^18:12 Let his strength be weakened by hunger, and let starvation invade his ribs.
^18:13 Let it devour the beauty of his skin; let firstborn death consume his arms.
^18:14 Let his confidence be torn away from his tabernacle, and let destruction tread upon him like a king.
^18:15 Let companions of him who is not dwell in his tabernacle; let sulfur be sprinkled in his tabernacle.
^18:16 Let his roots be dried up below, and let his harvest be worn away above.
^18:17 Let his memory perish from the earth, and let his name not be celebrated in the streets.
^18:18 He will expel him from light into darkness, and he will remove him from the world.
^18:19 His seed will not exist, nor progeny among his people, nor any remnants in his regions.
^18:20 At his day the last will be astonished, and horror will invade the first.
^18:21 These, therefore, are the tabernacles of the iniquitous man, and this is the place of him who does not know God.

281. Let his strength be weakened by hunger, etc. Bildad had set forth beforehand the punishments of sinners pertaining to exterior adversities, but here he begins to pursue punishments pertaining to their persons. Now it must be considered that sins themselves involve men in exterior adversities, and therefore he pursued exterior adversities by foretelling them, as though with a certain certainty; but bodily punishments do not seem to be directly caused by sins themselves, except perhaps by some, especially gluttony and lust, by which one sins against one’s own body, and therefore he pursues bodily punishments not by denouncing them but rather by imprecating them. Now he sets forth bodily punishments that precede death, and because life is preserved through nourishment, first he imprecates upon him the withdrawal of nourishment, from which man first begins to be weakened, and with regard to this he says: Let his strength be weakened by hunger. Then, when nourishment fails, life also is taken away, and with regard to this he adds: and let starvation invade his ribs, by which is signified the weakening of the vital operations, whose principle is the heart, which is contained beneath the ribs.

But the goods of the body, which begin to be weakened by hunger, are totally consumed by death; and the chief goods of the body seem to be beauty and strength, and therefore he adds: Let it devour the beauty of his skin, because beauty is considered in exterior appearance, and let firstborn death consume his arms, in which strength is especially attended to, that is, premature death, anticipating the end of natural age. Now a dead man is carried out from his house, and with regard to this he adds: Let his confidence be torn away from his tabernacle, because, namely, he placed his hope not in God but in the opulence and glory of his house, from which he is cast out after death. But, cast out from his house, he is enclosed in the tomb, where he is totally exterminated by death, and with regard to this he adds: and let destruction tread upon him like a king, because, namely, death, as by the full power of a king, grinds him into dust. But when he has gone out from his house, the household of the dead man remains, with whom he had companionship in life, and with regard to this he adds: Let companions of him who is not dwell in his tabernacle, that is, of the dead man who has now ceased to exist among human affairs. But the household, once the master has died, mourn and show certain signs of sadness, either with regard to black and filthy garments or even with regard to certain foul odors, and with regard to this he says: let sulfur be sprinkled in his tabernacle, by which are understood all things that can be signs of sadness, just as pleasant odors are assumed as a sign of gladness.

282. But when a man has died, frequently all things that were his perish; showing this consequently, he first begins from things that grow from the earth, some of which, when he has died, still remain sown, and with regard to these he says: Let his roots be dried up below, namely, so that if he has sown or planted anything, it may be destroyed and not bear fruit; but some have already been brought forth to fruit, and with regard to these he adds: and let his harvest be worn away above. And this can be referred to any undertakings whatever, whether begun or already nearly completed. Then he proceeds to the fame that remains of a man after death, from which some desire that they will live in the memories of men and have glory even after death;

hence, with regard to the deletion of the sinner from human memories, he adds: Let his memory perish from the earth; but with regard to the cessation of his celebrated fame, he adds: and let his name not be celebrated in the streets, which he says pointedly, because there is no celebrity of name except among the multitude, which is usually found in the streets. And thus, with memory and the celebrity of his name ceasing, the brightness of his glory will be changed into the darkness of perpetual oblivion, and this is what he adds: He will expel him from light into darkness, that is, from worldly glory into oblivion. But with his fame ceasing and his body consumed by death, now nothing of him will remain in the world, because Bildad and his companions thought that the soul did not remain after death: and he will remove him from the world, namely, so that nothing of him may remain in the world. But because parents also live on in their children, therefore, to exclude this, he adds: His seed will not exist, because his sons will die, nor progeny among his people, because neither grandsons nor great-grandsons will remain, nor even any who belong to him, whence he adds: nor any remnants in his regions, that is, neither blood relatives nor members of his household through whom memory of him might be had.

283. But what effect follows from this in the hearts of others, he shows when he adds: At his day, which, namely, is the day of his perdition, the last will be astonished, that is, the lesser people among the nation, because of excessive wonder, unable to consider how so great a glory of the sinner has suddenly been reduced to nothing; and with regard to the greater ones he adds: and horror will invade the first, namely, fearing lest something similar happen to them. And he seems to have brought this in to answer what Job had said above in 14:21: Whether his sons have been noble or ignoble, he will not understand; yet his flesh, while he lives, will suffer pain, from which Job seemed to have refuted the threats or promises of his friends concerning future events that would happen after death. But here Bildad answers that misfortunes of this kind that occur after death, even if the dead man does not know them, are nevertheless inflicted by God—punishments of this kind—for the correction of others.

284. And because he had set forth beforehand certain punishments of the sinner pertaining to the way of the present life, but others pertaining to the end of the way, namely, to death or to the things that happen after death, therefore, as though by way of epilogue, he adds: These, therefore, are the tabernacles of the iniquitous man, that is, his course on the way of the present life, for travelers use tabernacles; but with regard to the ultimate end, which is like the term of motion, he adds: and this is the place of him who does not know God, either through unbelief or through disobedience.