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 18:2

18:2 “How long until you ⁵  make an end of words? ⁶ 

You must consider, ⁷  and then ⁸  we can talk.

Psalms 13:1

Psalm 13 ⁹ 

For the music director; a psalm of David.

13:1 How long, Lord, will you continue to ignore me? ¹⁰ 

How long will you pay no attention to me? ¹¹ 

Revelation 6:10

6:10 They ¹²  cried out with a loud voice, ¹³  “How long, ¹⁴  Sovereign Master, ¹⁵  holy and true, before you judge those who live on the earth and avenge our blood?”

[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).

[18:2]  ⁵ tn The verb is plural, and so most commentators make it singular. But it seems from the context that Bildad is addressing all of them, and not just Job.

[18:2]  ⁶ tn The construction is קִנְצֵי לְמִלִּין (qintse lÿmillin), which is often taken to be “end of words,” as if the word was from קֵץ (qets, “end”). But a plural of “end” is not found in the OT. Some will link the word to Arabic qanasa, “to hunt; to give chase,” to get an interpretation of “snares for words.” But E. Dhorme (Job, 257) objects that this does not fit the speech of Bildad (as well as it might Job’s). He finds a cognate qinsu, “fetters, shackles,” and reads “how long will you put shackles on words.” But G. R. Driver had pointed out that this cognate does not exist (“Problems in the Hebrew text of Job,” VTSup 3 [1955]: 72-93). So it would be preferable to take the reading “ends” and explain the ן (nun) as from a Aramaizing by-form. This is supported by 11QtgJob that uses סוֹף (sof, “end”). On the construction, GKC 421 §130.a explains this as a use of the construct in rapid narrative to connect the words; in such cases a preposition is on the following noun.

[18:2]  ⁷ tn The imperfect verb, again plural, would be here taken in the nuance of instruction, or a modal nuance of obligation. So Bildad is telling his listeners to be intelligent. This would be rather cutting in the discourse.

[18:2]  ⁸ tn Heb “afterward.”

[13:1]  ⁹ sn Psalm 13. The psalmist, who is close to death, desperately pleads for God’s deliverance and affirms his trust in God’s faithfulness.

[13:1]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “will you forget me continually.”

[13:1]  ¹¹ tn Heb “will you hide your face from me.”

[6:10]  ¹² tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[6:10]  ¹³ tn Grk “voice, saying”; the participle λέγοντες (legontes) is redundant in contemporary English and has not been translated here.

[6:10]  ¹⁴ tn The expression ἕως πότε (ews pote) was translated “how long.” Cf. BDAG 423 s.v. ἕως 1.b.γ.

[6:10]  ¹⁵ tn The Greek term here is δεσπότης (despoths; see L&N 37.63).