The Meaning of Job 18:2 Explained

Job 18:2

KJV: How long will it be ere ye make an end of words? mark, and afterwards we will speak.

YLT: When do ye set an end to words? Consider ye, and afterwards do we speak.

Darby: How long will ye hunt for words? Be intelligent, and then we will speak.

ASV: How long will ye hunt for words? Consider, and afterwards we will speak.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

How long  [will it be ere] ye make  an end  of words?  mark,  and afterwards  we will speak. 

What does Job 18:2 Mean?

Context Summary

Job 18:1-21 - "cast Into A Net"
Bildad's second speech reveals how utterly he failed to understand Job's appeal for a divine witness and surety. Such words were snares to him, Job 18:2, r.v. The deep things that pass in a heart which is enduring sorrow are incomprehensible to shallow and narrow souls.
His description of the calamities which befall the wicked is terrible: their extinguished light, Job 18:5-6; their awful distress, Job 18:7-11; their destruction, Job 18:12-17; the horror with which men shall regard their fate, Job 18:18-21. All this was, of course, intended for Job. It was very severe. Even if the worst had been true, his extreme sufferings should have elicited more tenderness from his friends. Only the strong, wise hand of love can assuage the wounds that sin has made. We are indebted to Bildad for the phrase, king of terrors, as applied to death, Job 18:14. Apart from Christ, it is a significant and appropriate term. Sin has made his monarchy terrible. Yet even he has met his conqueror, John 11:25-26; Hebrews 2:14; 1 Corinthians 15:26.
The ancients had a deep presentiment of the punishments which must overtake sin. Probably we make too little of them. The note of fear has almost died out of modern preaching. In this there is a marked divergence from Baxter's Call to the Unconverted and from Jonathan Edwards' Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. But the doom of sin can only be terrible, especially for those to whom Calvary has pleaded in vain. A great atonement implies great sin, and this, a great penalty. [source]

Chapter Summary: Job 18

1  Bildad reproves Job for presumption and impatience
5  The calamities of the wicked

What do the individual words in Job 18:2 mean?

how long [till] you put an end to words Gain understanding and afterward we will speak
עַד־ אָ֤נָה ׀ תְּשִׂימ֣וּן קִנְצֵ֣י ؟ לְמִלִּ֑ין תָּ֝בִ֗ינוּ וְאַחַ֥ר נְדַבֵּֽר

עַד־  how 
Parse: Preposition
Root: עַד  
Sense: as far as, even to, until, up to, while, as far as.
אָ֤נָה ׀  long  [till] 
Parse: Adverb
Root: אָן  
Sense: where?, whither? (of place).
תְּשִׂימ֣וּן  you  put 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Imperfect, second person masculine plural, Paragogic nun
Root: שׂוּמָה 
Sense: to put, place, set, appoint, make.
קִנְצֵ֣י  an  end 
Parse: Noun, masculine plural construct
Root: קֶנֶץ  
Sense: snare, net.
؟ לְמִלִּ֑ין  to  words 
Parse: Preposition-l, Noun, feminine plural
Root: מִלָּה  
Sense: word, speech, utterance.
תָּ֝בִ֗ינוּ  Gain  understanding 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Imperfect, second person masculine plural
Root: בִּין  
Sense: to discern, understand, consider.
וְאַחַ֥ר  and  afterward 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Adverb
Root: אַחַר 
Sense: after the following part, behind (of place), hinder, afterwards (of time).
נְדַבֵּֽר  we  will  speak 
Parse: Verb, Piel, Imperfect, first person common plural
Root: דָּבַר 
Sense: to speak, declare, converse, command, promise, warn, threaten, sing.