Terrors shall make him afraid on every side, and shall drive him to his feet.
Job 18:11 stands in the oldest book of the Bible and the oldest poetical book that has come down to us, written by Moses in the land of Midian. It belongs to the second of the four parts of Job, the debate in chapters 4 to 31 between Job and his three friends on the subject of his afflictions, consisting of three circles of speeches on the part of each. That central debate is distinct from the prose prologue in chapters 1 and 2 and the epilogue in chapter 42:7-17, from the speeches of Elihu in chapters 32 to 37, and from the speeches of the Lord out of the storm-cloud. Within that debate it is included in Bildad's second speech, which describes the fate and final doom of the wicked person.
The verse pictures terrors making the wicked afraid on every side, surrounding him and pursuing and driving him forward to his feet. This overtakes the wicked when they reject the light, leaving them exposed to calamity as they stumble in darkness. Yet it is not a reliable rule that suffering proves someone is wicked or displeasing to God, for the friends' claims were often true in general but were wrongly applied to Job, whose affliction did not show that God had rejected him.
Job 18:11 stands in the oldest book of the Bible and the oldest poetical book that has come down to us, written by Moses in the land of Midian. It belongs to the second of the four parts of Job, the debate in chapters 4 to 31 between Job and his three friends on the subject of his afflictions, consisting of three circles of speeches on the part of each. That central debate is distinct from the prose prologue in chapters 1 and 2 and the epilogue in chapter 42:7-17, from the speeches of Elihu in chapters 32 to 37, and from the speeches of the Lord out of the storm-cloud. Within that debate it is included in Bildad's second speech, which describes the fate and final doom of the wicked person.
The verse pictures terrors making the wicked afraid on every side, surrounding him and pursuing and driving him forward to his feet. This overtakes the wicked when they reject the light, leaving them exposed to calamity as they stumble in darkness. Yet it is not a reliable rule that suffering proves someone is wicked or displeasing to God, for the friends' claims were often true in general but were wrongly applied to Job, whose affliction did not show that God had rejected him.