For he is cast into a net by his own feet, and he walketh upon a snare.
Job 18:8 stands in the long middle section of the book where Job is troubled by his friends with constant accusations, both stated and implied, which he answers with his own replies, until the friends fall silent and his final reply continues beyond chapter 27. There it belongs to the friends' teaching about the fate of the wicked. The general principle behind that teaching is true, that evil is ultimately punished. That true principle was misapplied to Job, since his suffering did not prove that God was displeased with him.
As part of the friends' speeches, its claims about Job or about God are not reliable when they contradict inspired teaching and must be tested against the rest of Scripture.
Job 18:8 stands in the long middle section of the book where Job is troubled by his friends with constant accusations, both stated and implied, which he answers with his own replies, until the friends fall silent and his final reply continues beyond chapter 27. There it belongs to the friends' teaching about the fate of the wicked. The general principle behind that teaching is true, that evil is ultimately punished. That true principle was misapplied to Job, since his suffering did not prove that God was displeased with him.
As part of the friends' speeches, its claims about Job or about God are not reliable when they contradict inspired teaching and must be tested against the rest of Scripture.