Verse Lens · Concise explanation
Job 18:21 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 21. 21Surely such are the dwellings of the wicked, and this is the place of him that knoweth not God.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Quick Meaning
Job 18:21 closes the thought unit with the words “Surely such are the dwellings of the wicked, and this is the place of him that knoweth not….” Bildad states “Surely such are the dwellings of the wicked, and this is the place of him that knoweth not…” as one poetic claim in Bildad Extends Ruin to Body, Home, Memory, and Children.
Read It With
- Job 18:11–18:21
Read Job 18:21 with 18:11–18:21. Read alone, “Surely such are the dwellings of the wicked, and this is the place of him that knoweth not…” could lose its speaker, the question or claim it develops, and the unit's outcome. The complete movement establishes: Bildad describes terror, disease, uprooted dwelling, erased memory, no descendant, and public horror as the wicked person's place.
Why This Verse Appears Here
Bildad continues from Job 18:5–18:10: Bildad says the wicked person's light goes out and describes feet, counsel, and hidden traps converging on ruin. Job 18:11–18:21 now develops the next distinct movement: Bildad describes terror, disease, uprooted dwelling, erased memory, no descendant, and public horror as the wicked person's place. Within that relationship, Job 18:21 closes the thought unit through “Surely such are the dwellings of the wicked, and this is the place of him that knoweth not….”
Read Job 18:11–21 together
Why these verses belong together: Job 18:11–18:21 follows the pinned KJV paragraphing and holds together one sustained speech movement: “Bildad Extends Ruin to Body, Home, Memory, and Children.” The next unit begins with a new stanza, question sequence, scene, speaker response, or rhetorical turn.
Verse 11. 11 Terrors shall make him afraid on every side, and shall drive him to his feet.
Verse 12. 12 His strength shall be hungerbitten, and destruction shall be ready at his side.
Verse 13. 13 It shall devour the strength of his skin: even the firstborn of death shall devour his strength.
Verse 14. 14 His confidence shall be rooted out of his tabernacle, and it shall bring him to the king of terrors.
Verse 15. 15 It shall dwell in his tabernacle, because it is none of his: brimstone shall be scattered upon his habitation.
Verse 16. 16 His roots shall be dried up beneath, and above shall his branch be cut off.
Verse 17. 17 His remembrance shall perish from the earth, and he shall have no name in the street.
Verse 18. 18 He shall be driven from light into darkness, and chased out of the world.
Verse 19. 19 He shall neither have son nor nephew among his people, nor any remaining in his dwellings.
Verse 20. 20 They that come after him shall be astonied at his day, as they that went before were affrighted.
Verse 21. 21 Surely such are the dwellings of the wicked, and this is the place of him that knoweth not God.
What Remains True
Bildad describes terror, disease, uprooted dwelling, erased memory, no descendant, and public horror as the wicked person's place. The speech must be tested against evidence, the prose frame, Job's counterevidence, and the closing verdict before it becomes enduring counsel. Job 18:21 carries that bounded truth through “Surely such are the dwellings of the wicked, and this is the place of him that knoweth not….”
How It Can Shape Life
- Test Bildad's speech in Job 18:11–18:21 against the narrated evidence, Job's countercase, and the final verdict before repeating it to a person who suffers. Preserve this unit-specific boundary in the action: The speech cruelly echoes Job's losses and is not a divine verdict; it must never justify blaming bereaved families or treating disease as evidence of wickedness. The verse-specific evidence to retain is “Surely such are the dwellings of the wicked, and this is the place of him that knoweth not….”
Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read Job 18:11–18:21 — Bildad Extends Ruin to Body, Home, Memory, and ChildrenSources used for this Verse Lens
How certain is this explanation? strong
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, verse order, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete thought-unit coverage.
Exact location: Job 18:11–18:21, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived repository corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Job
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording and morphology checked at the exact unit without treating morphology as a complete apparatus or interpretation.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Job.xml, OSIS 18:11–18:21
Open the fixed Hebrew Job file ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible First Edition Notes: Job
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2006; current official PDF
Supports: Verse-level controls for Job's difficult Hebrew, syntax, older KJV language, textual issues, speech boundaries, and alternatives in Job 18:11–18:21.
Exact location: Official NET Job PDF, exact translator, study, and textual notes attached to Job 18:11–18:21
Open the official NET Job PDF ↗