings the counsel of the nations to nothing. He makes the thoughts of the peoples to be of no effect.
- Job 5:12–13He frustrates the devices of the crafty, So that their hands can’t perform their enterprise.
- Job 20:22In the fullness of his sufficiency, distress shall overtake him. The hand of everyone who is in misery shall come on him.
- 1 Cor 3:19For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, “He has taken the wise in their craftiness.”
- Job 36:16Yes, he would have allured you out of distress, into a wide place, where there is no restriction. That which is set on your table would be full of fatness.
- 2 Sam 17:14Absalom and all the men of Israel said, “The counsel of Hushai the Archite is better than the counsel of Ahithophel.” For Yahweh had ordained to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel, to the intent that Yahweh might bring evil on Absalom.
- Job 15:6Your own mouth condemns you, and not I. Yes, your own lips testify against you.
- 2 Sam 15:31Someone told David, saying, “Ahithophel is among the conspirators with Absalom.” David said, “Yahweh, please turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness.”
- Prov 1:30–32They wanted none of my counsel. They despised all my reproof.
- Hos 10:6It also will be carried to Assyria for a present to a great king. Ephraim will receive shame, and Israel will be ashamed of his own counsel.
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 18:7 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.