Shall windy words have an end?: here Job throws back at them the words of Bildad in 8.2 and those of Eliphaz in 15.2. Job is asking if his friends will never come to an end with their speeches. Good News Translation says it well: “Are you going to keep on talking forever?” This line may also be expressed, for example, “Will your windy speeches never finish?” “Will you go on making meaningless speeches forever?” or “Will you never cease talking nonsense to me?”

Or what provokes you that you answer?: Job now switches to second person singular, prompting New English Bible to put verse 3 in quotation marks, thus making Job quote his friend’s words. However, Job switches pronouns in 21.3 to address the last speaker, and it is not necessary to assume here that he is quoting them as in New English Bible. Provokes translates a word meaning “agitate” or “irritate.” Job is scolding Eliphaz for being a person who itches to talk, as if he is possessed with an illness which makes him speak. Answer here refers to replying to Job’s speech, and so Good News Translation “have to have the last word.” It may also be rendered “What bothers you so that you have to talk back to me?” or “What makes you want to make these speeches?”

Quoted with permission from Reyburn, Wiliam. A Handbook on Job. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1992. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .