How long wilt thou speak these things? and how long shall the words of thy mouth be like a strong wind?
Parallel translations
- WEB “How long will you speak these things? Shall the words of your mouth be a mighty wind?
- BSB “How long will you go on saying such things? The words of your mouth are a blustering wind.
- NKJV “How long will you speak these things, And the words of your mouth be like a strong wind?
- NASB “How long will you say these things, And the words of your mouth be a mighty wind?
- NLT “How long will you go on like this? You sound like a blustering wind.
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, asking how long he will speak such things, calling his words a mighty but empty wind. He dismisses Job's lament as mere bluster.
Overview
Bildad opens harshly, treating Job's anguished words as windy and worthless. His impatience reveals the friends' failure to truly comfort. While Job's complaints were indeed strong, Bildad mistakes honest lament for empty noise, modeling how not to respond to a suffering brother (compare Romans 12:15).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Job 15:2Should a wise man utter vain knowledge, and fill his belly with the east wind?
- Job 6:26Do ye imagine to reprove words, and the speeches of one that is desperate, which are as wind?
- 1 Kgs 19:11And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the LORD. And, behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the LORD; but the LORD was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the LORD was not in the earthquake:
- Exod 10:3And Moses and Aaron came in unto Pharaoh, and said unto him, Thus saith the LORD God of the Hebrews, How long wilt thou refuse to humble thyself before me? let my people go, that they may serve me.
- Job 7:11Therefore I will not refrain my mouth; I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.
- Job 6:9Even that it would please God to destroy me; that he would let loose his hand, and cut me off!
- Job 11:2–3Should not the multitude of words be answered? and should a man full of talk be justified?
- Job 18:2How long will it be ere ye make an end of words? mark, and afterwards we will speak.
- Job 16:3Shall vain words have an end? or what emboldeneth thee that thou answerest?
- Prov 1:22How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge?
- Exod 10:7And Pharaoh’s servants said unto him, How long shall this man be a snare unto us? let the men go, that they may serve the LORD their God: knowest thou not yet that Egypt is destroyed?
- Job 19:2–3How long will ye vex my soul, and break me in pieces with words?
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 8:2 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.