The Meaning of Job 18:5 Explained

Job 18:5

KJV: Yea, the light of the wicked shall be put out, and the spark of his fire shall not shine.

YLT: Also, the light of the wicked is extinguished. And there doth not shine a spark of his fire.

Darby: Yea, the light of the wicked shall be put out, and the flame of his fire shall not shine.

ASV: Yea, the light of the wicked shall be put out, And the spark of his fire shall not shine.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

Yea, the light  of the wicked  shall be put out,  and the spark  of his fire  shall not shine. 

What does Job 18:5 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 18:5 mean?

indeed the light of the wicked goes out and not does shine the flame of his fire
גַּ֤ם א֣וֹר רְשָׁעִ֣ים יִדְעָ֑ךְ וְלֹֽא־ יִ֝גַּ֗הּ שְׁבִ֣יב אִשּֽׁוֹ

גַּ֤ם  indeed 
Parse: Conjunction
Root: גַּם  
Sense: also, even, indeed, moreover, yea.
א֣וֹר  the  light 
Parse: Noun, common singular construct
Root: אֹור  
Sense: light.
רְשָׁעִ֣ים  of  the  wicked 
Parse: Adjective, masculine plural
Root: רָשָׁע  
Sense: wicked, criminal.
יִדְעָ֑ךְ  goes  out 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Imperfect, third person masculine singular
Root: דָּעַךְ  
Sense: to go out, be extinguished, dry up.
וְלֹֽא־  and  not 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Adverb, Negative particle
Root: הֲלֹא 
Sense: not, no.
יִ֝גַּ֗הּ  does  shine 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Imperfect, third person masculine singular
Root: נָגַהּ  
Sense: to shine.
שְׁבִ֣יב  the  flame 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular construct
Root: שָׁבִיב  
Sense: flame.
אִשּֽׁוֹ  of  his  fire 
Parse: Noun, common singular construct, third person masculine singular
Root: אֵשׁ  
Sense: fire.