Translations
F.O.G.MPrimary
F.O.G Message—Job throws open his mouth with nothing but empty breath; without any real knowledge, he just multiplies words upon words.
F.O.GSecondary
The F.O.G—Iyov opens his mouth with empty breath; without knowledge he heaps up words.
KJV
King James VersionTherefore doth Job open his mouth in vain; he multiplieth words without knowledge.
BSB
Berean Standard BibleSo Job opens his mouth in vain and multiplies words without knowledge.”
Footnotes
The word *הֶבֶל* (hevel, 'breath/vapour/emptiness') is the signature word of Ecclesiastes ('Vanity of vanities—all is *hevel*'). Here Elihu weaponises it against Job: his speeches are mere vapour, without moral substance or knowledge. *יַכְבִּר* (yakhbir, 'he heaps up/multiplies greatly') carries the sense of piling up in excess—an avalanche of words that amounts to nothing. The deep irony is that Job has been urgently seeking a word from God, while Elihu accuses him of filling the silence with his own empty breath. Both FOG and FOG Message render *hevel* as 'empty breath' to capture its physical concreteness; FOG Message adds rhetorical force ('just multiplies words upon words') to mirror the contemptuous tone with which Elihu closes his third speech.