Chapter 18 is the tenth speech in the book, the response of Bildad the Shuchite. Bildad opens with fury at Iyov's words, which seem to imply that he doubts the immortality of the soul, or does not believe in it at all. If that were so, Bildad argues, man has no preeminence over the beast: as one dies, so dies the other; they all have one breath; all ultimately die, and the spirit of all ultimately descends to the earth.
And if that is truly the case, Bildad asks: Why did the Holy One, blessed be He, create man in His image - in the image of God He created him? Why did He breathe into him the breath of life, an intellectual soul, and the entire human form fashioned after the Supernal likeness? Why was he given free will? According to your approach, Iyov, man has no purpose, no goal, and no advantage over the beast whatsoever.
Rather, it is certain: if you see that the Holy One, blessed be He, planted within man tremendous spiritual powers unmatched and unparalleled in any animal, it is clear that the essence of man is his soul, his spiritual faculties. Such immense and mighty powers cannot possibly perish and decay with the rotting of the body. The body perishes, the body decays, the body goes down to the grave - but that sublime and wondrous reality of "and He breathed into his nostrils the breath of life" must be eternal; it must live forever. For if not, you have equated man to beast.
From this foundational premise, Bildad reconstructs his approach to the question of the prosperity of the wicked. Recall: regarding "the righteous person who suffers," we could still find explanations - perhaps he is not truly righteous, perhaps he committed some slight misstep relative to his lofty stature, or perhaps the suffering is meant to purge him of some minor blemish in order to grant him his full reward in the World of Truth. But regarding "the wicked person who prospers," it is difficult to answer. What can one say - perhaps he is not truly wicked? He is seen desecrating Shabbat, he is seen committing the gravest of sins - what can be said about that?
Here Bildad follows his consistent logic: if the essence of man is his soul and the loftiness of the spirit within him, then when success is measured, it must be measured by the soul. You come to show me a successful wicked person? Show me that he succeeds in a spiritual sense, with true spiritual success. Yet all you show me is physical, material, external success: more buildings, more acquisitions, another villa, another car. That is not the man; that is neither his essence nor his eternity - that is the beast within him. And what have you shown me, that the beast has a little more money? These are mere bodily pleasures, and that is not success. For in the end, nothing of this will remain for him, and his spiritual soul will face spiritual excision (karet) and eternal ruin; it will not shine in the light of life, nor will it merit eternal bliss.
The wicked person is like someone who jumped from a high-rise tower. You call him on his way down and ask how he is doing, and he replies: "The air here is incredible, what a view, unbelievable!" - until the call suddenly cuts off, and the outcome is obvious. Can that be called success? The fall from the tower to the asphalt lasts perhaps twenty seconds, ending in a crash. Twenty seconds is a great deal of time if one compares our world to eternity: the ratio of twenty seconds to seventy years is vastly greater than the ratio of our seventy years of life to eternal life. So what does it matter if you point out that the wicked person enjoys sixty or seventy years of bodily acquisitions? What about his soul for all eternity, which is cut off? This is not "good," nor is there anything to envy or marvel at, when he lacks the essential element - the spiritual soul, whose existence is the core of man, representing true eternity and true reward.
Beyond this, Bildad says: Even in the physical realm, no remnant of him will remain, for his children will also be cut off, and his name and memory will be excised from the earth. On this point, it is striking to see that Bildad was right. "And you who cling to Hashem your God are all alive today" - examine history to see who has retained a name and a remnant, and you will see that it is only those who clung to Hashem. Where are the Hellenists? Where are the Ten Tribes who went astray after idol worship? One must search for them in Africa, in Afghanistan, in obscure corners of the earth, with each group clinging to some faint trace hinting that they are remnants of the Ten Tribes.
Another noteworthy observation is that whenever remnants of the Ten Tribes are discovered - what do they all have in common? None of them holds an esteemed standing. A tribe living in some remote corner of Africa, resembling primitive men; a tribe living in Afghanistan in tents or ruins. One does not see advanced people there who have attained status and prominence. In contrast, consider those who clung to Hashem throughout their dispersions, in all the exiles - even though exile itself is oppressive, sorrowful, and harsh, many of them attained great stature: the Spanish exile, where the Abarbanel served as counselor to the king; the Jews of Europe, who were bankers and directors; and likewise in every place, they achieved prominence. This teaches that the punishment of the Ten Tribes still endures: Hashem exiled them and scattered them, and they have no enduring existence - not even physical standing, not even the success of an ordinary nation.
And so it is regarding continuity. There were the Sicarii, the Essenes, the Sadducees, the Karaites, the Samaritans - where are all of them today? Sects that broke away from the Jewish people and have no continuity. Anyone reading Ibn Ezra confronting the Karaites wonders who there even is to confront today - a tiny band of ignoramuses who do not know what you are talking about. Yet in his time, it was a massive force: there was a Gaon who became a Karaite, Anan ben David, and we are talking about the era of the Geonim, on the level of Rav Hai Gaon, Rav Saadia Gaon, Rav Paltoi Gaon - before the Rambam. And roughly fifty percent of the people there were Karaites. The circumstances were that he did not receive an appointment he had expected, and as a result, he ended up where he did. The point is merely to show that there were very large groups espousing false beliefs - and what remains of them? Nothing. There were the Frankists, there was Shabbetai Tzvi and his followers - anyone who splintered off has no continuity. And so too the Reform movement: they have no third generation; assimilation devours them already by the second generation, and by the third generation, nothing is left. This is what Bildad is saying: no remnant or survival will remain for the wicked; his spiritual soul will be cut off and perish, never meriting to shine in the light of life, and his children will not continue after him, his name cut off from the earth.
By contrast, the righteous person has a name and a remnant in both this world and the World to Come. His soul will merit "pleasures at Your right hand forever," and in exchange for the suffering he endured in this world, he will receive an eternal reward in the World to Come, compared to which everything here is absolute nothingness. Beyond that, he also has reward in this world: future generations, a name and a remnant, his children around his table like olive saplings.
With this, Bildad completes his earlier words, explaining that the suffering of the righteous is by way of compensation: you suffer here, but you will receive good in exchange for it. This was very difficult for Iyov to accept. It is like seeing a crushed, ruined, rusted car with a blown engine, and being told: "From this scrap heap, a Rolls-Royce will emerge." You would say: "Without an overt miracle, that will never happen." So Iyov said: "I am entirely in the state of a corpse that has already begun to rot, and you are telling me that good is yet in store for me?"
And here lay Iyov's error: he understood that Bildad was speaking of this world, so he looked at his physical body and said that nothing could ever come of it. But the answer is: who is looking at this world? "By way of compensation" does not refer to this body, but to the soul, to eternal continuity, to the immense reward there. This also casts an entirely different light on Iyov's arguments, when he argued, seemingly with good reason: "You gave me good years, then You bring ten bad years upon me, and You tell me that afterwards I will receive good years - spare me the bad years, give me the good ones right away! Why do evil to me in order to bring good afterward? Shorten my life and let us skip them." He furthermore claimed that there was no chance he would ever experience good again in this world - and in this he was mistaken, as we see in the end that the Holy One, blessed be He, doubled his fortune for the good. But when speaking of life in the World to Come and eternity, there is no comparison at all: a slight pain here yields an immense, endless, eternal reward there. These belong to entirely different dimensions. In this regard, as the Malbim phrases it, Iyov's arguments "vanished, like smoke they vanished" - they were completely refuted, while Bildad's words stand firm and enduring. From here, let us turn to the words of the verses.
וַיַּעַן בִּלְדַּד הַשֻּׁחִי וַיֹּאמַר׃ עַד־אָנָה תְּשִׂימוּן קִנְצֵי לְמִלִּין תָּבִינוּ וְאַחַר נְדַבֵּר׃ - Bildad the Shuchite answered and said: How long will you make an end of words? Understand, and afterward we will speak.
When a person debates on the basis of evidence, proofs, and reason, when does his debate end? When he presents the ultimate proof, the "final hammer blow," an argument to which there is no rebuttal and which can no longer be challenged. Then the debate has reached an end: "We are done; I have proven it to you." But one who comes to argue without evidence thinks he can end the debate by wearing down and exhausting the other side with endless talk, a kind of filibuster, as if this concludes the debate. This is the meaning of "How long will you make an end of words?" - how long do you think you can conclude a debate with a flood of words? A flood of words does not bring an end; proofs bring an end. "Understand, and afterward we will speak" - the debate must be conducted through evidence and contemplation: reflect, take the matter to heart, bring your proofs, and then we will speak. A multitude of words is no substitute for proof.
מַדּוּעַ נֶחְשַׁבְנוּ כַבְּהֵמָה נִטְמִינוּ בְּעֵינֵיכֶם׃ - Why are we regarded as beasts, and considered senseless in your eyes?
How can you deny the immortality of the soul? How can you deny that man's soul ascends on high? For if you deny the survival of the soul, it turns out that "man has no preeminence over the beast" - so why do you consider us beasts? "Nitmeinu" comes from the language of obstruction and blockage (otum), as in the verse "and you shall be defiled by them" (venitmeitem bam), which Chazal interpreted as referring to "timtum halev" - dullness and blockage of the heart: Why are we considered in your eyes as obtuse and blocked as beasts?
טֹרֵף נַפְשׁוֹ בְּאַפּוֹ הַלְמַעַנְךָ תֵּעָזַב אָרֶץ וְיֶעְתַּק־צוּר מִמְּקֹמוֹ׃ - You who tear yourself in your anger, shall the earth be forsaken for you, or shall the rock be removed from its place?
"Toref nafsho be'apo" (He tears his soul in his anger) - "apo" means anger: through your anger, you decide that the soul is mortal, that at the death of the body the soul dies as well and there is no afterlife. You tear, that is, kill, your soul in your fury. Can you really decree, just because of your anger, that the soul dies and has no lasting existence and continuation?
And he illustrates this with a parable: The earth has a foundation, a strong rock, situated as it were in the center of the globe and pulling everything toward it, and even if the entire earth were destroyed, that foundation, that mighty rock, would not budge from its place and would remain standing. So it is with man: his foundation is the Divine soul within him, and even if the earth - that is, the body - ceases to be, the rock is not dislodged from its place. "Shall it be for your sake" - just because of you, because you wish to complain about the deeds of Hashem and find reasons why you are being treated unfairly, shall we say that when the earth is forsaken (the body, led to the grave), the rock (the soul) will also be removed from its place? Just because you are angry and have difficult questions, shall we decide that at the death of the body the soul dies as well?
גַּם אוֹר רְשָׁעִים יִדְעָךְ וְלֹא־יִגַּהּ שְׁבִיב אִשּׁוֹ׃ - Indeed, the light of the wicked shall be extinguished, and the spark of his fire shall not shine.
This is true regarding the wicked: when he dies, his soul dies an eternal death as well. And this is the answer to your question about the wicked person who prospers ("rasha ve'tov lo"): his good is very temporary, like someone who jumped from a building and is still soaring through the air, enjoying the pleasant breeze. But true goodness is the immortality of the soul, an eternal spiritual reality - so what are you so impressed by, seventy years of pleasure in this world?
And an insight into the wording: sometimes a candle flickers out and suddenly the flame jumps and it reignites, and it is even easier to relight a candle that has only just gone out, because the wick is still hot and giving off smoke, and smoke is flammable gas. Bring a match near the smoke rising from an extinguished candle, and you will see how the flame is drawn down on its own to the wick without you touching the wick at all. "Shaviv" is that spark whose nature is to return and reignite the fire. And Bildad says: with the wicked, "the spark of his fire shall not shine" - it will not return, for his soul will be cut off and will never again see the light of life, suffering eternal kares.
Here we must qualify this and cite the words of the holy Arizal regarding the verse "that none be banished from Him" (levilti yidach mimenu nidach), that ultimately all souls will attain their rectification (tikkun), even the most distant ones, such as the soul of Bil'am. Bil'am is the prime example of the most outcast soul and the most abominable deeds, to the extent that Chazal said: Regarding Bil'am, whatever derogatory interpretation you can expound about him, expound. Any disgrace you wish to attribute to him, expound it, and it is all true; wherever you shoot an arrow, you hit the mark. Despite his lofty stature, having been one who "knows the knowledge of the Most High," whatever negative thing you say about him is true. And nonetheless, the holy Arizal states that in the end he too will reach rectification, and he elaborates on this extensively.
This is straightforward, because for there to be complete rectification, all the souls contained within the collective body must return and the soul of Adam HaRishon must be repaired, and we are all components of the soul of Adam HaRishon. However, a person can achieve this rectification here in this world through the performance of mitzvos - every mitzvah leads to rectification. If not, the rectification takes place by way of purification (zikkuch), which is what we call the punishment after death. Therefore, do not be mistaken: punishment after death is not punitive in the sense of "you did not listen to Me, so now I will punish you." Gehinom means purification, a process the soul undergoes to separate from its dross - just as reincarnation (gilgul) is a purification for the soul. The easy way is to separate the dross through the observance of the mitzvos and doing the will of Hashem. When you wash your hands, you recite the blessing, "Who has sanctified us with His commandments" - every mitzvah sanctifies me and elevates me, and through it I am refined. But when one does not do so, another, far harsher purification is required, not as retribution or vengeance.
Based on this, a well-known question is resolved: A person recites Kaddish for someone, and it is written that this elevates him - but what about the punishment he is due to receive? After all, if someone is sitting in prison, one could recite Kaddish for him for two years, yet they will not release him or deduct a third of his sentence; what does one have to do with the other? Rather, Gehennom is not punitive retribution, but purification. Therefore, if people studied Mishnayot for the elevation of his soul, recited Kaddish, and performed actions to elevate him, he attains purification without needing the full measure of suffering. Regarding a purely judicial "punishment," it truly would make no sense how reciting words could grant exemption, but our deeds effect purification. In light of this, what is stated here - that the soul of the wicked will die an eternal death - cannot be taken strictly literally. Rather, it means he will have to undergo an intense and arduous purification until he is cleansed of all the dross and impurities that adhered to him through his transgressions.
אוֹר חָשַׁךְ בְּאׇהֳלוֹ וְנֵרוֹ עָלָיו יִדְעָךְ׃ - The light darkens in his tent, and his lamp above him is extinguished.
Do not be overly impressed by the success of the wicked. At the moment when "the light darkens in his tent" - "light" refers to physical life, which will be extinguished and bring him down lower than ten tefachin, into the grave - then "and his lamp above him is extinguished." The lamp alludes to his soul, and along with the life of the body, the life of the soul will also be nullified, as his soul will be cut off and die an eternal death. If so, do not be swayed by his temporary success.
יֵצְרוּ צַעֲדֵי אוֹנוֹ וְתַשְׁלִיכֵהוּ עֲצָתוֹ׃ - The steps of his vigor become restricted, and his own counsel casts him down.
Here Bildad describes the nature of his downfall. When he reaches old age, "the steps of his vigor become restricted" - his strides grow narrow, and he no longer walks with broad, confident steps. Wisdom also departs from him, until "his own counsel casts him down" - counsel and understanding abandon and overturn him, and everything prepares him for his demise.
כִּי־שֻׁלַּח בְּרֶשֶׁת בְּרַגְלָיו וְעַל־שְׂבָכָה יִתְהַלָּךְ׃ - For he is cast into a net by his own feet, and he walks upon a snare.
Now he depicts his death, and the reality the wicked is destined to suffer, like an animal ensnared in a hunter's trap. Hunters would spread a net around the pitfall trap, and when the animal became entangled in the net, they would immediately pull it toward the pit, into the trap, where it would fall and be rendered completely helpless. As long as it is still outside, it might tear the net, but once drawn into the pit it is trapped, and there they can shoot it with arrows or do with it as they please. First, "he is cast into a net by his own feet" - ensnared in the net spread around the trap; and then "he walks upon a snare" - wherever he turns, he drags the netting with him, already confined and caught.
יֹאחֵז בְּעָקֵב פָּח יַחֲזֵק עָלָיו צַמִּים׃ - A trap seizes him by the heel; a snare holds him fast.
They seize him by the heel with great ease, and even though he is caught only by the heel, already "a snare holds him fast." The word tzamim is related to tzamah (a braid), denoting a knot or bond, indicating that his feet become bound and he is trapped inside the snare.
טָמוּן בָּאָרֶץ חַבְלוֹ וּמַלְכֻּדְתּוֹ עֲלֵי נָתִיב׃ - Hidden in the ground is his rope, and his trap upon the path.
Hunters used to hide a rope in the ground where an animal steps, and as it passed, they would pull the rope and ensnare it. So it is with the wicked man, who is destined for death anyway: "Hidden in the ground is his rope" - the snare of the rope concealed in the earth, "and his trap upon the path" - right along the path upon which he is destined to walk.
סָבִיב בִּעֲתֻהוּ בַלָּהוֹת וֶהֱפִיצֻהוּ לְרַגְלָיו׃ - Terrors frighten him from all around, and scatter him at his feet.
Hunters would ensure that the animal was driven directly to the intended spot, usually by means of hunting dogs that pursued and frightened it until it arrived there. So it is here: terrors - as it were, destructive spirits - surround him and terrify him so that he reaches the trap, panicking him to drive him right into the snare.
יְהִי־רָעֵב אֹנוֹ וְאֵיד נָכוֹן לְצַלְעוֹ׃ - His grief-bringer shall hunger, and calamity is ready at his side.
What does the trap represent? Death. When the wicked man dies, he is trapped; his soul will have no continuation, and he will suffer eternal death. "His grief-bringer shall hunger" - ono refers to that which causes him mourning, meaning grief, like a person sitting as an onen in bereavement. That agent of grief and anguish is ravenous, like a beast prowling for prey. Thus Scripture portrays death as stalking and waiting for the designated person to arrive.
Indeed, this is just as Chazal explained: he is the Satan, he is the yetzer hara, he is the Angel of Death. First, the yetzer hara causes a person to sin. Then he ascends and prosecutes: "Master of the Universe, why does this person deserve life? He commits such transgressions; for this he is liable to death, for that he is liable to karet - he should have been taken long ago!" And when emissaries are sent to claim the person's soul, who greets him? The Angel of Death, that very same entity. A thorough job. This is why it is said that he does not rest until he sees the person in the grave. One might have thought it would be enough for the Satan merely to make him sin, but as long as a person is alive, there is still hope. Only when he sees him in the grave does the Satan feel his work is complete: there is no longer any teshuvah, no rectification, nothing - he is entirely in his grasp.
יֹאכַל בַּדֵּי עוֹרוֹ יֹאכַל בַּדָּיו בְּכוֹר מָוֶת׃ - It shall consume the branches of his skin; the firstborn of death shall consume his limbs.
That same Satan who awaits him, who brought him there, "shall consume the branches of his skin" - the decay of the body begins. "His limbs" (baddav) refers to his body, or from the sense of branches - like the poles (baddim) of the Ark, or the branches of a tree that spread outward. According to this, it could also refer to his children, as the Malbim explains. And who consumes all of this? "The firstborn of death" - that is the Satan, who is, as it were, the firstborn of death. That is, after causing him to sin, he is still hungry for him and waits to devour him. "And calamity is ready at his side" - waiting to break him.
יִנָּתֵק מֵאׇהֳלוֹ מִבְטַחוֹ וְתַצְעִדֵהוּ לְמֶלֶךְ בַּלָּהוֹת׃ - He is uprooted from his tent, his source of confidence, and it marches him to the king of terrors.
"His source of confidence" refers to the eternal soul, which is a person's ultimate security - knowing that even if I die, my soul endures. Bildad says: it too will be severed from his tent and depart from the body, "and it marches him to the king of terrors" - leading him into the hands of the Satan and the destructive spirits to torment and punish him. Thus, Sheol offers him no refuge; rather, it is precisely there that a whole new chapter begins for everything he did in this world.
תִּשְׁכּוֹן בְּאׇהֳלוֹ מִבְּלִילוֹ יְזֹרֶה עַל־נָוֵהוּ גׇפְרִית׃ - It dwells in his tent through its decay; brimstone is scattered upon his habitation.
His soul will dwell in his tent "from decay" (mibli lo) - from the root meaning worn out and decomposed: the body decomposes and rots in the grave, and as it were, his soul rots along with it. Not only that, but "brimstone is scattered upon his habitation," to burn him in the fires of Gehinnom. In simple terms: do not be impressed by the success of the wicked in this world; it is only a fleeting success compared to an eternity that will be exceptionally harsh and filled with intense suffering. There is no reason to envy such success, for it amounts to nothing.
מִתַּחַת שׇׁרָשָׁיו יִבָשׁוּ וּמִמַּעַל יִמַּל קְצִירוֹ׃ - Beneath, his roots dry up, and above, his harvest withers.
"Beneath, his roots dry up" alludes to the body, which will rot and desiccate in its grave here on earth. "And above, his harvest withers" - these are his actions and deeds, referring to his soul, which will likewise wither (from the root of cutting off and drying up), leaving it with no endurance.
זִכְרוֹ־אָבַד מִנִּי־אָרֶץ וְלֹא־שֵׁם לוֹ עַל־פְּנֵי־חוּץ׃ - His memory has perished from the earth, and he has no name abroad.
Through this, his memory and the memory of his deeds will perish from the earth, nor will he retain any name in the upper world, which lies beyond this physical realm. Thus, neither in this world will any memory of him remain, nor in the World to Come - and this is the meaning of "abroad," for even there he will possess no name and will not be remembered.
יֶהְדְּפֻהוּ מֵאוֹר אֶל־חֹשֶׁךְ וּמִתֵּבֵל יְנִדֻּהוּ׃ - They shall thrust him from light into darkness, and banish him from the world.
Even in the upper spiritual reality he will sit in a land of darkness and will not shine in the light of eternal life, which is the eternal reward; from there they will thrust him from light into darkness. "And banish him from the world" - he will be cast out from this world as well, so that neither name nor remnant remains of him here, just as he already mentioned that his memory will perish from the earth.
לֹא־נִין לוֹ וְלֹא־נֶכֶד בְּעַמּוֹ וְאֵין שָׂרִיד בִּמְגוּרָיו׃ - He has neither son nor grandson among his people, nor any survivor in his dwellings.
His children too will perish, and no survivor will remain "in his dwellings" - meaning not even among the inhabitants of his home. Notice a theme that repeats throughout the book: they speak to him in parables and do not tell him explicitly that they mean him, yet they describe him. They say to him: See what you are suffering; it is because of your wicked deeds; and behold, the wicked man will also have neither offspring nor posterity - and what happened to Iyov? All his children died. They speak in allegories, but their intent is aimed at him. As we will see further on, and as we have seen throughout the book, Iyov is deeply aggrieved by this. It pains him that they invoke harsh allegories about the wicked and pin them onto him, and then bring proof from it: Look, you are suffering, which is a sign that you are the wicked man in the story.
עַל־יוֹמוֹ נָשַׁמּוּ אַחֲרֹנִים וְקַדְמֹנִים אָחֲזוּ שָׂעַר׃ - Later generations are appalled at his day, and ancients are seized with shuddering.
His punishment will be so horrifying that neither the earliest generations nor the latest generations could ever have conceived or imagined such a retribution. Nashamu is an expression of astonishment - they will marvel: What a terrible and dreadful punishment! Even the ancients, even the oldest elders, have never seen such a thing: "and ancients are seized with shuddering," an expression of storming agitation, bewilderment, and terror at the magnitude of this wicked man's punishment.
אַךְ־אֵלֶּה מִשְׁכְּנוֹת עַוָּל וְזֶה מְקוֹם לֹא־יָדַע־אֵל׃ - Surely such are the dwellings of the unrighteous, and this is the place of him who knows not God.
Matters are not as you claim, that there is no survival of the soul. The righteous - their souls are bound up in the bond of eternal life; and ordinary people, who are not on the level of the righteous but did not sin excessively, also have a portion in the World to Come. But "such," those of whom I have just spoken, are "dwellings of iniquity": an absolute rasha among the greatest evildoers who sinned abundantly - these will be his dwellings; he will be cut off, and there will be no continuation for his soul nor for his descendants after him. And in this, as mentioned, Bildad intends to hint at Iyov. "And this is the place of him who knows not God" - this will be the place of punishment for one who did not know or acknowledge God.
Bildad the Shuchite builds his entire response upon a single foundation: man's essence is his eternal soul, and therefore any evaluation of "success" must be measured in the currency of the soul rather than the currency of the body. From this, he answers the dilemma of "the wicked who prospers": his good fortune is like the thrill of one jumping from a tower - fleeting and momentary, ending in a crash - as his soul is cut off, his name and memory are lost, and he has no continuation, neither in his descendants nor in the World to Come. The pesukim illustrate this through the metaphors of a hunter: a net, a snare, a hidden cord, terrors driving him toward the trap, and the firstborn of death ravenous to devour. On the other hand, the tzaddik merits a lasting name and remnant in this world and the next, and his suffering is "by way of compensation" - not compensation in this physical body, but an eternal reward for the soul, beside which all the pain of this world is as nothing. And with this, in the words of the Malbim, Iyov's rejoinders vanish like smoke, while Bildad's words stand firm.