Surely such are the dwellings of the ungodly: in verse 21 Bildad intends to assure Job that the teaching which Bildad has delivered, that wickedness brings doom and destruction, is a reliable teaching. Surely translates a different expression than that used in 17.2. Here it serves to express certainty, as in “certainly, yes, no doubt about it, for sure.” Bildad speaks of the dwellings of the ungodly, which will appear again in 21.28. Dwellings is parallel to place in the next line. Bildad is referring to the wicked person, not just to the place where he lives, and so Good News Translation “This is the fate of evil men.” New Jerusalem Bible, Bible en français courant, and Traduction œcuménique de la Bible understand verse 21 to be a quotation, the opinion expressed by the appalled people from east and west in verse 20.

Such is the place of him who knows not God: in 8.13 Bildad spoke of these as people “who forget God.” The expression does not refer to not being acquainted with God or not knowing about him, but rather, as Good News Translation and New English Bible say, “who care nothing for God.” The meaning is as in Amos 3.2, when God says to Israel, “You only have I known” (Revised Standard Version), “you are the only one I have known and cared for” (Good News Translation). Verse 21 may also be rendered, for example, “For certain, the wicked person is doomed in this way, and all those who have no reverence for God” or “Certainly evil people are punished like that, and the same happens to all who do not trust God.”

Bildad ends his speech with no appeal to Job to repent. In Bildad’s view God belongs to the realm of light, and by implication Job is destined for the realm of darkness, which is death.

Quoted with permission from Reyburn, Wiliam. A Handbook on Job. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1992. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .