The Meaning of Job 16:3 Explained

Job 16:3

KJV: Shall vain words have an end? or what emboldeneth thee that thou answerest?

YLT: Is there an end to words of wind? Or what doth embolden thee that thou answerest?

Darby: Shall words of wind have an end? or what provoketh thee that thou answerest?

ASV: Shall vain words have an end? Or what provoketh thee that thou answerest?

KJV Reverse Interlinear

Shall vain  words  have an end?  or what emboldeneth  thee that thou answerest? 

What does Job 16:3 Mean?

Context Summary

Job 16:1-22 - Turning From "miserable Comforters" Unto God
With bitterness the sufferer turns from his comforters to God. As the r.v. makes clear, he says that if he were in their place and they in his, instead of joining words together and evincing the pride of the immaculate, he would set himself to speak strengthening words and to assuage their grief by tender sympathy.
He compares his pains to the attack of a wild beast, Job 16:7-14; and from this he proceeds to describe the anguish of his grief, Job 16:15-20. But toward the end of the chapter a new thought begins to shape itself; and from his lowest despair he catches sight of a Vindicator and a vindication that must someday be his. Job 16:21 should be read as in the r.v., margin. Job wanted a son of man to plead for him; and his prayer has been more than answered in the Son of man, who pleads for us "not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an indissoluble life," Hebrews 7:16. "O Lord, thou hast pleaded the causes of my soul," Lamentations 3:58. [source]

Chapter Summary: Job 16

1  Job reproves his friends for unmercifulness
17  He maintains his innocence

What do the individual words in Job 16:3 mean?

Shall have an end words of wind Or what provokes you that you answer
؟ הֲקֵ֥ץ לְדִבְרֵי־ ר֑וּחַ א֥וֹ מַה־ יַּ֝מְרִֽיצְךָ֗ כִּ֣י ؟ תַעֲנֶֽה

؟ הֲקֵ֥ץ  Shall  have  an  end 
Parse: Article, Noun, masculine singular
Root: קֵץ  
Sense: end.
לְדִבְרֵי־  words 
Parse: Preposition-l, Noun, masculine plural construct
Root: דָּבָר  
Sense: speech, word, speaking, thing.
ר֑וּחַ  of  wind 
Parse: Noun, common singular
Root: רוּחַ  
Sense: wind, breath, mind, spirit.
יַּ֝מְרִֽיצְךָ֗  provokes  you 
Parse: Verb, Hifil, Imperfect, third person masculine singular, second person masculine singular
Root: מָרַץ  
Sense: to be or make sick.
כִּ֣י  that 
Parse: Conjunction
Root: כִּי 
Sense: that, for, because, when, as though, as, because that, but, then, certainly, except, surely, since.
؟ תַעֲנֶֽה  you  answer 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Imperfect, second person masculine singular
Root: לְעַנּׄות 
Sense: to answer, respond, testify, speak, shout.