Job 8:2

8:2 “How long will you speak these things, ¹ 

seeing ²  that the words of your mouth

are like a great ³  wind? ⁴ 

Job 15:5-6

15:5 Your sin inspires ⁵  your mouth;

you choose the language ⁶  of the crafty. ⁷ 

15:6 Your own mouth condemns ⁸  you, not I;

your own lips testify against ⁹  you.

Job 39:27

39:27 Is it at your command ¹⁰  that the eagle soars,

and builds its nest on high?

[8:2]  ¹ sn “These things” refers to all of Job’s speech, the general drift of which seems to Bildad to question the justice of God.

[8:2]  ² tn The second colon of the verse simply says “and a strong wind the words of your mouth.” The simplest way to treat this is to make it an independent nominal sentence: “the words of your mouth are a strong wind.” Some have made it parallel to the first by apposition, understanding “how long” to do double duty. The line beginning with the ו (vav) can also be subordinated as a circumstantial clause, as here.

[8:2]  ³ tn The word כַּבִּיר (kabbir, “great”) implies both abundance and greatness. Here the word modifies “wind”; the point of the analogy is that Job’s words are full of sound but without solid content.

[8:2]  ⁴ tn See, however, G. R. Driver’s translation, “the breath of one who is mighty are the words of your mouth” (“Hebrew Studies,” JRAS 1948: 170).

[15:5]  ⁵ tn The verb אַלֵּף (’allef) has the meaning of “to teach; to instruct,” but it is unlikely that the idea of revealing is intended. If the verb is understood metonymically, then “to inspire; to prompt” will be sufficient. Dahood and others find another root, and render the verb “to increase,” reversing subject and object: “your mouth increases your iniquity.”

[15:5]  ⁶ tn Heb “tongue.”

[15:5]  ⁷ tn The word means “shrewd; crafty; cunning” (see Gen 3:1). Job uses clever speech that is misleading and destructive.

[15:6]  ⁹ tn The Hiphil of this root means “declare wicked, guilty” (a declarative Hiphil), and so “condemns.”

[15:6]  ¹⁰ tn The verb עָנָה (’anah) with the ל (lamed) preposition following it means “to testify against.” For Eliphaz, it is enough to listen to Job to condemn him.

[39:27]  ¹³ tn Heb “your mouth.”