If he passes by, or confines, or convenes a court, then who can oppose him?
Parallel Translations
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If he passes by, or confines, or convenes a court, then who can oppose him?
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If he cut off, and shut up, or gather together, then who can hinder him?
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If He pass by, and shut up, or gather in, then who can hinder Him?
Cross-references (11)
Passages linked to Job 11:10 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Job 9:12-13 Behold, he snatches away. Who can hinder him? Who will ask him, ‘What are you doing?’ “God will not withdraw his anger. The helpers of Rahab stoop under him.
- Job 12:14 Behold, he breaks down, and it can’t be built again. He imprisons a man, and there can be no release.
- Revelation 3:7 “To the angel of the assembly in Philadelphia write: “He who is holy, he who is true, he who has the key of David, he who opens and no one can shut, and who shuts and no one opens, says these things:
- Deuteronomy 32:30 How could one chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight, unless their Rock had sold them, and Yahweh had delivered them up?
- Job 5:18 For he wounds and binds up. He injures and his hands make whole.
- Job 9:4 God who is wise in heart, and mighty in strength: who has hardened himself against him and prospered?
- Job 34:29 When he gives quietness, who then can condemn? When he hides his face, who then can see him? He is over a nation or a man alike,
- Job 38:8 “Or who shut up the sea with doors, when it broke out of the womb,
- Psalms 31:8 You have not shut me up into the hand of the enemy. You have set my feet in a large place.
- Isaiah 41:27 I am the first to say to Zion, ‘Behold, look at them;’ and I will give one who brings good news to Jerusalem.
- Daniel 4:35 All the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing; and he does according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth; and no one can stop his hand, or ask him, “What are you doing?”
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (14 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain If God should turn the state of things, and…
If God should turn the state of things, and establish a new order in nature, who could control him?
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Job 11:10 If he cut off, and shut up,…
Job 11:10 If he cut off, and shut up, or gather together, then who can hinder him?
Ver. 10. If he cut off, and shut up] Heb. If he change, viz. his course or way of proceedings toward men, either to shut them up close prisoners, or otherwise to put them to such straits that (Job-like) they know not what to do, or which way to turn themselves.
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Or gather together] viz. His witnesses, say some, against an offender; his armies and military forces, saith the Chaldee paraphrast, to ruin his enemies; his outcasts, say some interpreters, according to that, Psa 147:2, "The Lord doth build up Jerusalem: he gathereth together the outcasts of Israel." If he do any or all of these to show his sovereignty, as well he may,
Then who can hinder him?] Heb. Turn him away, or put a stop to him? If God should do and undo, confound all things, turn the world upside down, who shall contradict him or question him? May he not do with his own as he pleaseth? And might not Zophar have spared thus to have spoken to Job, since Job had said the same to him in effect before? Atqui non erat necesse haec a Zophar dici, quum de his iam et eadem dixisset Iob (Merc.). But Zophar’s design was to prove hereby that he who is by God brought into straits is a wicked liver. He therefore in the two following verses glanceth at him as vain, wicked, brutish, and not unlike to a wild ass’s colt, such as God would surely tame and tutor to better things by afflictions, and so bring him to hand.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain If he cut off, to wit, a person or…
If he cut off, to wit, a person or a family. Shut up in a prison, or in the hands of an enemy. This shutting up is opposed to the opening of the prison doors, and to that enlargement which God is elsewhere said to give to men.
Gather together; either,
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1. In a way of judgment, as a like word is used, Psa 26:9, Gather not my soul with sinners. Or rather,
2. In a way of mercy, as this word is generally used in Scripture; this being every where promised by God to his people as an eminent mercy, that he would gather them together. So this is opposed to the former actions, and the sense of the place is, whether it pleaseth God to scatter a family, or to gather them together from their dispersions.
Who can hinder him from doing what he pleaseth and designeth with his own creatures? who can restrain him, either by giving law to him, or by force and power? or, who can contradict or answer him, or object against him, or retort or return upon him, i.e. charge him with injustice in such proceedings? which sense may seem to agree best both with the scope of the place and state of the question between him and Job; which was not whether any man could resist God’s power, but whether he could question his justice; and with the following verse.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain If he cut off,.... The horns, power, dominion, and…
If he cut off,.... The horns, power, dominion, and authority of the wicked; or the spirits of princes, or kingdoms and states, whole nations, as he did the seven nations of Canaan; or families, as Job's, his servants, and his children; or particular persons, by diseases, or by judgments, by famine, sword, and pestilence; there is none can hinder him; he will do what he pleases: or, as others render it, "if he changes" (l); if he makes revolutions in governments, changes in families, and in the estates of men, as in Job's; or changes men's countenances by death, and sends them out of time into eternity, there is no opposing him: or, "if he passes through" (m), as the word is sometimes used; see Isa 8:8; if he comes out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth, and goes through a kingdom and nation, making or suffering to be made devastations everywhere, as he went through the land of Egypt and smote all the firstborn in it, there is no stopping him: or, "if he passes on" (n), or "from" hence, or goes away; see Sa1 11:3; or departs from a people or particular person, even his own people, and hides his face from them, and is long, at least as they think, before he returns; who can behold him, or find him out, or cause him to show himself? see Job 23:3; or, "if he subverts" (o) and overturns things, or should reduce the world and all things in it to a chaos, as at the deluge, or as he overturned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, or should set on fire the whole course of nature, and burn up the whole world and all in it, and reduce it to ashes, as he will; there is none can stay his hand, and obstruct him in his designs and measures:
and shut up; should he do so; shut up in a civil sense, either in a prison, as Gersom, or in the hands of an enemy, by giving them unto them, to be enclosed and straitened by them, there is none can deliver; Psa 31:8; or to shut them up as he did Noah in the ark, by protecting them by his power and providence, and so appear to be on their side, and for them; who then can be against them? or what does it signify if any are, if the Lord shuts them up and keeps them close? or in a spiritual sense, if he concludes men in sin, and shuts them up in unbelief, and under the law; who but himself can set them free? or, if good men are shut up in their frames, and straitened in their souls, that they cannot come forth in the lively exercise of grace, and free discharge of duty; there is no opening for them till he pleases, Psa 88:8,
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or gather together, then who can hinder him? either gathers them into one place, in a civil sense; or in a gracious manner, with great mercies and everlasting kindness to himself, to have communion with him; to his son, to participate of the blessings of his grace, and to his church and people, to enjoy all spiritual privileges with them; or, gathers men at and by death; see Job 34:14; and as he will gather them at the last day, even all nations, before him, the tares, and burn them and his wheat, and put them into his garner; and when he does any and every of these things, who can hinder him or turn him back from doing what he pleases: Job says much the same in Job 9:12; the Targum is,
"if he passes through and shuts up the heavens with clouds, and gathers armies, who can turn him back?"
(l) "si permutet proprie", Mercerus, Heb. "si mutabit locum", Piscator. (m) "Si transmeabit", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator; "si pervadat", Cocceius; "si transiverit", Michaelis. (n) "Si abierit", Schmidt. (o) "Si subverterit omnia", V. L.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Cut off - A person or family. Shut -…
Cut off - A person or family. Shut - Its a prison, or in the hands of an enemy. Gather - Whether it pleaseth God to scatter a family, or to gather them together from their dispersions. Hinder - Or, who can contradict him, charge him with injustice in such proceedings?
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 10. If he cut off] As he is…
Verse 10. If he cut off] As he is unlimited and almighty, he cannot be controlled. He will do whatsoever he pleases; and he is pleased with nothing but what is right. Who then will dare to find fault? Perhaps Zophar may refer to Job's former state, his losses and afflictions. If he cut off, as he has done, thy children; if he shut up, as he has done, thyself by this sore disease; or gather together hostile bands to invade thy territories and carry away thy property; who can hinder him? He is sovereign, and has a right to dispose of his own property as he pleases.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Job 11:10. If he cut off — Namely, a…
Job 11:10. If he cut off — Namely, a person or family; and shut up — In prison, or in the hands of an enemy, or in the net of affliction and trouble, Psa 66:11. Or gather together — Make our condition strait and narrow, as some interpret it; or, gather together as tares to the fire, or gather to himself man’s breath and spirit, Job 34:14. Then who can hinder him? — From doing what he pleaseth with his creatures? Who can either arrest the sentence, or oppose the execution? Who can control his power or arraign his wisdom and justice? If he, who made all out of nothing, think fit to reduce all to nothing; if he that separated between light and darkness, dry land and sea, at first, please to gather them together again; if he that made, think proper to unmake, מי ישׁיבנו, mi jeshibennu, who can turn him; alter his mind, or stay his hand, impede or impeach his proceedings?
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain If he cut off - Margin, “Make a change.”…
If he cut off - Margin, “Make a change.” But neither of these phrases properly expresses the sense of the original. The whole image here is probably that of arresting a criminal and bringing him to trial, and the language is taken from the mode of conducting a prosecution. The word rendered “cut off” - יחלף yachâlop, from חלף châlaph - means properly to pass along; to pass on; then to pass against anyone, to rush on, to assail; and in a remote sense in the Piel and the Hiphil, to cause to pass on or away, that is, to change. This is the sense expressed in the margin. The idea is not that of cutting off, but is that of making a rush upon a man, for the purpose of arresting him and bringing him to trial. There are frequent references to such trials in the book of Job. The Chaldee renders this, “if he pass on and shut up the heavens with clouds” - but the paraphrasist evidently did not understand the passage.
And shut up - That is, imprison or detain with a view to trial. Some such detention is always practiced of necessity before trial.
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Or gather together - Gather together the parties for trial; or rather call the individual into court for trial. The word קהל qâhal means properly to call together, to convoke, as a people; and is used to denote the custom of assembling the people for a trial - or, as we would say, to “call the court,” which is now the office of a crier.
Then who can hinder him? - Margin, “Who can turn him away?” He has all power, and no one can resist him. No one can deliver the criminal from his hands. Zophar here is in fact repeating in another form what Job had himself said (Job 9:3 ff), and the sentiment seems to be proverbial. The idea here is, that if God should call a man into judgment, and hold him guilty, he could neither answer nor resist him. God is so great; he so intimately knows the human heart; he has so thorough an acquaintance with all our past sins, that we cannot hope to answer him or escape. Zophar argues on this principle: “God holds you to be guilty. He is punishing you accordingly. You do not feel it so, or suppose that you deserve all this. But he sees your heart, and knows all your life. If he holds you to be guilty, it is so. You cannot answer him, and you should so regard it, and submit.”
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain cut off--Rather, as in Job 9:11, "pass over," as…
cut off--Rather, as in Job 9:11, "pass over," as a storm; namely, rush upon in anger.
shut up--in prison, with a view to trial.
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gather together--the parties for judgment: hold a judicial assembly; to pass sentence on the prisoners.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain b. If consequently such divine wisdom suddenly arrest and…
b. If consequently such divine wisdom suddenly arrest and irresistibly drag a sinner to judgment, even a witless man must become wise, and though refractory as the foal of an ass, learn subjection and restraint, Job_11:10-12.
Job had dwelt on the irresistible power of God; Zophar now assails him with both the wisdom and might of God, and whips him with his own words.
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10. If he cut off, etc. — If he pass by, and arrest and call to judgment, who will restrain Him? (Dillmann, Umbreit, Delitzsch.)
Cut off — Pass by. The word hhalaph, to glide by, used also of the spirit in the vision of Eliphaz, Job_4:15, expresses the solemn stillness of the Divine Spirit as he moves among men, arresting this one and that one, and calling them to their final account. Not only in this word hhalaph, but in the whole verse, there is an evident, perhaps ironical, reproducing of Job, (Job_9:11-12,) who is there the assailant of God’s justice, but now its presumable victim.
Gather together — קהל, is used for the calling together of the people to take part in a trial, and in the inflicting of judgment. The ancient trials were in public.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 10. This omniscience in its operation among sinful men.
10. This omniscience in its operation among sinful men.
If he cut off] if he pass by. Zophar uses Job’s own word and illustration, ch. Job_9:11 (passeth on).
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and shut up] i. e. arrest, and put in ward.
or gather together] i. e. call an assembly for judgment, which took place in full concourse of the people; cf. the graphic picture Pro_5:3 seq., esp. Job_11:14.
who can hinder him] Or, turn him back, again Job’s own words, ch. Job_9:12.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (10) If he cut off.—It is the same word…
(10) If he cut off.—It is the same word as “a spirit passed before me” (Job_4:15); and as Job himself used (Job_9:11): “he passeth on, but I perceive him not.” “If, then,” says Zophar, “God acteth thus, or if He delivers up a man into the hands of his enemies, or if He calls together a multitude against him—alluding apparently to Job_9:11-12; Job_10:17, where the word rendered changes is a derivative of the word here rendered “cut off”—then who can turn Him back from His intent?” adopting Job’s own question at Job_9:12 : “Who can hinder Him?” Some understand the three terms forensically: “if He arrest, and imprison, and hold assize; “but it is probable that Job’s own statements are alluded to.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain If he cut off; rather, if he advance. (comp.…
If he cut off; rather, if he advance. (comp. Job_9:11) And shut up; or, imprison. Or gather together; rather, and call to judgment (see the Revised Version). If God, that is, advance against a man in hostile fashion, seize and imprison him, and then call him to judgment, what is to be said or done? who can interfere with him? Matters must take their course. There is no ground for complaint It is simply God"s mode of administering justice on the earth. Who can hinder him? literally, who can turn him sway? i.e. interfere with his action, interrupt it, divert it.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 If he ... shuts anyone up
If he ... shuts anyone up
"If God ... shuts anyone up in prison"
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if he calls anyone to judgment
The abstract noun "judgment" can be translated with the verb "judge." AT: "if God calls anyone to go to him so that God might judge him" (See: Abstract Nouns)
who can stop him?
This question emphasizes that no one can stop God. AT: "no one can stop him!" (See: Rhetorical Question)
does he not notice it?
This emphasizes that God does notice sin. AT: "he surely notices it!" (See: Rhetorical Question)
But foolish people have no understanding
The abstract noun "understanding" can be expressed with the verb "understand." AT: "But foolish people do not understand" (See: Abstract Nouns)
they will get it when a wild donkey gives birth to a man
Since a wild donkey can never give birth to a man, this means that foolish people will never get understanding. AT: "only if a wild donkey could give birth to a man could foolish people get understanding" or "it is as impossible for a foolish person to get understanding as it is for a donkey to give birth to a man" (See: Irony)
translationWords
call
judge
know
iniquity
fool
donkey
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.