1883 Haydock Douay Rheims Bible

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Job 18:1 Then Baldad, the Suhite, answered, and said:

Job 18:2 How long will ye throw out words? understand first, and so let us speak.

Understand ye. Teach this man to comprehend what we say. He deigns not to address Job in person: but repeats most of his former remarks respecting the wicked, as if they were unquestionably applicable to Job, Job 8. (Calmet) --- Hebrew, "mark ye." Septuagint, "do thou attend." (Haydock) --- Baldad speaks to many who might be of Job's opinion, as he was a figure of the Church, defending the common cause; while his friends, like heretics, speak both true and false things. (St. Gregory 14:1.) (Worthington)
Job 18:3 Why are we reputed as beasts, and counted vile before you?

Reputed. Septuagint, "silent as four-footed animals before thee? (Haydock) without discipline or understanding," Job 17:4. (Menochius)
Job 18:4 Thou that destroyest thy soul in thy fury, shall the earth be forsaken for thee, and shall rocks be removed out of their place?

Thou. Hebrew, "He teareth his soul in his fury!" (Haydock) --- This is spoken with an air of contempt, as if Job were mad, Job 13:14. (Calmet) --- Place. We should expect to see such effects, as soon as we would allow that God punishes thee, without thy being guilty. Hitherto he has treated the wicked only with such rigour. Still thou wouldst assert that thou art a singular example of an innocent man under oppression! (Calmet)
Job 18:5 Shall not the light of the wicked be extinguished, and the flame of his fire not shine?

Job 18:6 The light shall be dark in his tabernacle, and the lamp that is over him shall be put out.

Light; prosperity, (Menochius) offspring, etc. (Calmet)
Job 18:7 The steps of his strength shall be straitened, and his own counsel shall cast him down headlong.

Step. He shall be greatly embarrassed, (Menochius) like a man in a narrow pass, (Calmet) beset with thorns. (Haydock) (Proverbs 4:12.) --- Septuagint, "the weakest have made a prey of his possessions.["] (Haydock)
Job 18:8 For he hath thrust his feet into a net, and walketh in its meshes.

Meshes, (maculis) or holes of the net. (Menochius) --- The more he strives to get out, the more he gets entangled. (Calmet)
Job 18:9 The sole of his foot shall be held in a snare, and thirst shall burn against him.

Thirst: the greedy hunter. (Calmet) --- Hebrew, "the robber." (Haydock)
Job 18:10 A gin is hidden for him in the earth, and his trap upon the path.

Job 18:11 Fears shall terrify him on every side, and shall entangle his feet.

Fears. Hunters used to place loose feathers round the wood, except where the gin was laid, in order to frighten the prey into it. Puniceaeque agitant formidine pennae. (Georg. iii.) (Jeremias 48:44.) "Like timid stags, while you avoid the moving feathers, you are entrapped in the strongest nets." (St. Jerome, contra Lucif.) --- Every thing tends to fill the poor beast with alarm. So the devil, conscience, and enemies on all sides, beset the wicked. (Calmet)
Job 18:12 Let his strength be wasted with famine, and let hunger invade his ribs.

Job 18:13 Let it devour the beauty of his skin, let the first-born, death, consume his arms.

First-born denotes the best, or the worst. (Haydock) --- Death. Hebrew, "of death," the devil, or a premature death, and most cruel enemy. (Calmet) --- Septuagint, "But death devours his most beautiful things." (Haydock)
Job 18:14 Let his confidence be rooted out of his tabernacle, and let destruction tread upon him like a king.

Confidence. Septuagint, "health." --- Let. Protestants, "and it shall bring him to the king of terrors;" (Haydock) or, "thou (O God) shalt," etc. Septuagint, "let him be in the greatest (Calmet) want, on account of a royal accusation," (Haydock) of high treason. (Calmet)
Job 18:15 Let the companions of him that is not, dwell in his tabernacle, let brimstone be sprinkled in his tent.

Tent, when he is gone to purify it. Et veniat quae lustret anus lectumque locumque, Praeferat et tremula sulphur et ova manu. (Ovid, Art.) --- Yet Moses does not mention sulphur as a thing proper for purifications. Some think that Baldad hints that his house will be destroyed with lightning, or rendered uninhabitable by a loathsome smell.
Job 18:16 Let his roots be dried up beneath, and his harvest destroyed above.

Harvest. Hebrew also, "branch;" (Calmet) his family, (Menochius) and all on which he trusted. (Calmet) --- All must be destroyed, root and branch.
Job 18:17 *Let the memory of him perish from the earth and let not his name be renowned in the streets.

Proverbs 2:22.
Job 18:18 He shall drive him out of light into darkness, and shall remove him out of the world.

Job 18:19 His seed shall not subsist, nor his offspring among his people, nor any remnants in his country.

Job 18:20 They that come after him shall be astonished at his day, and horror shall fall upon them that went before.

Them. Literally, "the first," who were witnesses of his misery. (Haydock)
Job 18:21 These then are the tabernacles of the wicked, and this the place of him that knoweth not God.