The Meaning of Job 18:15 Explained

Job 18:15

KJV: It shall dwell in his tabernacle, because it is none of his: brimstone shall be scattered upon his habitation.

YLT: It dwelleth in his tent -- out of his provender, Scattered over his habitation is sulphur.

Darby: They who are none of his shall dwell in his tent; brimstone shall be showered upon his habitation:

ASV: There shall dwell in his tent that which is none of his: Brimstone shall be scattered upon his habitation.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

It shall dwell  in his tabernacle,  because [it is] none  of his: brimstone  shall be scattered  upon his habitation. 

What does Job 18:15 Mean?

Context Summary

Job 18:1-21 - "cast Into A Net"
Bildad's second speech reveals how utterly he failed to understand Job's appeal for a divine witness and surety. Such words were snares to him, Job 18:2, r.v. The deep things that pass in a heart which is enduring sorrow are incomprehensible to shallow and narrow souls.
His description of the calamities which befall the wicked is terrible: their extinguished light, Job 18:5-6; their awful distress, Job 18:7-11; their destruction, Job 18:12-17; the horror with which men shall regard their fate, Job 18:18-21. All this was, of course, intended for Job. It was very severe. Even if the worst had been true, his extreme sufferings should have elicited more tenderness from his friends. Only the strong, wise hand of love can assuage the wounds that sin has made. We are indebted to Bildad for the phrase, king of terrors, as applied to death, Job 18:14. Apart from Christ, it is a significant and appropriate term. Sin has made his monarchy terrible. Yet even he has met his conqueror, John 11:25-26; Hebrews 2:14; 1 Corinthians 15:26.
The ancients had a deep presentiment of the punishments which must overtake sin. Probably we make too little of them. The note of fear has almost died out of modern preaching. In this there is a marked divergence from Baxter's Call to the Unconverted and from Jonathan Edwards' Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. But the doom of sin can only be terrible, especially for those to whom Calvary has pleaded in vain. A great atonement implies great sin, and this, a great penalty. [source]

Chapter Summary: Job 18

1  Bildad reproves Job for presumption and impatience
5  The calamities of the wicked

What do the individual words in Job 18:15 mean?

They dwell in his tent [who are] none of his is scattered on his dwelling Brimstone
תִּשְׁכּ֣וֹן בְּ֭אָהֳלוֹ מִבְּלִי־ ל֑וֹ יְזֹרֶ֖ה עַל־ נָוֵ֣הוּ גָפְרִֽית

תִּשְׁכּ֣וֹן  They  dwell 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Imperfect, third person feminine singular
Root: שָׁכַן  
Sense: to settle down, abide, dwell, tabernacle, reside.
בְּ֭אָהֳלוֹ  in  his  tent 
Parse: Preposition-b, Noun, masculine singular construct, third person masculine singular
Root: אֹהֶל  
Sense: tent.
מִבְּלִי־  [who  are]  none 
Parse: Preposition-m, Adverb
Root: בְּלִי 
Sense: wearing out adv of negation.
ל֑וֹ  of  his 
Parse: Preposition, third person masculine singular
יְזֹרֶ֖ה  is  scattered 
Parse: Verb, Pual, Imperfect, third person masculine singular
Root: זָרָה 
Sense: to scatter, fan, cast away, winnow, disperse, compass, spread, be scattered, be dispersed.
נָוֵ֣הוּ  his  dwelling 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular construct, third person masculine singular
Root: נָוֶה 
Sense: abode, habitation, abode of shepherds or flocks, pasture.
גָפְרִֽית  Brimstone 
Parse: Noun, feminine singular
Root: גָּפְרִית  
Sense: brimstone.