Job 15:2

15:2 “Does a wise man answer with blustery knowledge, ¹ 

or fill his belly ²  with the east wind? ³ 

Job 35:16

35:16 So Job opens his mouth to no purpose; ⁴ 

without knowledge he multiplies words.”

Job 36:12

36:12 But if they refuse to listen,

they pass over the river of death, ⁵ 

and expire without knowledge.

Job 38:2

38:2 “Who is this ⁶  who darkens counsel ⁷ 

with words without knowledge?

[15:2]  ¹ tn The Hebrew is דַעַת־רוּחַ (da’at-ruakh). This means knowledge without any content, vain knowledge.

[15:2]  ² tn The image is rather graphic. It is saying that he puffs himself up with the wind and then brings out of his mouth blasts of this wind.

[15:2]  ³ tn The word for “east wind,” קָדִים (qadim), is parallel to “spirit/wind” also in Hos 12:2. The east wind is maleficent, but here in the parallelism it is so much hot air.

[35:16]  ⁴ tn The word הֶבֶל (hevel) means “vanity; futility; to no purpose.”

[36:12]  ⁷ tn This is a similar expression to the one in Job 33:18, where the suggestion was made by many that it means crossing over the canal or river of death. Some retain the earlier interpretation of “perish by the sword” (cf. NIV).

[38:2]  ¹⁰ tn The demonstrative pronoun is used here to emphasize the interrogative pronoun (see GKC 442 §136.c).

[38:2]  ¹¹ sn The referent of “counsel” here is not the debate between Job and the friends, but the purposes of God (see Ps 33:10; Prov 19:21; Isa 19:17). Dhorme translates it “Providence.”