TRV
Translation
King James Version
His confidence shall be rooted out of his tabernacle, and it shall bring him to the king of terrors.
KJV (with Strong's)
His confidence H4009 shall be rooted out H5423 of his tabernacle H168, and it shall bring H6805 him to the king H4428 of terrors H1091.
Complete Jewish Bible
What he relied on will be torn from his tent, and he will be marched before the king of terrors.
Berean Standard Bible
He is torn from the shelter of his tent and is marched off to the king of terrors.
American Standard Version
He shall be rooted out of his tent wherein he trusteth; And he shall be brought to the king of terrors.
World English Bible Messianic
He shall be rooted out of his tent where he trusts. He shall be brought to the king of terrors.
Geneva Bible (1599)
His hope shalbe rooted out of his dwelling, and shall cause him to go to the King of feare.
Young's Literal Translation
Drawn from his tent is his confidence, And it causeth him to step to the king of terrors.
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In the KJVVerse 13,291 of 31,102
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Commentary on Job 18 verses 11–21
11 ¶ Terrors shall make him afraid on every side, and shall drive him to his feet.
12 His strength shall be hungerbitten, and destruction shall be ready at his side.
13 It shall devour the strength of his skin: even the firstborn of death shall devour his strength.
14 His confidence shall be rooted out of his tabernacle, and it shall bring him to the king of terrors.
15 It shall dwell in his tabernacle, because it is none of his: brimstone shall be scattered upon his habitation.
16 His roots shall be dried up beneath, and above shall his branch be cut off.
17 His remembrance shall perish from the earth, and he shall have no name in the street.
18 He shall be driven from light into darkness, and chased out of the world.
19 He shall neither have son nor nephew among his people, nor any remaining in his dwellings.
20 They that come after him shall be astonied at his day, as they that went before were affrighted.
21 Surely such are the dwellings of the wicked, and this is the place of him that knoweth not God.
Bildad here describes the destruction itself which wicked people are reserved for in the other world, and which, in some degree, often seizes them in this world. Come, and see what a miserable condition the sinner is in when his day comes to fall.
I. See him disheartened and weakened by continual terrors arising from the sense of his own guilt and the dread of God's wrath (Job 18:11, Job 18:12): Terror shall make him afraid on every side. The terrors of his own conscience shall haunt him, so that he shall never be easy. Wherever he goes, these shall follow him; which way soever he looks, these shall stare him in the face. It will make him tremble to see himself fought against by the whole creation, to see Heaven frowning on him, hell gaping for him, and earth sick of him. He that carries his own accuser, and his own tormentor, always in his bosom, cannot but be afraid on every side. This will drive him to his feet, like the malefactor, who, being conscious of his own guilt, takes to his heels and flees when none pursues, Pro 28:1. But his feet will do him no service; they are fast in the snare, Job 18:9. The sinner may as soon overpower the divine omnipotence as flee from the divine omniscience, Amo 9:2, Amo 9:3. No marvel that the sinner is dispirited and distracted with fear, for, 1. He sees his ruin approaching: Destruction shall be ready at his side, to seize him whenever justice gives the word, so that he is brought into desolation in a moment, Psa 73:19. 2. He feels himself utterly unable to grapple with it, either to escape it or to bear up under it. That which he relied upon as his strength (his wealth, power, pomp, friends, and the hardiness of his own spirit) shall fail him in the time of need, and be hunger-bitten, that is, it shall do him no more service than a famished man, pining away for hunger, would do in work or war. The case being thus with him, no marvel that he is a terror to himself. Note, The way of sin is a way of fear, and leads to everlasting confusion, of which the present terrors of an impure and unpacified conscience are earnests, as they were to Cain and Judas.
II. See him devoured and swallowed up by a miserable death; and miserable indeed a wicked man's death is, how secure and jovial soever his life was. 1. See him dying, arrested by the first-born of death (some disease, or some stroke that has in it a more than ordinary resemblance of death itself; so great a death, as it is called, Co2 1:10, a messenger of death that has in it an uncommon strength and terror), weakened by the harbingers of death, which devour the strength of his skin, that is, it shall bring rottenness into his bones and consume them. His confidence shall then be rooted out of his tabernacle (Job 18:14), that is, all that he trusted to for his support shall be taken from him, and he shall have nothing to rely upon, no, not his own tabernacle. His own soul was his confidence, but that shall be rooted out of the tabernacle of the body, as a tree that cumbered the ground. "Thy soul shall be required of thee." 2. See him dead, and see his case then with an eye of faith. (1.) He is then brought to the king of terrors. He was surrounded with terrors while he lived (Job 18:11), and death was the king of all those terrors; they fought against the sinner in death's name, for it is by reason of death that sinners are all their lifetime subject to bondage (Heb 2:15), and at length they will be brought to that which they so long feared, as a captive to the conqueror. Death is terrible to nature; our Saviour himself prayed, Father, save me from this hour. But to the wicked it is in a special manner the king of terrors, both as it is a period to that life in which they placed their happiness and a passage to that life where they will find their endless misery. How happy then are the saints, and how much indebted to the Lord Jesus, by whom death is so far abolished, and the property of it altered, that this king of terrors becomes a friend and servant! (2.) He is then driven from the light into darkness (Job 18:18), from the light of this world, and his prosperous condition in it, into darkness, the darkness of the grave, the darkness of hell, into utter darkness, never to see light (Psa 49:19), not the least gleam, nor any hopes of it. (3.) He is then chased out of the world, hurried and dragged away by the messengers of death, sorely against his will, chased as Adam out of paradise, for the world is his paradise. It intimates that he would fain stay here; he is loth to depart, but go he must; all the world is weary of him, and therefore chases him out, as glad to get rid of him. This is death to a wicked man.
III. See his family sunk and cut off, Job 18:15. The wrath and curse of God light and lie, not only upon his head and heart, but upon his house too, to consume it with the timber and stones thereof, Zac 5:4. Death itself shall dwell in his tabernacle, and, having expelled him, shall take possession of his house, to the terror and destruction of all that he leaves behind. Even the dwelling shall be ruined for the sake of its owner: Brimstone shall be scattered upon his habitation, rained upon it as upon Sodom, to the destruction of which this seems to have reference. Some think he here upbraids Job with the burning of his sheep and servants with fire from heaven. The reason is here given why his tabernacle is thus marked for ruin: Because it is none of his; that is, it was unjustly got, and kept, from the rightful owner, and therefore let him not expect either the comfort or the continuance of it. His children shall perish, either with him or after him, Job 18:16. So that, his roots being in his own person dried up beneath, above his branch (every child of his family) shall be cut off. Thus the houses of Jeroboam, Baasha, and Ahab, were cut off; none that descended from them were left alive. Those who take root in the earth may expect it will thus be dried up; but, if we be rooted in Christ, even our leaf shall not wither, much less shall our branch be cut off. Those who consult the true honour of their family, and the welfare of its branches, will be afraid of withering it by sin. The extirpation of the sinner's family is mentioned again (Job 18:19): He shall neither have son nor nephew, child nor grandchild, to enjoy his estate and bear up his name, nor shall there be any remaining in his dwelling akin to him. Sin entails a curse upon posterity, and the iniquity of the fathers is often visited upon the children. Herein, also, it is probable that Bildad reflects upon the death of Job's children and servants, as a further proof of his being a wicked man; whereas all that are written childless are not thereby written graceless; there is a name better than that of sons and daughters.
IV. See his memory buried with him, or made odious; he shall either be forgotten or spoken of with dishonour (Job 18:17): His remembrance shall perish from the earth; and, if it perish thence, it perishes wholly, for it was never written in heaven, as the names of the saints are, Luk 10:20. All his honour shall be laid and lost in the dust, or stained with perpetual infamy, so that he shall have no name in the street, departing without being desired. Thus the judgments of God follow him, after death, in this world, as an indication of the misery his soul is in after death, and an earnest of that everlasting shame and contempt to which he shall rise in the great day. The memory of the just is blessed, but the name of the wicked shall rot, Pro 10:7.
V. See a universal amazement at his fall, Job 18:20. Those that see it are affrighted, so sudden is the change, so dreadful the execution, so threatening to all about him: and those that come after, and hear the report of it, are astonished at it; their ears are made to tingle, and their hearts to tremble, and they cry out, Lord, how terrible art thou in thy judgments! A place or person utterly ruined is said to be made an astonishment, Deu 28:37; Ch2 7:21; Jer 25:9, Jer 25:18. Horrible sins bring strange punishments.
VI. See all this averred as the unanimous sense of the patriarchal age, grounded upon their knowledge of God and their many observations of his providence (Job 18:21): Surely such are the dwellings of the wicked, and this is the place (this the condition) of him that knows not God! See here what is the beginning, and what is the end, of the wickedness of this wicked world. 1. The beginning of it is ignorance of God, and it is a wilful ignorance, for there is that to be known of him which is sufficient to leave them for ever inexcusable. They know not God, and then they commit all iniquity. Pharaoh knows not the Lord, and therefore will not obey his voice. 2. The end of it, and that is utter destruction. Such, so miserable, are the dwellings of the wicked. Vengeance will be taken of those that know not God, Th2 1:8. For those whom he has not honour from he will get himself honour upon. Let us therefore stand in awe and not sin, for it will certainly be bitterness in the latter end.
Matthew Henry (1662–1714) — Commentary on the Whole Bible. This section covers verses 11–21. Public domain.
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Olympiodorus of AlexandriaAD 600
COMMENTARY ON JOB 18:12-14
He calls the “soles of their feet” the products of their journeys, in order to say that the impious are not prosperous in their travels when they fall into “a violent ruin.” But also their fruits of season, that is, their children, are insatiately consumed by death; and from this entire condition, in which they find themselves, all healing withdraws. That is, their results will always be incorrigible and incurable. It is also possible to interpret the “soles of their feet” as their offspring or descendants.
Gregory the DialogistAD 604
20. In this place by the title of ‘death’ we have denoted the enemy of the human race himself, who brought in death, who is set forth by a particular minister of his, of whom it is said to John, And his name was Death. [Rev. 6, 8] And so this ‘death,’ in the day of departure hence, ‘tramples upon the wicked man as a king,’ in that him, whom he before deceived by soft persuasions, at the last he carries off to punishment in bonds of violence, and forces him down the more cruelly, in proportion as he ties him the stronger in bad deeds. And here too while he possesses the heart of the lost sinner, he ‘tramples’ upon it, in that as often as he pressed it with feelings of delight, he as it were set upon it the feet of his tyrannical dominion.
21. But if by the title of ‘death,’ we are to understand not the devil explicitly, but sin, in consequence of which the lost meet with the doom to be dragged to death, then indeed such ‘death tramples on the mind like a king,’ when it possesses the same making no resistance. For temptation to sin cannot be away from man whilst set in this life. But it is one thing to resist sin tempting us, and another to be enthralled by it tyrannizing over us. And so the wicked man, because he is not taught to resist the persuasions of sin, and is not afraid to be subdued to its dominion, has it rightly said of him, Death as a king shall trample on him. For it was the reign of this death that Paul was keeping off from the hearts of his disciples, when he said, Let not sin there reign in your mortal body. [Rom. 6, 12] Since be does not say, ‘let it not be,’ but, let it not reign, in that it cannot help but be, but reign it may not, in the hearts of the good. And so whereas, when a sin strikes the heart of the bad man, it does not find it resist, but bows it under its dominion, let it rightly be said, Let his confidence be rooted out of his tabernacle, and let death as a king trample on him. And so ‘his confidence is rooted out of the earth,’ when the man, who in this life had provided for himself many goods after his mind, is brought to nought by death in an instant. And ‘death as a king tramples on him,’ in that he is either pressed upon here by evil habits, or at the time of his death, hereby, viz. that he is carried off to punishment, he is brought under to the power of the devil. Which is thus done in the minds of the wicked on this account; because, even when the opportunity of committing sin is lacking, the suggestions of the desire are not in the least lacking to their minds. And whereas they do always follow the devil in practice, yet do they doubly bind themselves fast to him in thought. And so there is first sin in thought, and afterwards in act. Whence it is said to the daughter of Babylon, Come down and sit in the dust, O Virgin daughter of Babylon, sit on the earth. [Is. 47, 1] For whereas dust is always earth, earth is not always dust. What then are we to understand by dust but thoughts, which, while they perseveringly and silently fly up in the mind, blind its eyes? And what is denoted by ‘the earth,’ but an earthly way of acting? And whereas the mind of the lost sinner is first cast down to imagine wicked things, and afterwards to do them, to the daughter of Babylon, who came down from the judgment of interior uprightness, it is rightly said in a wounding sentence, that first she should ‘sit in the dust,’ and afterwards ‘in the earth,’ in that except she had lowered herself in thought, she would never have settled fast in bad practice.
Source: Quotations drawn from early Church Fathers and historical Christian theologians (AD 100–1500). Some quotes address the surrounding passage context rather than this verse alone.
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SUMMARY
Job 18:14, a pronouncement from Bildad the Shuhite, serves as a chilling articulation of the inevitable and terrifying downfall of the wicked, firmly rooted in ancient retribution theology. This verse vividly portrays the violent and complete stripping away of a wicked person's confidence and security, culminating in an inescapable confrontation with death, powerfully personified as a fearsome monarch. It stands as a climactic assertion within Bildad's argument, aiming to convince Job that his profound suffering is an undeniable consequence of unrighteousness, leading to such a dreadful and final end.
CONTEXT
EXPOSITION AND ANALYSIS
Key Word Analysis
Verse Breakdown
Literary Devices
Job 18:14 is rich in literary devices that amplify its chilling message and underscore Bildad's rigid theological stance. The most prominent is Personification, where death is given human-like attributes and elevated to the status of a "king." This transforms an abstract concept into a formidable, active agent, making its power and dread more tangible and immediate. The phrase "king of terrors" itself is a powerful Metaphor, equating death with a reigning monarch who commands ultimate fear and destruction. The verb "rooted out" employs vivid Imagery, suggesting a violent, irreversible tearing away, akin to a plant being ripped from its life source, effectively conveying the complete and forceful destruction of security. Furthermore, the entire verse functions as a form of Hyperbole, using extreme and dramatic language to emphasize the severity and inevitability of the wicked's downfall according to Bildad's theology, aiming to shock and persuade Job of his supposed guilt.
THEOLOGICAL AND THEMATIC CONNECTIONS
While Bildad's rigid application of this severe retribution theology to Job was ultimately flawed and challenged by the broader narrative of the book, Job 18:14 nonetheless touches upon profound theological truths regarding human fragility, the nature of true security, and the universal reality of death. The verse serves as a stark reminder that all earthly confidence, when rooted solely in temporal possessions, status, or self-reliance, is inherently fleeting and vulnerable to being "rooted out." It compels us to consider the ultimate source of our security and to confront the inescapable reality of mortality. From a broader biblical perspective, while death is indeed a terrifying consequence of the Fall, the Bible also reveals that for those who trust in God, the "king of terrors" does not hold ultimate dominion.
REFLECTION AND APPLICATION
Job 18:14, though spoken by a misguided friend, offers profound insights for contemporary reflection. It challenges us to critically examine the foundations of our confidence and security. Are we building our lives on transient "tabernacles" that can be violently uprooted by life's storms, or are we anchoring our hope in something eternal and unshakable? The verse starkly confronts us with the universal reality of death, the "king of terrors," prompting us to consider how we truly face this ultimate human experience. For the believer, while physical death remains a reality, its spiritual sting and ultimate power have been disarmed by Christ's victory. This prompts us to live with an eternal perspective, investing in what truly lasts and finding our ultimate security not in earthly provisions but in the unshakeable promises of God. It calls us to live lives of genuine faith, recognizing the fragility of all human endeavors apart from divine grace and embracing the hope found only in God.
Questions for Reflection
FAQ
Is "king of terrors" a literal title for death in the Bible?
Answer: No, "king of terrors" (מֶלֶךְ בַּלָּהוֹת, meleḵ ballāhōṯ) is not a literal title for death found elsewhere in the Bible. It is a unique and powerful metaphorical personification used by Bildad in Job 18:14. It serves to emphasize the profound dread, fear, and ultimate power that death holds over humanity, rather than designating a literal monarch. While other biblical passages speak of death as an enemy (e.g., 1 Corinthians 15:26), none use this specific monarchical title.
Does this verse mean all suffering is a direct result of sin?
Answer: No, not necessarily. While Bildad's view, as expressed in this verse and throughout his speeches, is that suffering is always a direct and visible consequence of wickedness, this is precisely the flawed theology that the Book of Job as a whole challenges. Job's own suffering is explicitly stated not to be a result of his sin (see Job 1:8). The book teaches that suffering can have many purposes beyond direct punishment, including testing, refinement, or revealing God's sovereignty, thereby refuting the rigid retribution theology espoused by Job's friends.
How does this verse relate to the Christian understanding of death?
Answer: For Christians, Job 18:14 powerfully articulates the fearsome reality of death that all humanity faces due to sin. However, the Christian understanding goes further to proclaim that the "king of terrors" has been dethroned by Jesus Christ. While physical death remains a reality, its ultimate power and spiritual sting have been removed for those who believe. Hebrews 2:14-15 explains that Christ "destroyed him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and delivered all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery." Therefore, for the believer, death is not a terrifying end but a passage to eternal life with God, transformed from a "king of terrors" into a conquered foe.
CHRIST-CENTERED FULFILLMENT
Though spoken from a perspective limited by Old Testament understanding and a flawed theological framework, Job 18:14 powerfully foreshadows the ultimate confrontation humanity faces with death, the "king of terrors." In the person and work of Jesus Christ, this fearsome monarch is decisively conquered. The New Testament reveals that Jesus, through His incarnation, suffering, death, and resurrection, entered the very domain of this "king." Hebrews 2:14-15 declares that Christ "shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil—and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death." Our confidence, which would otherwise be "rooted out" by the inevitability of death, is now firmly established in Him, who is "the resurrection and the life" (John 11:25). The "tabernacle" of our earthly security may indeed be uprooted, but our true life is "hidden with Christ in God" (Colossians 3:3), securing us beyond the grave. The ultimate victory over the "king of terrors" is proclaimed triumphantly in 1 Corinthians 15:54-57, where death's sting is removed, and the believer's cry becomes, "O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? ... Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ!"