Job 11:2

“Should not this ¹  abundance of words be answered, ²  or should this ³  talkative man ⁴  be vindicated? ⁵ 

"Are all these words to go unanswered? Is this talker to be vindicated?

"Shall a multitude of words go unanswered, And a talkative man be acquitted?

"Shouldn’t someone answer this torrent of words? Is a person proved innocent just by talking a lot?

"What a flood of words! Shouldn't we put a stop to it? Should this kind of loose talk be permitted?

Are all these words to go unanswered? and is a man seen to be right because he is full of talk?

"Should a multitude of words go unanswered, and should one full of talk be vindicated?

"Should not the multitude of words be answered? And should a man full of talk be vindicated?

“Should not this ¹  abundance of words be answered, ²  or should this ³  talkative man ⁴  be vindicated? ⁵ 

¹ tc The LXX, Targum Job, Symmachus, and Vulgate all assume that the vocalization of רֹב (rov, “abundance”) should be רַב (rav, “great”): “great of words.” This would then mean “one who is abundant of words,” meaning, “a man of many words,” and make a closer parallel to the second half. But the MT makes good sense as it stands.

¹ tn There is no article or demonstrative with the word; it has been added here simply to make a smoother connection between the chapters.

² tn The Niphal verb יֵעָנֶה (ye’aneh, “he answered”) would normally require a personal subject, but “abundance” functions as the subject in this sentence. The nuance of the imperfect is obligatory.

³ tn The word is supplied here also for clarification.

⁴ tn The bound construction “man of lips” means “a boaster” or “proud talker” (attributive genitive; and see GKC 417 §128.t). Zophar is saying that Job pours out this stream of words, but he is still not right.

⁵ tn The word is literally “be right, righteous.” The idea of being right has appeared before for this word (cf. 9:15). The point here is that just because Job talks a lot does not mean he is right or will be shown to be right through it all.