Albert Barnes Commentary Job 18:2

"How long will ye hunt for words? Consider, and afterwards we will speak." — Job 18:2 (ASV)

How long will it be ere ye make an end of words? - It has been questioned to whom this is addressed. It is in the plural, and it is not typical in Hebrew to use the plural form when addressing an individual. Some have supposed that it is addressed to Job and Eliphaz, as being both “long-winded” and tedious in their remarks. Others have supposed that it refers to Job and the members of his family, who possibly interposed remarks and joined Job in his complaints. Still others suppose that it refers to Eliphaz and Zophar for being silent during Job’s speech and not stopping his remarks as they should have.

Rosenmuller supposes that it refers to Job and those similar to him, who were mere pretenders to piety, and that Bildad means to ask how long it would be before they would be effectively silenced and their complaints hushed. I see no great difficulty in supposing that the reference is to Job. The entire tone of the discourse evidently implies it; and there is no evidence that any member of Job’s family had spoken, nor does it seem at all probable that Bildad would rebuke his own friends either for the length of their speeches or for not interrupting another. The custom in the East is to allow a person to say all that they have to say without interruption.

Mark - In Hebrew: understand, or be intelligent - תבינו tābı̂ynû; that is, either speak distinctly, clearly, intelligently; or consider and weigh our arguments. The former is the interpretation of Schultens and seems to me to be the true one. The idea is this: “You, Job, have been altering mere words. They are words of complaint, without argument. Speak now in a different manner; show that you understand the case; advance arguments that are worthy of attention, and then we will reply.”