How long wilt thou speak these things? and how long shall the words of thy mouth be like a strong wind?
Job 8:2 is Bildad's rebuke at the opening of his first speech, calling Job to humility by asking how long he will keep speaking. The question challenges both the duration and the force of Job's words, likening the words of his mouth to a strong wind as prolonged, forceful, and insubstantial. It belongs to the debate between Job and his three friends over his afflictions that spans chapters 4 through 31 in three circles of speeches by each speaker. It is one of the friends' constant accusations, stated and implied, that trouble Job at the beginning of an exchange running through chapter 27, at the close of which the friends have ceased accusing and Job is giving his last reply.
It belongs to the speeches in which the three friends charge Job with sin and declare his sufferings are because of that sin, while God is disciplining Job and bringing him through the fire of affliction. The friends' arguments about suffering were often true in general but wrongly applied to Job, reflecting their own wisdom and observation rather than reliable knowledge of why he was afflicted. So their statements about Job and God must not be treated as reliable without comparison with inspired Scripture. The verse belongs to the great problems displayed in Job of overruling providence and of sin and suffering, and shows how humanity is prone to misjudge its fellows in the same way.
As windy talk it describes empty, boastful promises with no substance. It applies to sellers who build air-castles and entice Sabbath-keepers to give up a homestead, half or two-thirds of a good farm, or other valuable property for worthless patent rights and territory. Being drawn away by such talk brings painful disappointment and a pitiable mistake mourned when too late.
Job 8:2 is Bildad's rebuke at the opening of his first speech, calling Job to humility by asking how long he will keep speaking. The question challenges both the duration and the force of Job's words, likening the words of his mouth to a strong wind as prolonged, forceful, and insubstantial. It belongs to the debate between Job and his three friends over his afflictions that spans chapters 4 through 31 in three circles of speeches by each speaker. It is one of the friends' constant accusations, stated and implied, that trouble Job at the beginning of an exchange running through chapter 27, at the close of which the friends have ceased accusing and Job is giving his last reply.
It belongs to the speeches in which the three friends charge Job with sin and declare his sufferings are because of that sin, while God is disciplining Job and bringing him through the fire of affliction. The friends' arguments about suffering were often true in general but wrongly applied to Job, reflecting their own wisdom and observation rather than reliable knowledge of why he was afflicted. So their statements about Job and God must not be treated as reliable without comparison with inspired Scripture. The verse belongs to the great problems displayed in Job of overruling providence and of sin and suffering, and shows how humanity is prone to misjudge its fellows in the same way.
As windy talk it describes empty, boastful promises with no substance. It applies to sellers who build air-castles and entice Sabbath-keepers to give up a homestead, half or two-thirds of a good farm, or other valuable property for worthless patent rights and territory. Being drawn away by such talk brings painful disappointment and a pitiable mistake mourned when too late.