18:5 “Yes, 1 the lamp 2 of the wicked is extinguished;
his flame of fire 3 does not shine.
18:6 The light in his tent grows dark;
his lamp above him is extinguished. 4
18:12 Calamity is 5 hungry for him, 6
and misfortune is ready at his side. 7
18:18 He is driven 8 from light into darkness
and is banished from the world.
1 tn Hebrew גַּם (gam, “also; moreover”), in view of what has just been said.
2 sn The lamp or the light can have a number of uses in the Bible. Here it is probably an implied metaphor for prosperity and happiness, for the good life itself.
3 tn The expression is literally “the flame of his fire,” but the pronominal suffix qualifies the entire bound construction. The two words together intensify the idea of the flame.
4 tn The LXX interprets a little more precisely: “his lamp shall be put out with him.”
sn This thesis of Bildad will be questioned by Job in 21:17 – how often is the lamp of the wicked snuffed out?
5 tn The jussive is occasionally used without its normal sense and only as an imperfect (see GKC 323 §109.k).
6 tn There are a number of suggestions for אֹנוֹ (’ono). Some take it as “vigor”: thus “his strength is hungry.” Others take it as “iniquity”: thus “his iniquity/trouble is hungry.”
7 tn The expression means that misfortune is right there to destroy him whenever there is the opportunity.
8 tn The verbs in this verse are plural; without the expressed subject they should be taken in the passive sense.