Worthy.Bible » YLT » Job » Chapter 26 » Verse 2

Job 26:2 Young's Literal Translation (YLT)

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

Cross Reference

1 Kings 18:27 YLT

And it cometh to pass, at noon, that Elijah playeth on them, and saith, `Call with a loud voice, for he `is' a god, for he is meditating, or pursuing, or on a journey; it may be he is asleep, an doth awake.'

Job 4:3-4 YLT

Lo, thou hast instructed many, And feeble hands thou makest strong. The stumbling one do thy words raise up, And bowing knees thou dost strengthen.

Job 6:12 YLT

Is my strength the strength of stones? Is my flesh brazen?

Job 6:25 YLT

How powerful have been upright sayings, And what doth reproof from you reprove?

Job 12:2 YLT

Truly -- ye `are' the people, And with you doth wisdom die.

Job 16:4-5 YLT

I also, like you, might speak, If your soul were in my soul's stead. I might join against you with words, And nod at you with my head. I might harden you with my mouth, And the moving of my lips might be sparing.

Psalms 71:9 YLT

Cast me not off at the time of old age, According to the consumption of my power forsake me not.

Isaiah 35:3-4 YLT

Strengthen ye the feeble hands, Yea, the stumbling knees strengthen. Say to the hastened of heart, `Be strong, Fear not, lo, your God; vengeance cometh, The recompence of God, He Himself doth come and save you.'

Isaiah 40:14 YLT

With whom consulted He, That he causeth Him to understand? And teacheth Him in the path of judgment, And teacheth Him knowledge? And the way of understanding causeth Him to know?

Isaiah 41:5-7 YLT

Seen have isles and fear, ends of the earth tremble, They have drawn near, yea, they come. Each his neighbour they help, And to his brother he saith, `Be strong.' And strengthen doth an artizan the refiner, A smoother `with' a hammer, Him who is beating `on' an anvil, Saying, `For joining it `is' good,' And he strengtheneth it with nails, it is not moved!

Commentary on Job 26 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible


CHAPTER 26

THIRD SERIES.

Job 26:1-14. Job's Reply.

2, 3. without power … no strength … no wisdom—The negatives are used instead of the positives, powerlessness, &c., designedly (so Isa 31:8; De 32:21). Granting I am, as you say (Job 18:17; 15:2), powerlessness itself, &c. "How hast thou helped such a one?"

savest—supportest.

3. plentifully … the thing as it is—rather, "abundantly—wisdom." Bildad had made great pretensions to abundant wisdom. How has he shown it?

4. For whose instruction were thy words meant? If for me I know the subject (God's omnipotence) better than my instructor; Job 26:5-14 is a sample of Job's knowledge of it.

whose spirit—not that of God (Job 32:8); nay, rather, the borrowed sentiment of Eliphaz (Job 4:17-19; 15:14-16).

5-14. As before in the ninth and twelfth chapters, Job had shown himself not inferior to the friends' inability to describe God's greatness, so now he describes it as manifested in hell (the world of the dead), Job 26:5, 6; on earth, Job 26:7; in the sky, Job 26:8-11; the sea, Job 26:12; the heavens, Job 26:13.

Dead things are formed—Rather, "The souls of the dead (Rephaim) tremble." Not only does God's power exist, as Bildad says (Job 25:2), "in high places" (heaven), but reaches to the region of the dead. Rephaim here, and in Pr 21:16 and Isa 14:9, is from a Hebrew root, meaning "to be weak," hence "deceased"; in Ge 14:5 it is applied to the Canaanite giants; perhaps in derision, to express their weakness, in spite of their gigantic size, as compared with Jehovah [Umbreit]; or, as the imagination of the living magnifies apparitions, the term originally was applied to ghosts, and then to giants in general [Magee].

from under—Umbreit joins this with the previous word "tremble from beneath" (so Isa 14:9). But the Masoretic text joins it to "under the waters." Thus the place of the dead will be represented as "under the waters" (Ps 18:4, 5); and the waters as under the earth (Ps 24:2). Magee well translates thus: "The souls of the dead tremble; (the places) under the waters, and their inhabitants." Thus the Masoretic connection is retained; and at the same time the parallel clauses are evenly balanced. "The inhabitants of the places under the waters" are those in Gehenna, the lower of the two parts into which Sheol, according to the Jews, is divided; they answer to "destruction," that is, the place of the wicked in Job 26:6, as "Rephaim" (Job 26:5) to "Hell" (Sheol) (Job 26:6). "Sheol" comes from a Hebrew root—"ask," because it is insatiable (Pr 27:20); or "ask as a loan to be returned," implying Sheol is but a temporary abode, previous to the resurrection; so for English Version "formed," the Septuagint and Chaldee translate; shall be born, or born again, implying the dead are to be given back from Sheol and born again into a new state [Magee].

6. (Job 38:17; Ps 139:8; Pr 5:11).

destruction—the abode of destruction, that is, of lost souls. Hebrew, Abaddon (Re 9:11).

no covering—from God's eyes.

7. Hint of the true theory of the earth. Its suspension in empty space is stated in the second clause. The north in particular is specified in the first, being believed to be the highest part of the earth (Isa 14:13). The northern hemisphere or vault of heaven is included; often compared to a stretched-out canopy (Ps 104:2). The chambers of the south are mentioned (Job 9:9), that is, the southern hemisphere, consistently with the earth's globular form.

8. in … clouds—as if in airy vessels, which, though light, do not burst with the weight of water in them (Pr 30:4).

9. Rather, He encompasseth or closeth. God makes the clouds a veil to screen the glory not only of His person, but even of the exterior of His throne from profane eyes. His agency is everywhere, yet He Himself is invisible (Ps 18:11; 104:3).

10. Rather, "He hath drawn a circular bound round the waters" (Pr 8:27; Ps 104:9). The horizon seems a circle. Indication is given of the globular form of the earth.

until the day, &c.—to the confines of light and darkness. When the light falls on our horizon, the other hemisphere is dark. Umbreit and Maurer translate "He has most perfectly (literally, to perfection) drawn the bound (taken from the first clause) between light and darkness" (compare Ge 1:4, 6, 9): where the bounding of the light from darkness is similarly brought into proximity with the bounding of the waters.

11. pillars—poetically for the mountains which seem to bear up the sky (Ps 104:32).

astonished—namely, from terror. Personification.

his reproof—(Ps 104:7). The thunder, reverberating from cliff to cliff (Hab 3:10; Na 1:5).

12. divideth—(Ps 74:13). Perhaps at creation (Ge 1:9, 10). The parallel clause favors Umbreit, "He stilleth." But the Hebrew means "He moves." Probably such a "moving" is meant as that at the assuaging of the flood by the wind which "God made to pass over" it (Ge 8:1; Ps 104:7).

the proud—rather, "its pride," namely, of the sea (Job 9:13).

13. Umbreit less simply, "By His breath He maketh the heavens to revive": namely, His wind dissipates the clouds, which obscured the shining stars. And so the next clause in contrast, "His hand doth strangle," that is, obscures the north constellation, the dragon. Pagan astronomy typified the flood trying to destroy the ark by the dragon constellation, about to devour the moon in its eclipsed crescent-shape like a boat (Job 3:8, Margin). But better as English Version (Ps 33:6).

crooked—implying the oblique course, of the stars, or the ecliptic. "Fleeing" or "swift" [Umbreit] (Isa 27:1). This particular constellation is made to represent the splendor of all the stars.

14. parts—Rather, "only the extreme boundaries of," &c., and how faint is the whisper that we hear of Him!

thunder—the entire fulness. In antithesis to "whisper" (1Co 13:9, 10, 12).