Job 18:5-21

What happens to wicked people

5 The light of a wicked person's life will stop shining.

His fire will no longer burn brightly.

6 His tent will be dark.

The lamp that gives him light will stop burning.

7 Once he was strong

but now his legs are weak.

His own ideas cause him to fall down.

8 He does not know where he is going

and he walks into a dangerous trap.

9 A trap catches his foot

and he cannot move.

10 Someone has hidden a rope on the ground.

It catches him as he walks along.

11 Everywhere a wicked person goes,

things frighten him.

He cannot escape from them.

12 Now he is hungry

and his strength has disappeared.

Terrible trouble is ready to take hold of him

whenever it has the chance.

13 A bad disease eats his skin.

It causes his arms and his legs to become useless

and he dies.

14 Then he has to leave his tent

where he had lived safely.

He will have to meet the terrible king of death.

15 Other people will live in his tent.

They have used sulphur to burn all his things.

16 He is like a tree whose roots have become dry,

and its branches have fallen off.

17 Nobody remembers that he ever lived.

They have forgotten his name.

18 The wicked person has had to leave this world.

He has gone from a place where there is light

to a place where it is dark.

19 He has no children or grandchildren.

He has no family to live in his home.

20 All people are very upset

when they see what has happened to him.

Wherever they live,

they are very upset.

21 I know that this is what happens to the homes of evil people.

It happens to people who turn away from God.’