Job 16:3 - Exposition

Shall vain words have an end? literally, as in the margin, words of wind ; i.e. words which pass by a man "as the idle wind which he regards not." Will his friends never bring their futile speaking to a close? Or what emboldeneth thee that thou anwerest? rather, what provoketh thee? (Revised Version) Job had begged that his friends would be silent ( Job 13:5 , Job 13:13 ). He supposes that they would have complied with his wish if he had not provoked them, but professes an inability to see what provocation he had given. His last speech, however, had certainly not been conciliatory (see Job 12:1-3 ; Job 13:4 , Job 13:7 , etc.).