Job 35:16
in Job 35So Job opens his mouth in vain and multiplies words without knowledge.”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Therefore doth Job open his mouth in vanity; He multiplieth words without knowledge.
KJV
Therefore doth Job open his mouth in vain; he multiplieth words without knowledge.
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This verse in Job 35
Commentary
10 notes on this verseTherefore doth Job open his mouth in vain, he multiplieth words without knowledge. By introducing these words, he doubtless asserts, that blessed Job both knew nothing, and had said much; and, though he introduces his own opinions loquaciously, he accuses him of the fault of loquacity.
This site's exposition
you do not see Him
on Job 35:14-16
Clarke reads verse 15 as Elihu accusing Job of concluding that God's slowness to punish evil means He has not “taken much notice of folly”. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown read the closing verdict as Elihu's version of the friends' charge, one God judges differently at 42:7.
This site's exposition
multiplies words without knowledge
Matthew Henry notes that Elihu stops short of calling Job a hypocrite, as the friends had done. He charges only rash speech under provocation, the sin of Moses. Gregory the Dialogist observes that Elihu faults Job for many words in a long speech of his own.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church1 voice
But since he took Job's words in an evil sense, he therefore rejected them, concluding from what he had said, "So Job in vain (without reason) opens his mouth," rejecting his lengthy discourse, "and multiplies words without knowledge." In this he accuses him of ignorance …
The Puritans and the Awakening4 voices
But it was not fair to charge this upon Job, which he had neither directly nor indirectly affirmed. Clouds, &c. - They are far above us, and God is far above them. How much then is he out of the reach either of our sins or our services?
He did not, as his other friends, condemn him for a hypocrite, but charged him only with Moses's sin, speaking unadvisedly with his lips when his spirit was provoked. When at any time we do so (and who is there that offends not in word?) it is a mercy to be told of it, and we must take it patiently and kindly as Job did, not repeating, but recanting, what we have said amiss.
6 If thou sinnest, what doest thou against him? or if thy transgressions be multiplied, what doest thou unto him? 7 If thou be righteous, what givest thou him? or what receiveth he of thine hand? 8 Thy wickedness may hurt a man as thou art; and thy righteousness may profit the son of man.
quarantine:scripture (2026-07-29) — verbatim-scripture
Therefore doth Job open his mouth in vain,....
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
Therefore doth Job open his mouth in vain - God will execute vengeance when it may best serve the ends of his justice, providence, and mercy. The delay of judgment is not proof that it shall not be executed; nor is the deferring of mercy any proof that God has forgotten to be gracious. He multiplieth words without knowledge - However this may apply to Job, it most certainly applies very strongly and generally to the words, not only of Job’s three friends, but to those also of Elihu himself. The contest is frequently a strife of words.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Therefore - In view of all that Elihu had now said, be came to the conclusion that the views of Job were erroneous, and that he had no just cause of complaint. He had suffered no more than he had deserved; he might have obtained a release or mitigation if he had applied to God; and the government of God was just, and was every way worthy of confidence. The remarks of Job, therefore, complaining of the severity of his sufferings and of the government of God, were not based on knowledge, and had in fact no solid foundation.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְ֭אִיּוֹב | veiyov | and Job | H347 → | 58 times |
| הֶ֣בֶל | hevel | vanity | H1892 → | 73 times |
| יִפְצֶה־ | yiftzeh- | he opens | H6475 → | |
| פִּ֑יהוּ | pihu | mouth his | H6310 → | 498 times |
| בִּבְלִי־ | bivli- | with not | H1097 → | 58 times |
| דַ֝֗עַת | daat | knowledge | H1847 → | 92 times |
| מִלִּ֥ין | milin | words | H4405 → | 38 times |
| יַכְבִּֽר׃ פ | yakhbir | he multiplies | H3527 → |
וְ֭אִיּוֹבand Job
veiyovH347 →58 times
הֶ֣בֶלvanity
hevelH1892 →73 times
יִפְצֶה־he opens
yiftzeh-H6475 →
פִּ֑יהוּmouth his
pihuH6310 →498 times
בִּבְלִי־with not
bivli-H1097 →58 times
דַ֝֗עַתknowledge
daatH1847 →92 times
מִלִּ֥יןwords
milinH4405 →38 times
יַכְבִּֽר׃ פhe multiplies
yakhbirH3527 →
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 38:2“Who is this who obscures My counsel by words without knowledge?
it leads to
- Job 42:3
You asked, ‘Who is this who conceals My counsel without knowledge?’ Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know.
- 1 Timothy 1:7
They want to be teachers of the law, but they do not understand what they are saying or that which they so confidently assert.
- Job 34:35
‘Job speaks without knowledge; his words lack insight.’
- Job 42:3
Through
Job 3:1After this, Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth.
it leads to
- Jeremiah 20:14–15
Cursed be the day I was born! May the day my mother bore me never be blessed.
- Psalms 106:33
For they rebelled against His Spirit, and Moses spoke rashly with his lips.
- Jeremiah 20:14–15
Through
Job 33:2Behold, I will open my mouth; my address is on the tip of my tongue.
it leads to
- Job 3:1
After this, Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth.
- Psalms 78:2
I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things hidden from the beginning,
- Job 31:30
I have not allowed my mouth to sin by asking for his life with a curse—
- Job 3:1
About Job
Who and where
1 name in this verse with a page on the site.
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book XXVI; Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.