Job 30:2

2 Of what use was the strength of their hands to me, since their vigor had gone from them?

Job 30:2 in Other Translations

2 Yea, whereto might the strength of their hands profit me, in whom old age was perished?

2 What could I gain from the strength of their hands, men whose vigor is gone?

2 A lot of good they are to me— those worn-out wretches!

2 Why, I considered their fathers mere inexperienced pups. But they are worse than dogs - good for nothing, stray, mangy animals,

2 What use to me was the strength of their hands? Their vigor had left them.

Job 30:2 Meaning and Commentary

Job 30:2

Yea, whereto [might] the strength of their hands [profit] me,
&c.] For though they were strong, lusty, hale men, able to do business, yet their strength was to sit still and fold their hands in their bosoms, so that their strength was of no profit or avail to themselves or others; they were so slothful and lazy, that Job could not employ them in any business of his to any advantage to himself; and this may be one reason, among others, why he disdained to set them with the dogs of his flock to keep it; for the fathers seem to be intended all along to ( Job 30:8 ) ; though it matters not much to which of them the words are applied, since they were like father like son:

in whom old age was perished?
who did not arrive to old age, but were soon consumed by their lusts, or cut off for their sins; and so the strength and labour of their hands, had they been employed, would have been of little worth; because the time of their continuance in service would have been short, especially being idle and slothful: some understand it of a lively and vigorous old age, such as was in Moses; but this being not in them, they were unfit for business, see ( Job 5:26 ) ; or they had not the endowments of old age, the experience, wisdom, and prudence of ancient persons, to contrive, conduct, and manage affairs, or direct in the management of them, which would make up for lack of strength and labour. Ben Gersom, Bar Tzemach, and others, interpret the word of time, or the time of life, that was perished or lost in them; their whole course of life, being spent in sloth and idleness, was all lost time.

Job 30:2 In-Context

1 “But now they mock me, men younger than I, whose fathers I would have disdained to put with my sheep dogs.

2 Of what use was the strength of their hands to me, since their vigor had gone from them?

3 Haggard from want and hunger, they roamed the parched land in desolate wastelands at night.

4 In the brush they gathered salt herbs, and their food was the root of the broom bush.

5 They were banished from human society, shouted at as if they were thieves.