Job 18:5-6

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 

Job 18:12

18:12 Calamity is ⁵  hungry for him, ⁶ 

and misfortune is ready at his side. ⁷ 

Job 18:18

18:18 He is driven ⁸  from light into darkness

and is banished from the world.

[18:5]  ¹ tn Hebrew גַּם (gam, “also; moreover”), in view of what has just been said.

[18:5]  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.

[18:5]  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.

[18:6]  ⁴ tn The LXX interprets a little more precisely: “his lamp shall be put out with him.”

[18:12]  ⁵ tn The jussive is occasionally used without its normal sense and only as an imperfect (see GKC 323 §109.k).

[18:12]  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.”

[18:12]  ⁷ tn The expression means that misfortune is right there to destroy him whenever there is the opportunity.

[18:18]  ⁸ tn The verbs in this verse are plural; without the expressed subject they should be taken in the passive sense.