Job 16:3
in Job 16Is there no end to your long-winded speeches? What provokes you to continue testifying?
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Shall vain words have an end? Or what provoketh thee that thou answerest?
KJV
Shall vain words have an end? or what emboldeneth thee that thou answerest?
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This verse in Job 16
Commentary
10 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Shall vain words? - Margin, As in Hebrew words of wind; that is, words which were devoid of thought-light, trifling. This is a retort on Eliphaz. He had charged Job Job 15:2-3 with uttering only such words. Such forms of expression are common in the East. “His promise, it is only wind.” “Breath, breath: all breath.” Roberts. Or what emboldeneth thee? - “What provokes or irritates thee, that thou dost answer in this manner?
This site's exposition
Then Job answered
on Job 16:1-5
Job opens his reply by naming the friends outright, "miserable comforters are you all", the book's only use of the phrase and his plainest verdict. He chooses the harder path instead, "I would encourage you with my mouth", naming the comfort he needed and did not receive.
This site's exposition
long-winded speeches
Job throws the charge of 15:2 back at Eliphaz: it is the friends' speeches that are long-winded. Barnes notes that the Hebrew reads words of wind. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown read the second question as asking what Job has said to provoke them.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
Job has phrased this in the form of a question and not in order to look for an argument. This means "Will I really join words together against you? Or will I really shake my head at you? Not at all! It is convenient for …
The Medieval Church2 voices
Yet one could excuse these things if the irritating words were uttered for some use and contained truth or even if they were spoken only briefly in passing. But if someone uses language which is calculated to sadden another falsely, uselessly, and over a lengthy …
A commentator
Gregory the DialogistMorals on the Book of Job, Book XIII · Written before 604.
proposed
Ver.3. Shall windy words have an end? For those are 'windy words,' which serve the end of temporal inflating, rather than the end of righteousness. Now oftentimes the wicked speak even good things, but because they do not say them well, they are putting forth 'windy words:' for their words, even if they be at any time sound in the sentence, are yet blown out in self-elation.
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Shall vain words have an end?....
If vain, it were well that they were never begun, and the sooner they are ended the better. Those who are so wise as to speak to the purpose will be so wise as to know when they have said enough of a thing and when it is time to break off.
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
He retorts upon Eliphaz his reproach (Job 15:2). emboldeneth--literally, "What wearies you so that ye contradict?" that is, What have I said to provoke you? &c. [SCHUTTENS].
Vain words - Literally, words of air. What emboldeneth thee - Thou art totally ignorant of the business; what then can induce thee to take part in this discussion?
The words behind it
8 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| הֲקֵ֥ץ | haketz | ¿ [does] an end | H7093 → | 67 times |
| לְדִבְרֵי־ | ledivrei- | [belong] to words of | H1697 → | 1440 times |
| ר֑וּחַ | ruach | wind | H7307 → | 378 times |
| א֥וֹ | ʾo | or | H176 → | 321 times |
| מַה־ | mah- | what? | H4100 → | 752 times |
| יַּ֝מְרִֽיצְךָ֗ | yamritzekha | is it making sick you | H4834 → | |
| כִּ֣י | ki | that | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| תַעֲנֶֽה׃ | taaneh | you will answer | H6030 → | 331 times |
הֲקֵ֥ץ¿ [does] an end
haketzH7093 →67 times
לְדִבְרֵי־[belong] to words of
ledivrei-H1697 →1440 times
ר֑וּחַwind
ruachH7307 →378 times
א֥וֹor
ʾoH176 →321 times
מַה־what?
mah-H4100 →752 times
יַּ֝מְרִֽיצְךָ֗is it making sick you
yamritzekhaH4834 →
כִּ֣יthat
kiH3588 →4482 times
תַעֲנֶֽה׃you will answer
taanehH6030 →331 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Job 15:2“Does a wise man answer with empty counsel or fill his belly with the hot east wind?
it leads to
- Job 6:26
Do you intend to correct my words, and treat as wind my cry of despair?
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Job 6:26
Through
Job 6:26Do you intend to correct my words, and treat as wind my cry of despair?
it leads to
- Job 8:2
“How long will you go on saying such things? The words of your mouth are a blustering wind.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Matthew 12:37
For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.”
- Ephesians 4:14
Then we will no longer be infants, tossed about by the waves and carried around by every wind of teaching and by the clever cunning of men in their deceitful scheming.
- Job 8:2
Through
Job 8:2“How long will you go on saying such things? The words of your mouth are a blustering wind.
it leads to
- Job 15:2
“Does a wise man answer with empty counsel or fill his belly with the hot east wind?
- 1 Kings 19:11
Then the LORD said, “Go out and stand on the mountain before the LORD. Behold, the LORD is about to pass by.” And a great and mighty wind tore into the mountains and shattered…
- Job 15:2
Through
Job 20:3I have heard a rebuke that insults me, and my understanding prompts a reply.
it leads to
- Job 33:3
My words are from an upright heart, and my lips speak sincerely what I know.
- Psalms 78:2–5
I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things hidden from the beginning,
- Job 33:3
About Job
This page draws on 10 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments; Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book XIII; Hesychius of Jerusalem, HOMILIES ON JOB 19.16.4C-D; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.