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Atlas of Saints

Job

Chapter 18 · Douay–Rheims / Challoner

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Chapter XVIII · Location 18 of 42

Chapter 18 · Open to read

From Job · Douay–Rheims / Challoner (1749–1752)

What does Job Chapter 18 say, and which statements belong to its speaker?

Atlas of Saints · Chapter summary

Baldad questions Job’s words, treatment of companions and fury. He describes extinguished light, counsel, nets and fears and says to let famine and death consume the wicked. Baldad speaks of brimstone, destroyed harvest, lost renown and offspring, concluding with the place of one who knows not God.

Chapter breakdown

Answering Job in his second discourse, Baldad the Suhite demanded to know how long Job would continue to pour out words, urging him first to gain understanding before they spoke further. He asked indignantly why Job regarded his companions as beasts and counted them vile in his estimation. Addressing Job as one who tears his own soul in furious passion, Baldad asked whether the earth should be abandoned for his sake or if rocks should be removed from their place to accommodate his complaints.

Baldad then described destruction awaiting the ungodly, asserting that the light of the wicked will be extinguished and the flame of his fire will cease to shine. Darkness will fall upon his tent, and the lamp hanging above him will be put out. His forceful strides will be hemmed in, and his own scheming counsels will cast him down headlong into ruin. He steps directly into a concealed net and walks tangled in its meshes; a hidden snare seizes the sole of his foot, burning thirst assails him, and traps lie buried in the ground along his pathway. Terrors encircle him on every side, frightening his soul and entangling his feet.

Baldad says to let strength be wasted with famine, hunger invade his ribs, the beauty of his skin be devoured and firstborn death consume his arms. He says to let confidence be rooted out of his tabernacle and destruction tread upon him like a king. He says to let the companions of him that is not dwell in his tabernacle and brimstone be sprinkled in his tent; he says to let roots dry up beneath and harvest be destroyed above, memory perish from earth and his name not be renowned in the streets. Driven out of light into darkness and expelled from the world, the wicked will leave no surviving child, posterity, or remnant in his native land. He says those who come after will be astonished at his day and horror fall on those before. Baldad concludes that these are the tabernacles of the wicked and the place of one who knows not God.

The story inside

Opening: Baldad questions Job’s words, treatment of companions and fury. Development: He describes extinguished light, counsel, nets and fears and says to let famine and death consume the wicked. Conclusion: Baldad speaks of brimstone, destroyed harvest, lost renown and offspring, concluding with the place of one who knows not God.

Lessons worth keeping

  1. 1
    Baldad questions Job’s words, treatment of companions and fury.
  2. 2
    He describes extinguished light, counsel, nets and fears and says to let famine and death consume the wicked.
  3. 3
    Baldad speaks of brimstone, destroyed harvest, lost renown and offspring, concluding with the place of one who knows not God.

Test your recall

Which images and requests does the speaker use, and what does the chapter leave unresolved?

Source edition and notes

Douay–Rheims, revised by Richard Challoner (1749–1752). Project Gutenberg no. 1581. Locators refer to lines in the admitted pg1581.txt edition. Source notes may include Challoner commentary.

  1. Lines 55610–55611

    Thou that destroyest thy soul in thy fury, shall the earth be forsaken for thee, and shall rocks be removed out of their place?
  2. Lines 55613–55614

    Shall not the light of the wicked be extinguished, and the flame of his fire not shine?
  3. Lines 55622–55623

    For he hath thrust his feet into a net, and walketh in its meshes.
  4. Lines 55640–55641

    Let his confidence be rooted out of his tabernacle, and let destruction tread upon him like a king.
  5. Lines 55661–55662

    These then are the tabernacles of the wicked, and this the place of him that knoweth not God.

Location: chapter 18 of 42 · 43%

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