And shall I wait, because they do not speak…?: the rhetorical question in this verse expects the answer “No,” which is given in verse 17. Elihu is emphasizing how patient he has been. If it is necessary in the receptor language to reduce the two lines, we may say, for example, “Because they stand there in silence, should I wait to speak to you?” or “… wait before I speak to you?” Another approach is to translate as a negative statement: “Just because they have nothing more to say to you, and stand there silently, I am not going to wait to speak to you.”

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 .