His strength will be famished. Calamity will be ready at his side.
Parallel Translations
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His strength will be famished. Calamity will be ready at his side.
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His strength shall be hungerbitten, and destruction shall be ready at his side.
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His trouble shall be ravenous, and calamity shall be ready for his fall.
Cross-references (9)
Passages linked to Job 18:12 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- 1 Samuel 2:5 Those who were full have hired themselves out for bread. Those who were hungry are satisfied. Yes, the barren has borne seven. She who has many children languishes.
- 1 Samuel 2:36 It will happen that everyone who is left in your house will come and bow down to him for a piece of silver and a loaf of bread, and will say, “Please put me into one of the priests’ offices, that I may eat a morsel of bread.” ’ ”
- Job 15:23-24 He wanders abroad for bread, saying, ‘Where is it?’ He knows that the day of darkness is ready at his hand. Distress and anguish make him afraid. They prevail against him, as a king ready to the battle.
- Psalms 7:12-14 If a man doesn’t repent, he will sharpen his sword; he has bent and strung his bow. He has also prepared for himself the instruments of death. He makes ready his flaming arrows. Behold, he travails with iniquity. Yes, he has conceived mischief, and brought out falsehood.
- Psalms 34:10 The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger, but those who seek Yahweh shall not lack any good thing.
- Psalms 109:10 Let his children be wandering beggars. Let them be sought from their ruins.
- Isaiah 8:21 They will pass through it, very distressed and hungry. It will happen that when they are hungry, they will worry, and curse by their king and by their God. They will turn their faces upward,
- 1 Thessalonians 5:3 For when they are saying, “Peace and safety,” then sudden destruction will come on them, like birth pains on a pregnant woman. Then they will in no way escape.
- 2 Peter 2:3 In covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words: whose sentence now from of old doesn’t linger, and their destruction will not slumber.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (12 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain That which should nourish him shall be consumed by…
That which should nourish him shall be consumed by famine.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Job 18:12 His strength shall be hungerbitten, and destruction…
Job 18:12 His strength shall be hungerbitten, and destruction [shall be] ready at his side.
Ver. 12. His strength shall be hunger bitten] Heb. His strength (or wealth) shall be famine, Fit famelicum robur eius. Or, Famine shall be his strength. He, who while, having health and wealth at will, fared deliciously and gathered strength, shall be hunger starved, and hardly have prisoner’s pittance; so much only as will neither keep him alive nor suffer him to die. See 1Sa 2:5; 1Sa 2:36. It is as much, saith Brentius, as we use to say of an extreme poor or feeble person, his wealth is poverty, his strength weakness.
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And destruction shall be ready at his side] i.e. Shall suddenly and inevitably seize upon him, there will be no running away from it, for can a man run from his side? The word signifieth not an ordinary calamity, but a dreadful and direful destruction. Some understand it to be the pleurisy, or ulcers in the side of a man. Others of rib rest, as they call it, tortures inflicted on condemned persons, as Heb 11:34, who are beaten with bats.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain His strength; either,
His strength; either,
1. His children, which are, and are called, a man’s strength, as Gen 49:3; Psa 127:4,5. Or rather,
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2. His wealth, and power, and prosperity. Hunger-bitten, or famished, i.e. utterly consumed.
Shall be ready at his side, i.e. shall follow him at the heels, as a most diligent servant, or constant companion.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain It shall devour the strength of his skin,.... Or…
It shall devour the strength of his skin,.... Or "the bars of his skin" (x), the strength and support of his body, for which his skin may be put, as the bones; or "the branches of his skin" (y), the veins, which like so many branches run under, and may be seen through the skin: now these, it, famine, or want of food, devours, and destroys the strength and beauty of the skin, cause it to be black like an oven, Lam 4:8; bring a man to a mere skeleton, to skin and bones, waste and consume the members of his body, his flesh, and blood, and bones; the Targum, Jarchi, and Aben Ezra, by "his bars" or "branches" understand his children, which are his bars, the strength of him, and are to him as branches to a tree, proceeding from him; and if we render it, as some do, he "shall devour" (z), or "eat", that is, the wicked man, it points to us the most horrible scene in a famine, which is shocking and shuddering, and yet what has been, as in the sieges of Samaria and Jerusalem, a parent's eating and devouring his own children, Kg2 6:28; but rather the "it is the firstborn of death", in the next clause, which is to be supplied from thence here:
even the firstborn of death shall devour his strength; and so Mr. Broughton translates the whole verse,
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"a strange death shall eat all the branches of his body, all its branches shall it eat;''
which the Targum interprets of the angel of death, him which has the power of death: but rather it signifies not what presides over death, but what death first produces, which are corruption and rottenness, dust and worms; these are the firstborn of death, or the firstfruits and effects of it, and which devour and destroy not the skin only, but the whole body and all its members: or "the firstborn death" (a); death, which is a firstborn, it is the firstborn of sin; sin is its parent, last conceives sin, and that brings forth death; death is the child of sin, and is its firstborn, and sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and this is what devours and destroys the strength of men. Some understand by firstborn death a premature one, death before the usual time or common course of nature; wicked men do not live out half their days; and when they are taken off in their youth, in the prime of their days and strength, and amidst all their wealth, riches, and pleasures, this is the first, or firstborn death, as that is a secondary one which is late, in the time of old age. This is the ingenious thought of Pineda; but, perhaps, rather, as the firstborn is the chief and principal, so here may be meant the chiefest of deaths, the most hard, cruel, and severe; the first of those, that death has under it, which are principally the sword, famine, pestilence, and the noisome beast, see Rev 6:8; it is commonly thought that famine is intended, spoken of in the context; but why not rather some thing distinct from it, and particularly the pestilence? since that is emphatically called death by the Jews, and in the passage last referred to, and is the terror by night, and the arrow that flies by day, even the pestilence that walks in darkness, and the destruction that wastes at noonday; by means of which thousands and ten thousands of wicked men fall at the sides of good men, when it does not affect them: and so may be the evil particularly threatened to a wicked man here, see Psa 91:5.
(x) "vectes cutis suae", Tigurine version, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Schultens, Michaelis. (y) "Ramos cutis", Montanus, Vatablus, Drusius, Mercerus, Schmidt; "ramos corporis ipsius", Cocceius. (z) "comedet", Pagninus, Montanus, Mercerus. (a) "primogenita mors", V. L.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain His strength shall be hungerbitten - Shall be exhausted…
His strength shall be hungerbitten - Shall be exhausted by hunger or famine.
And destruction shall be ready at his side - Hebrew “Shall be fitted” נכוּן nākûn “to his side.” Some have supposed that this refers to some disease, like the pleurisy, that would adhere closely to his side. So Jerome understands it. Schultens has quoted some passages from Arabic poets, in which calamities are represented as “breaking the side.” Bildad refers probably, to some heavy judgments that would crush a man; such that the ribs, or the human frame, could not bear; and the meaning is, that a wicked man would be certainly crushed by misfortune.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain The Hebrew is brief and bold, "his strength is…
The Hebrew is brief and bold, "his strength is hungry."
destruction--that is, a great calamity (Pro 1:27).
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ready at his side--close at hand to destroy him (Pro 19:29).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain Decade, a. — Ravenous calamity, maiming disease, (see note…
Decade, a. — Ravenous calamity, maiming disease, (see note Job_2:7,) and inexorable death — three insatiate furies — remand the wicked to the king of terrors, while the doom of Sodom falls upon his habitation, and all that remains to him, Job_18:12-16.
12. His strength — This might better be read, his calamity shall be hungry, (for him,) though the older interpreters adopt the other meaning of אנ, strength. “Calamity” furnishes a more satisfactory parallel for “destruction,” איד, which is a stronger word, signifying literally “a load of suffering.”
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At his side — Others read “for his fall.” Destruction awaits the results which itself accomplishes.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 12. hunger-bitten] A word formed like “frost-bitten,” “cankerbit” (Lear,…
12. hunger-bitten] A word formed like “frost-bitten,” “cankerbit” (Lear, 5.3). The word literally means “hungry,” and the figure expresses the idea that his strength shall diminish and become feeble, as one does that is famished; cf. a similar strong figure, Joe_1:12, “Joy is withered away from the sons of men.” On the figure in the second clause cf. ch. Job_15:23.
12–14. The closing scenes in three steps: his strength is weakened; his body consumed by a terrible disease; he is led away to the dark king.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (12) His strength.—By “strength” some understand his firstborn son,…
(12) His strength.—By “strength” some understand his firstborn son, as Gen_49:3, but it is not necessary to take it otherwise than literally.
Destruction shall be ready at his side.—Or, according to some, for his halting; shall lie in wait for his tripping in order to overthrow him.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain His strength shall be hunger-bitten. (So Dillmann, Cook, and…
His strength shall be hunger-bitten. (So Dillmann, Cook, and the Revised Version.) To the other sufferings of the wicked man shall be added the pangs of hunger. His bodily strength shall disappear, as destitution and famine come upon him. And destruction shall be ready at his side. Ready to seize on him at any moment. Some translate, "ready for his halting" i.e. ready to seize on him in ease of his tripping or halting (so the Revised Version).
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain His strength shall be hunger-bitten.
Job_18:12
His strength shall be hunger-bitten.
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The hunger-biter
I. A curse which will be fulfilled upon the ungodly. It is not said that they are hunger-bitten, but that their strength is so; and if their strength is hunger-bitten, what must their weakness be? When a mans strength is bitten with hunger, what a hunger must be raging throughout the whole of his nature! A large proportion of men make their gold to be their strength, their castle, and high tower. But every ungodly man ought to know that riches are not forever, and often they take to themselves wings and flee away. If this hunger does not come upon the ungodly man during the former part of his life, it will come to him at the close of it.
II. The kind of discipline through which God puts the self-righteous when He means to save them. Many people are very religious, but are not saved. When God means to save a man, the hunger of the heart comes in and devours all his boasted excellence. Some are very satisfied because, in addition to a commendable life they have performed certain ceremonies to which they impute great sanctity. May your strength be hunger-bitten if you are resting in anything which is external and unspiritual.
III. There are many of Gods servants whose strength is lamentably hunger-bitten. They may be hunger-bitten through not feeding upon the Word of God. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 General Information:
General Information:
Bildad continues to describe the wicked person.
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His wealth will turn into hunger
This speaks of the wicked man becoming poor and hungry as if his wealth were something that turned into something else. AT: "Instead of being wealthy, he will become poor and hungry" (See: Metaphor)
calamity will be ready at his side
The phrase "ready at his side" is an idiom that means that something is continually present. AT: "he will continually experience disaster" or "he will not be able to avoid calamity" (See: Idiom)
The parts of his body will be devoured
This can be stated in active form. Also, this speaks of a disease destroying his body as if it were an animal that had attacked him and was eating him. AT: "Disease will eat away at his skin" or "Disease will destroy his skin" (See: Active or Passive and Metaphor)
the firstborn of death will devour his parts
Here a disease that kills many people is referred to as "the firstborn of death." This speaks of that disease destroying his body as if it were an animal that had attacked him and was eating him. AT: "a deadly disease will destroy the different parts of his body" (See: Metaphor)
translationWords
body
devour
firstborn
die
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.