the Week of Proper 25 / Ordinary 30
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King James Version
Job 26:2
Bible Study Resources
Dictionaries:
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"How you have helped the powerless! How you have saved the weak!
How hast thou helped him that is without power! how hast thou saved the arm that hath no strength!
How you have helped him that is without power! How you have saved the arm that has no strength!
"You are no help to the helpless! You have not aided the weak!
"How you have helped the powerless! How you have saved the person who has no strength!
How hast thou helped [him that is] without power? [how] savest thou the arm [that hath] no strength?
"How have you helped him who is without power! How have you saved the arm that has no strength!
"What a help you are to the weak (powerless)! How you have saved the arm that is without strength!
"How you have helped him who has no power! How you have saved the arm that has no strength!
whether `of the feble, and susteyneste the arm of hym, which is not strong?
"How you have helped the powerless and saved the arm that is feeble!
You have really been helpful to someone weak and weary.
How hast thou helped him that is without power! How hast thou saved the arm that hath no strength!
How have you given help to him who has no power! how have you been the salvation of the arm which has no strength!
"What great help you bring to the powerless! what deliverance to the arm without strength!
How hast thou helped the powerless; how saved the arm that is without strength!
"Bildad, what a great help you are to this tired, weary man! You have really supported me!
How hast thou helped him that is without power! How hast thou saved the arm that hath no strength!
Howe hast thou helped him that is without power? how sauest thou the arme that hath no strength?
"What a help you are to the weak! How you have saved the arm that has no strength!
"How you have helped one who has no power! How you have assisted the arm that has no strength!
Whom helpest thou? him that hath no power? sauest thou the arme yt hath no strength?
Why do you try to help him who is powerless? Why do you try to save the arm that has no strength?
How hast thou given help to one of no-strength? given victory to an arm of no-power?
Whose helper art thou? is it of him that is weak? and dost thou hold up the arm of him that has no strength?
"How you have helped him who has no power! How you have saved the arm that has no strength!
Who hast thou helped? Him that is without strength? sauest thou the arme that hath no strength?
To whom dost thou attach thyself, or whom art thou going to assist? is it not he that has much strength, and he who has a strong arm?
How you have helped the powerlessand delivered the arm that is weak!
"How have you helped him who is without power! How have you saved the arm that has no strength!
"How you have helped one who has no power! How you have assisted the arm that has no strength!
How have you helped the powerless, or saved the arm with no strength?
What -- thou hast helped the powerless, Saved an arm not strong!
O how helpest thou the weake? what comforte geuest thou vnto him that hath no stregth?
"What a help you are to the weak! You have saved the arm without strength!
"How have you helped him who is without power? How have you saved the arm that has no strength?
"What a help you are to the weak! How you have saved the arm without strength!
"What a help you are to the one without power!How you have saved the arm without strength!
Contextual Overview
Bible Verse Review
from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge
How hast thou: Bildad had produced no argument to refute Job's doctrine; and therefore Job ironically admires the assistance which Bildad had given to his friends in their extremity, and the instruction he had afforded him in his perplexity. Job 12:2, 1 Kings 18:27
helped: Job 4:3, Job 4:4, Job 6:25, Job 16:4, Job 16:5, Isaiah 35:3, Isaiah 35:4, Isaiah 40:14, Isaiah 41:5-7
Reciprocal: 1 Samuel 28:20 - sore afraid Job 12:3 - I am not inferior to you Job 16:2 - heard Job 27:12 - altogether Job 32:3 - because
Cross-References
Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee:
And the Lord appeared unto Abram, and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land: and there builded he an altar unto the Lord , who appeared unto him.
And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the Lord appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect.
And the Lord appeared unto him in the plains of Mamre: and he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day;
And Abimelech said, What is this thou hast done unto us? one of the people might lightly have lien with thy wife, and thou shouldest have brought guiltiness upon us.
And the herdmen of Gerar did strive with Isaac's herdmen, saying, The water is ours: and he called the name of the well Esek; because they strove with him.
Trust in the Lord , and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed.
Gill's Notes on the Bible
How hast thou helped [him that is] without power?.... This verse and Job 26:3 either are to be understood of God, as many do, by reading the words, "who hast thou helped? God" r? a fine advocate for him thou art, representing him as if he was without power, and could not help himself, but stood in need of another; as if he had no arm, and could not save and protect himself, but needed one to rise and stand up in his behalf, when he is God omnipotent, and has an arm strong and mighty, and there is none like his; and as if he wanted wisdom, and one to counsel him, when he is the all wise God, and never consults with any of his creatures, or admits them to be of his council; and as if his "essence" s, or "what he is", as he is, had been very copiously and plentifully declared in a few words by him; in supposing which he must be guilty of the greatest arrogance, stupidity, and folly; and therefore he asks him, who it was he uttered such things unto? and by whose spirit he must be aided in so doing? see
Job 13:7; or else Job refers to the cause undertaken by Bildad; and which he, in a sarcastic way, represents as a very weak and feeble one, that had neither strength nor wisdom in it, and was as weakly and as foolishly supported, or rather was entirely neglected and deserted, Bildad having wholly declined the thing in controversy, and said not one word of it; therefore Job ironically asks him, "in what", or "wherein hast thou helped?" t what good hast thou done to this poor tottering cause of yours? or what light hast thou thrown upon it? and to what purpose is anything that has been said by thee? Some are of opinion that Job refers to Bildad's friends, whom he represents as weak and stupid, as men of no argument, and had no strength of reasoning, and were as poorly assisted and defended by Bildad: but, why not to Bildad himself? for the sense of the question, agreeably enough to the original text, may be put after this manner; a fine patron and defender of a cause thou art; thou canst help and save a dying cause without power, and with a strengthless arm, or without any force of argument, or strength of reasoning; thou canst give counsel without any wisdom, without any show or share of it, and in half a dozen lines set the thing in a true light, just as it is and should be; a wonderful man indeed thou art! though I choose to join with such interpreters, who understand the whole of Job himself, who was without might and power, a weak and feeble creature in booty and mind, being pressed and broken with the weight of his affliction, but was poorly helped, succoured, strengthened, and comforted, with what Bildad had said: it is the duty of all good men, and it is what Job himself had done in former times, to strengthen weak hands and feeble knees, by sympathizing with persons under affliction, by bearing their burdens and infirmities, by speaking comfortably unto them, and telling them what comforts they themselves have received under afflictions, see Job 4:3; but miserable comforters of Job were Bildad and his friends:
[how] savest thou the arm [that hath] no strength? the sense is the same as before, that he had done nothing to relieve Job in his bodily or soul distresses, and save him out of them; nor had contributed in the least towards his support under them; and be it that he was as weak in his intellectuals as he and his friends thought him to be, and had undertaken a cause which he had not strength of argument to defend; yet, what had he done to convince him of his mistake, and save him from the error of his way?
r מה עזרת "cui auxiliatis es", Pagninus, Montanus; so Tigurine version. s תושיה "essentiam", Montanus. t "Qua nam re adjuvisti?" Vatablus; "quid auxiliatus es?" Drusius.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible
How hast thou helped him that is without power? - It has been doubted whether this refers to Job himself, the two friends of Bildad, or to the Deity. Rosenmuller. The connection, however, seems to demand that it should be referred to Job himself. It is sarcastical. Bildad had come as a friend and comforter. He had, also, in common with Eliphaz and Zophar, taken upon himself the office of teacher and counsellor. He had regarded Job as manifesting great weakness in his views of God and of his government; as destitute of all strength to bear up aright under trials, and now all that he had done to aid one so weak was found in the impertinent and irrelevant generalities of his brief speech. Job is indignant that one with such pretensions should have said nothing more to the purpose. Herder, however, renders this as if it related wholly to God, and it cannot be denied that the Hebrew would bear this:
“Whom helpest thou? Him who hath no strength?
Whom dost thou vindicate? Him whose arm hath no power?
To whom give counsel? One without wisdom?
Truly much wisdom hast thou taught him.”
How savest thou the arm that hath no strength? - That is, your remarks are not adapted to invigorate the feeble. He had come professedly to comfort and support his afflicted friend in his trials. Yet Job asks what there was in his observations that was fitted to produce this effect? Instead of declaiming on the majesty and greatness of God, he should have said something that was adapted to relieve an afflicted and a troubled soul.
Clarke's Notes on the Bible
Verse Job 26:2. How hast thou helped him] This seems a species of irony. How wonderfully hast thou counselled the unskilful and strengthened the weak! Alas for you! ye could not give what ye did not possess! In this way the Chaldee understood these verses: "Why hast thou pretended to give succour, when thou art without strength? And save, while thy arm is weak? Why hast thou given counsel, when thou art without understanding? And supposest that thou hast shown the very essence of wisdom?"
