The Meaning of Job 26:2 Explained

Job 26:2

KJV: How hast thou helped him that is without power? how savest thou the arm that hath no strength?

YLT: What -- thou hast helped the powerless, Saved an arm not strong!

Darby: How hast thou helped the powerless; how saved the arm that is without strength!

ASV: How hast thou helped him that is without power! How hast thou saved the arm that hath no strength!

KJV Reverse Interlinear

How hast thou helped  [him that is] without power?  [how] savest  thou the arm  [that hath] no  strength? 

What does Job 26:2 Mean?

Context Summary

Job 26:1-14 - "the Outskirts Of His Ways"
Job taunts Bildad with his reply as having imparted no help or thought. He then proceeds, Job 26:5-14, to give a description of God's power as manifested in Hades, in space, in the clouds, in the ocean, and throughout the universe. The spirits of the dead tremble before Him; the grave and destruction that veil themselves in night are stripped before His gaze; the world itself is suspended in space by invisible threads (a wonderful foreshadowing of the true theory of the earth); the waters are held in the clouds, which do not burst under their weight but act as the veil of God's throne; the sea owns His authority, hushing under His word or rising in its might; His breath brings the dawn; His hand strangles the dragon, as representing a well-known constellation, Draco. But these are only the outskirts of His ways. Great as is their acclaim as they circle His throne in thunder and splendor, they are but as a whisper compared with His divine power and Godhead. All that the scientist has known of God is, when compared with His essential nature, what the quiver of a leaf in the breeze is to the crash of the thunder-peal. This, O child of God, is thy Father, and His power is for thy defense. [source]

Chapter Summary: Job 26

1  Job, reproving the uncharitable spirit of Bildad
5  acknowledges the power of God to be infinite and unsearchable

What do the individual words in Job 26:2 mean?

how have you helped [him who is] without power [How] have you saved the arm [that has] no strength
מֶה־ עָזַ֥רְתָּ לְלֹא־ ؟ כֹ֑חַ ה֝וֹשַׁ֗עְתָּ זְר֣וֹעַ לֹא־ ؟ עֹֽז

מֶה־  how 
Parse: Interrogative
Root: לָמָּה 
Sense: what, how, of what kind.
עָזַ֥רְתָּ  have  you  helped  [him  who  is] 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Perfect, second person masculine singular
Root: עָזַר  
Sense: to help, succour, support.
לְלֹא־  without 
Parse: Preposition-l, Adverb, Negative particle
Root: הֲלֹא 
Sense: not, no.
؟ כֹ֑חַ  power 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular
Root: כֹּחַ 
Sense: strength, power, might.
ה֝וֹשַׁ֗עְתָּ  [How]  have  you  saved 
Parse: Verb, Hifil, Perfect, second person masculine singular
Root: יָשַׁע 
Sense: to save, be saved, be delivered.
זְר֣וֹעַ  the  arm  [that  has] 
Parse: Noun, feminine singular
Root: זְרֹועַ  
Sense: arm, forearm, shoulder, strength.
לֹא־  no 
Parse: Adverb, Negative particle
Root: הֲלֹא 
Sense: not, no.
؟ עֹֽז  strength 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular
Root: עֹז  
Sense: might, strength.