Bildad has reached the conclusion of his speech and now summarizes his advice to Job in terms of the divine justice in which God takes care of good people but refuses his protection to the wicked. Behold, God will not reject a blameless man: Bildad’s principle is first stated in negative terms; the positive expression of it is to come in the next two verses. Blameless is the quality which the poet used to describe Job in 1.1, and which God used of him in 1.8. Not reject may be expressed positively in some languages; for example, “God will accept a blameless person.” Nor take the hand of evildoers: line b contrasts evildoers with blameless man in line a. Take the hand is used in Isaiah 42.6 meaning that God supported, protected, helped. This line is negative and may be translated “But God will not help evil people.”

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 .