Job 18:20 Meaning and Explanation

Bildad describes the reaction of others to the wicked man's ruin. Those who 'come after him' later generations are 'astonied' astonished, appalled at 'his day,' the day of his calamity, just as those 'that went before' were 'affrighted,' struck with horror. East and west, past and future, all who hear of it shudder.

Bildad means the downfall of the wicked becomes a byword, a warning that makes everyone tremble. He has built an airtight system in which suffering equals guilt. But the book of Job exists to break that system open, for here is a righteous man whose 'day' was full of horror and yet whom God Himself declared blameless. The verse warns us not to read another's suffering as a simple scorecard, but to leave the final judgment in the hands of a wise and merciful God.