Such is the destiny of all who forget God; so the hope of the godless will perish.
Parallel translations
- WEB So are the paths of all who forget God. The hope of the godless man shall perish,
- KJV So are the paths of all that forget God; and the hypocrite’s hope shall perish:
- NKJV So are the paths of all who forget God; And the hope of the hypocrite shall perish,
- NASB “So are the paths of all who forget God; And the hope of the godless will perish,
- NLT The same happens to all who forget God. The hopes of the godless evaporate.
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 this is the destiny of all who forget God: the hope of the godless perishes. He states the moral he draws from the reed.
Overview
Bildad now names his point plainly: those who forget God share the reed's fate, and the godless person's hope comes to nothing. The principle that hope built apart from God ultimately fails is biblically sound (Proverbs 10:28). The error is Bildad's assumption that Job belongs in this category.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 21
- Ps 9:17The wicked will return to Sheol—all the nations who forget God.
- Job 13:16Moreover, this will be my salvation, for no godless man can appear before Him.
- Job 11:20But the eyes of the wicked will fail, and escape will elude them; they will hope for their last breath.”
- Prov 10:28The hope of the righteous is joy, but the expectations of the wicked will perish.
- Job 15:34For the company of the godless will be barren, and fire will consume the tents of bribery.
- Ps 50:22Now consider this, you who forget God, lest I tear you to pieces, with no one to rescue you:
- Prov 12:7The wicked are overthrown and perish, but the house of the righteous will stand.
- Luke 12:1–2In the meantime, a crowd of many thousands had gathered, so that they were trampling one another. Jesus began to speak first to His disciples: “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.
- Job 20:5the triumph of the wicked has been brief and the joy of the godless momentary?
- Deut 8:19If you ever forget the LORD your God and go after other gods to worship and bow down to them, I testify against you today that you will surely perish.
- Deut 8:11Be careful not to forget the LORD your God by failing to keep His commandments and ordinances and statutes, which I am giving you this day.
- Job 36:13The godless in heart harbor resentment; even when He binds them, they do not cry for help.
- Deut 8:14then your heart will become proud, and you will forget the LORD your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
- Lam 3:18So I say, “My strength has perished, along with my hope from the LORD.”
- Ps 10:4In his pride the wicked man does not seek Him; in all his schemes there is no God.
- Isa 51:13But you have forgotten the LORD, your Maker, who stretched out the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth. You live in terror all day long because of the fury of the oppressor who is bent on destruction. But where is the fury of the oppressor?
- Isa 33:14The sinners in Zion are afraid; trembling grips the ungodly: “Who of us can dwell with a consuming fire? Who of us can dwell with everlasting flames?”
- Job 27:8–10For what is the hope of the godless when he is cut off, when God takes away his life?
- Deut 6:12be careful not to forget the LORD who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
- Job 18:14He is torn from the shelter of his tent and is marched off to the king of terrors.
- Matt 24:51Then he will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
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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 8:13 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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