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Job 18 · a question people ask

What is "the king of terrors"?

In the text

The chapter doesn't explain it. Bildad says, "He will be rooted out of the security of his tent. He will be brought to the king of terrors" (18:14). The verse before it says, "The firstborn of death will devour his members" (18:13), and 18:11 says, "Terrors will make him afraid on every side" (18:11), where terrors is the word of 18:14 (tap terrors). Job uses the same word of himself later: "Terrors have turned on me" (30:15). These notes don't explain the name beyond what the chapter says.

The verses

“Terrors will make him afraid on every side, and will chase him at his heels.”
Job 18:11 · World English Bible
“The members of his body will be devoured. The firstborn of death will devour his members. He will be rooted out of the security of his tent. He will be brought to the king of terrors.”
Job 18:13-14 · World English Bible
“Terrors have turned on me. They chase my honor as the wind. My welfare has passed away as a cloud.”
Job 30:15 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Job 18

Job 18: The lamp of the wicked

Bildad's "the light of the wicked will be put out" (18:5) and "His lamp above him will be put out" (18:6) use the Hebrew words of Proverbs' "the lamp of the wicked is snuffed out" (Proverbs 13:9). In chapter 21 Job uses them again: "How often is it that the lamp of the wicked is put out" (21:17).

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions