Job 18:18 kjv
He shall be driven from light into darkness, and chased out of the world.
Job 18:18 nkjv
He is driven from light into darkness, And chased out of the world.
Job 18:18 niv
He is driven from light into the realm of darkness and is banished from the world.
Job 18:18 esv
He is thrust from light into darkness, and driven out of the world.
Job 18:18 nlt
They will be thrust from light into darkness,
driven from the world.
Job 18 18 Cross References
| Verse | Text | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| Ps 1:4-6 | The wicked are not so, But they are like chaff... will perish. | Fate of wicked, impermanence. |
| Ps 37:9-10 | For evildoers shall be cut off... a little while and the wicked will be no more. | Wicked cut off, disappear. |
| Ps 37:20 | The wicked will perish; And the enemies of the Lord... vanish. | Perishing and vanishing of evildoers. |
| Ps 92:7 | When the wicked sprout like grass... that they may be destroyed forever. | Destruction of wicked. |
| Prov 2:22 | But the wicked will be cut off from the land, And the treacherous will be uprooted from it. | Uprooting of the wicked. |
| Prov 4:19 | The way of the wicked is like darkness; They do not know over what they stumble. | Way of wicked marked by darkness. |
| Prov 10:25 | When the whirlwind passes, the wicked is no more... | Wicked's sudden disappearance. |
| Isa 5:20 | Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness. | Spiritual distortion of light and darkness. |
| Isa 14:19 | But you have been cast out of your tomb Like a detested branch... a carcass trodden underfoot. | Humiliation and lack of burial for the wicked. |
| Mal 4:1 | For behold, the day is coming... all the arrogant and every evildoer will be chaff. | Wicked as chaff, consumed by judgment. |
| Matt 7:23 | And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; Depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’ | Ultimate banishment by God. |
| Matt 8:12 | but the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping. | Outer darkness, severe judgment. |
| Matt 22:13 | Bind him hand and foot, and cast him into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping. | Banishment to outer darkness. |
| Matt 25:41 | Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels. | Final judgment, eternal separation. |
| John 3:19 | This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light. | Men's preference for darkness over light. |
| 1 Thess 5:4 | But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that the day would overtake you like a thief. | Believers are of light, not darkness. |
| 1 John 1:5 | God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. | God's nature is light. |
| Job 7:9-10 | As a cloud vanishes and vanishes, So he who goes down to Sheol does not come up. He will not return... | No return from the realm of death/Sheol. |
| Job 8:18 | If he is removed from his place, Then its place will deny him, saying, ‘I never saw you.’ | Place denies knowledge of the wicked. |
| Job 20:8 | He flies away like a dream, and they cannot find him; He is chased away like a vision of the night. | Swift disappearance, unfindable. |
| Isa 8:22 | Then they will look to the earth, and behold, distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish... driven away into darkness. | Distress, darkness, and banishment. |
| Jude 1:13 | wandering stars, for whom the black darkness has been reserved forever. | Reserved darkness for the ungodly. |
Job 18 verses
Job 18 18 Meaning
Job 18:18 vividly describes the ultimate fate of the wicked, as depicted by Bildad the Shuhite. It portrays them as being violently driven from any semblance of goodness, prosperity, or understanding, into a state of ruin, despair, and ultimately, total eradication from the living world and memory. This is a complete and irreversible banishment from life and presence.
Job 18 18 Context
Job 18:18 is part of Bildad the Shuhite's second speech to Job (Job 18:1-21). In this chapter, Bildad reiterates and intensifies the traditional view of divine retribution. He graphically describes the inevitable, thorough, and catastrophic downfall of the wicked. He maintains that their light will be extinguished, their dwelling consumed, their posterity cut off, and their memory erased. Bildad speaks directly against Job, implicitly accusing him of being a wicked man based on his suffering. His intention is to shame Job into confessing his supposed hidden sins. This verse, therefore, represents Bildad's firm belief that Job's current plight is direct evidence of his wickedness, sealing his doom to utter destruction and banishment. The historical and cultural context is one where suffering was largely, though not exclusively, viewed as a direct consequence of sin, a perspective challenged throughout the book of Job by Job's own experience and God's eventual response.
Job 18 18 Word analysis
- He shall be driven: Hebrew:
יְהָדְפֻהוּ(yehodfuhu). This is a third-person plural imperfect form from the rootדחף(daḥaf), meaning "to push," "to thrust," "to propel," "to drive." The passive voice emphasizes that the wicked individual is subjected to this force; he does not act but is acted upon. It implies an external, powerful, and irresistible agency that expels him. - from light: Hebrew:
מֵאוֹר(me'or).מֵ(me) is the preposition "from," andאוֹר('or) means "light." In biblical wisdom literature, "light" often symbolizes life, prosperity, well-being, divine favor, truth, joy, salvation, and righteous living (e.g., Ps 36:9; Ps 27:1). - into darkness: Hebrew:
אֶל־חֹשֶׁךְ(el-choshech).אֶל(el) is the preposition "into" or "to," andחֹשֶׁךְ(choshech) means "darkness." Darkness signifies the opposite of light: death, destruction, misery, ruin, judgment, chaos, ignorance, separation from God, and hopelessness (e.g., Job 3:5; 10:21-22; Isa 5:20). - And chased: Hebrew:
וּמֵעוֹלָם יְטֻפֵנְהוּ(u-me'olam yəṭupēnhu). The translation "chased" captures the idea of expulsion. The Hebrew verbיְטֻפֵנְהוּis a rare Piel imperfect form of the rootטפף(ṭafaf). This root is complex with varied interpretations. Some scholars connect it to "to trample down," suggesting the wicked are utterly subdued and made desolate. Others relate it to the rapid, quiet movement of feet, implying vanishing, like footsteps quickly fading away, indicating utter disappearance without a trace. The intensive Piel stem strengthens this idea of complete and decisive action, indicating they will be utterly, completely, or decisively driven out, perhaps even to their extinction or disappearance from memory. - from the world: Hebrew:
מֵעוֹלָם(me'olam).מֵ(me) again means "from," andעוֹלָם('olam) refers to the temporal world of human existence, life, society, and remembrance. It's not just a physical location but the entire sphere of being, living, and being known. Being "chased from the world" therefore means a complete obliteration from life, society, memory, and influence. It is an existential erasure.
Words-group Analysis:
- "He shall be driven from light into darkness": This phrase portrays a radical and complete reversal of fortune. From a state of perceived goodness and success, the wicked individual is forcibly plunged into total misery and ruin. It encapsulates a spiritual and existential shift from all that is positive to its extreme negative.
- "And chased from the world": This emphasizes the absolute nature of the expulsion. It's not just removal from a place or condition, but from all meaningful existence. It denotes complete banishment, where the wicked person ceases to be a part of the living, remembering, or even influencing. Their presence and impact are utterly nullified.
Job 18 18 Bonus section
The poetic parallelism in Job 18:18 reinforces the totality of the wicked's destruction. The expulsion "from light into darkness" is mirrored by being "chased from the world," creating a complete picture of banishment both spiritually/existentially and socially/personally. This serves as a rhetorical device to emphasize Bildad's absolute conviction in the predictable and comprehensive judgment of the wicked. While the friends’ theology is limited and ultimately corrected by God, their expressions often contain vivid imagery that reflects common understandings of judgment and despair in ancient Near Eastern thought. The idea of one's name being blotted out from the living is a significant motif indicating utter disgrace and condemnation in this culture.
Job 18 18 Commentary
Job 18:18 articulates the uncompromising view of Bildad, a proponent of rigid retribution theology. He asserts that the wicked individual is subject to an overwhelming force that ejects them from all perceived light—representing their former success, joy, or life—into absolute darkness, symbolizing complete despair, death, and separation. Furthermore, the wicked will be entirely expunged from the fabric of human existence, so comprehensively that no trace, memory, or influence remains in the "world" of the living. This paints a picture of irreversible obliteration, arguing that a truly wicked person faces an ultimate demise not only of life but also of identity and remembrance. For Bildad, Job's current state of profound suffering is prima facie evidence of this trajectory for Job himself, reinforcing the simplistic notion that intense suffering is always the result of intense sin. The verse implies divine action or universal forces of justice executing this absolute judgment.