“How long will you hunt for words? Show understanding, and then we can talk.
Parallel translations
- WEB “How long will you hunt for words? Consider, and afterwards we will speak.
- KJV How long will it be ere ye make an end of words? mark, and afterwards we will speak.
- BSB “How long until you end these speeches? Show some sense, and then we can talk.
- NKJV “How long till you put an end to words? Gain understanding, and afterward we will speak.
- NLT “How long before you stop talking? Speak sense if you want us to answer!
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Bildad rebukes Job for endless words and tells him to think before they speak. He demands reasonableness from Job.
Overview
Bildad opens with irritation, asking how long Job will hunt for words and urging him to be sensible so dialogue can proceed. His impatience reveals more concern for winning the argument than comforting the sufferer. The verse illustrates how debate can crowd out compassion, a danger for all who would counsel the hurting.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Job 13:5–6Oh that you would be completely silent! Then you would be wise.
- Prov 18:13He who gives answer before he hears, that is folly and shame to him.
- Job 11:2“Shouldn’t the multitude of words be answered? Should a man full of talk be justified?
- Job 8:2“How long will you speak these things? Shall the words of your mouth be a mighty wind?
- Job 3:17There the wicked cease from troubling. There the weary are at rest.
- Jas 1:19So, then, my beloved brothers, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger;
- Job 3:5–6Let darkness and the shadow of death claim it for their own. Let a cloud dwell on it. Let all that makes black the day terrify it.
- Job 16:2–3“I have heard many such things. You are all miserable comforters!
- Job 33:1“However, Job, please hear my speech, and listen to all my words.
- Job 21:2“Listen diligently to my speech. Let this be your consolation.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Commentaries & study tools
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Job's cry for a mediator who can lay his hand on both God and man, and his confidence that 'my Redeemer lives' and will stand on the earth, reaches forward to Jesus the living Redeemer.
How Job 18:2 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.