“I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be restrained.
Parallel Translations
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“I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be restrained.
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I know that thou canst do every thing, and that no thought can be withholden from thee.
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I know that Thou canst do every thing, and that no purpose can be withholden from Thee.
Cross-references (21)
Passages linked to Job 42:2 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Matthew 19:26 Looking at them, Jesus said, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
- Mark 10:27 Jesus, looking at them, said, “With men it is impossible, but not with God, for all things are possible with God.”
- Genesis 18:14 Is anything too hard for Yahweh? At the set time I will return to you, when the season comes round, and Sarah will have a son.”
- Hebrews 4:12-13 For the word of God is living and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and is able to discern the thoughts and intentions of the heart. There is no creature that is hidden from his sight, but all things are naked and laid open before the eyes of him to whom we must give an account.
- Jeremiah 32:17 “Ah Lord Yahweh! Behold, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm. There is nothing too hard for you.
- Isaiah 46:10 I declare the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet done. I say: My counsel will stand, and I will do all that I please.
- Ephesians 1:11 We were also assigned an inheritance in him, having been foreordained according to the purpose of him who does all things after the counsel of his will,
- Psalms 44:21 won’t God search this out? For he knows the secrets of the heart.
- Proverbs 19:21 There are many plans in a man’s heart, but Yahweh’s counsel will prevail.
- Job 23:13 But he stands alone, and who can oppose him? What his soul desires, even that he does.
- Isaiah 14:27 For Yahweh of Armies has planned, and who can stop it? His hand is stretched out, and who can turn it back?”
- Isaiah 43:13 Yes, since the day was, I am he. There is no one who can deliver out of my hand. I will work, and who can hinder it?”
- Ecclesiastes 3:14 I know that whatever God does, it shall be forever. Nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it; and God has done it, that men should fear before him.
- 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?”
- John 2:24-25 But Jesus didn’t entrust himself to them, because he knew everyone, and because he didn’t need for anyone to testify concerning man; for he himself knew what was in man.
- Psalms 139:2 You know my sitting down and my rising up. You perceive my thoughts from afar.
- Jeremiah 17:10 “I, Yahweh, search the mind. I try the heart, even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings.”
- Ezekiel 38:10 “ ‘The Lord Yahweh says: “It will happen in that day that things will come into your mind, and you will devise an evil plan.
- Mark 14:36 He said, “Abba, Father, all things are possible to you. Please remove this cup from me. However, not what I desire, but what you desire.”
- Luke 18:27 But he said, “The things which are impossible with men are possible with God.”
- John 21:17 He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you have affection for me?” Peter was grieved because he asked him the third time, “Do you have affection for me?” He said to him, “Lord, you know everything. You know that I have affection for you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (11 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain No thought so secret, but thou dost see it,…
No thought so secret, but thou dost see it, nor anything that thou thinkest, but thou canst bring it to pass.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Job 42:2 I know that thou canst do every…
Job 42:2 I know that thou canst do every [thing], and [that] no thought can be withholden from thee.
Ver. 2. I know that thou canst do everything] God’s power is either absolute or actual. By the former he can do everything, make a world, and unmake it in an instant; of stones raise up children to Abraham, &c. By the latter, whatsoever he willeth, that he doth both in heaven and in earth, and none can withstand him. This Job knew before, but now better, because by experience and unquestionable evidence given in by God’s own mouth. And although this be but a short acknowledgment of God’s power and justice, yet is it well accepted, as proceeding from a true sense of faith. Neque exigit Deus a nobis multa verba, sed multam fidem (Merlin).
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And that no thought can be withholden from thee] Te non solum omnia posse, sed et omnia nosse, That thou art not only omnipotent, but omniscient, and that not so much as a thought of any man’s heart (which also is of thy making) can be hid from thee; since which way soever he turneth him, he shall find thee both potent and present. The words may be read thus, And that no thought of thine can be cut off or hindered. Having spoken of God’s power, he speaketh of his thoughts; to teach, saith Calvin, That God’s power and his will are things inseparable, his mind and hand agree together; the one to determine, the other to effect, Parem in eo esse voluntatem et facultatem (Mercer). ‘Aδυνατει δε σοι ουδεν (Sept.).
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 Thou canst do; not only by power, (for that…
Thou canst do; not only by power, (for that he always thought,) but also by right; about which he had in some sort doubted and disputed. It is a maxim in law, that a man can only do that which he hath a right to do.
Every thing; whatsoever it pleaseth thee to do with thy creatures.
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No thought can be withholden from thee; he speaks either,
1. Of Job’s thoughts. Thou knowest me and all my sinful and unworthy thoughts of thy providential dealings with me, though I was not able to see the evil of them. Or,
2. Of God’s thoughts. Whatsoever thou thinkest or proposest to do thou canst or mayst do it; and neither I nor any of thy creatures can either restrain thee from it, or condemn thee for it, as I have boldly and wickedly presumed to do. So this last clause of the verse explains the former.
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 Who is he that hideth counsel without knowledge?.... It…
Who is he that hideth counsel without knowledge?.... It may be understood, and supplied, as it is by Cocceius, "thou didst say"; as the Lord had said, or to this purpose; see Gill on Job 38:2; to which Job here replies, I am the foolish man that has done it, I own it with sorrow, shame, and confusion: or it may be interpreted as condemning every other man that should act the like part. Schultens understands this as spoken by Job of God, and renders the words,
"who is this that seals up counsel, which cannot be known?''
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the counsels, purposes, and decrees of God are sealed up by him, among his treasures, in the cabinet of his own breast, and are not to be unsealed and unlocked by creatures, but are impenetrable to them, past finding out by them, and not to be searched and pried into; and so the secret springs of Providence are not to be known, which Job had attempted, and for which he condemns himself;
therefore have I uttered that I understood not; concerning the providential dealings of God with men, afflicting the righteous, and suffering the wicked to prosper, particularly relating to his own afflictions; in which he arraigned the wisdom, justice, and goodness of God, as if things might have been better done than they were; but now he owns his ignorance and folly, as Asaph did in a like case, Psa 73:22;
things too wonderful for me, which I knew not; things out of his reach to search into, and beyond his capacity to comprehend; what he should have gazed upon with admiration, and there have stopped. The judgments of God are a great deep, not to be fathomed with the line of human understanding, of which it should be said with the apostle, "O the depth", Rom 11:33, &c. Job ought to have done as David did, Psa 131:1; of which he was now convinced, and laments and confesses his folly.
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 Thou canst, &c. - Job here subscribes to God's…
Thou canst, &c. - Job here subscribes to God's unlimited power, knowledge and dominion, to prove which was the scope of God's discourse out of the whirlwind. And his judgment being convinced of these, his conscience also was convinced, of his own folly in speaking so irreverently concerning him. No thought can be withholden from thee - No thought of ours can be withholden from thy knowledge. And there is no thought of thine, which thou canst be hindered from bringing into execution.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 2. I know that thou canst do every…
Verse 2. I know that thou canst do every thing] Thy power is unlimited; thy wisdom infinite.
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 42:2. I know thou canst do every thing…
Job 42:2. I know thou canst do every thing — Job here subscribes to God’s unlimited power, knowledge, and dominion, to prove which was the scope of God’s discourse out of the whirlwind. And his judgment being convinced of these, his conscience also was convinced of his own folly in speaking so irreverently concerning him. No thought can be withholden from thee — No thought of ours can be withholden from thy knowledge. And there is no thought of thine which thou canst be hindered from bringing into execution.
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 I know that thou canst do everything - This…
I know that thou canst do everything - This is said by Job in view of what had been declared by the Almighty in the previous chapters. It is an acknowledgment that God was omnipotent, and that man ought to be submissive, under the putting forth of his infinite power. One great object of the address of the Almighty was to convince Job of his majesty, and that object was fully accomplished.
And that no thought - No purpose or plan of thine. God was able to execute all his designs.
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Can be withholden from thee - Margin, “or, of thine can be hindered.” Literally, “cut off” - בצר bâtsar. The word, however, means also “to cut off access to,” and then to prevent, hinder, restrain. This is its meaning here; so Gen 11:6, “Nothing will be restrained (יבצר yibâtsar) from them, which they have imagined to do.”
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain I know. So the Keri orders us to translate,…
I know. So the Keri orders us to translate, with all the ancient versions, as the Hebrew text has, "thou knowest;" which Prof. Chappelow and Schultens deem more "sublime," though one would think it was hardly "sense." (Kennicott) --- Hid. Hebrew, "of thine can be hindered." All thy orders must be obeyed. It is in vain to keep silence: (chap. xxxix. 34.) I will confess openly thy justice and power. (Haydock) -- He acknowledges his error, in not having before spoken enough of a just Providence. (Worthington)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 2. Thought — מזמה, signifies meditation, thinking, thence purpose…
2. Thought — מזמה, signifies meditation, thinking, thence purpose or plan, very frequently in a bad sense. Comp. Job_21:27; Psa_10:2; Psa_21:12; Pro_14:17; Pro_24:8; Jer_23:20; Jer_30:24. “Perhaps this ambiguous word is selected designedly, in order to express the thought, that, from the circumscribed nature of Job’s views, the plans of God appeared to him to be bad, while to the Allwise they continued unhindered, and, as they originated from him, the Fountain of all good, they would at length be understood in the most favourable light. The Almighty can prosecute a plan which appears to the human understanding bad, (mezimmah,) for it is in his power to transform the bad into good.” — Umbreit.
Withholden from thee — Literally, cut off from thee. Compare Gen_11:6, where the same word is rendered “restrained.” He whose wondrous plans have been wrought out in the formation of the colossi of the brute creation is also the author of affliction, in whose varied features Job now sees marks of divine wisdom. The divine plan in sorrow impresses him as never before. He sees most vividly that his afflictions came forth from the all powerful, and therefore irresistible, will of God. The power of God is the postulate from which he reasons out to the entire being of Deity. One diameter measures all the other diameters of the same circle: so the possession of one infinite attribute implies that all the other attributes of that Being must be infinite. Hence the stress Job lays on the infinite power of God.
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 2. do every thing] Or, canst do all.
2. do every thing] Or, canst do all.
no thought can be withholden] That is, no purpose. The meaning is that there is no purpose which the Almighty cannot carry out. Though literally the words seem merely an acknowledgement of power, they are also an admission of wisdom, the plans or purposes of which may be beyond the understanding of man (Job_42:3). Job does not, as might have been expected, acknowledge the Divine righteousness. His confession corresponds to the Almighty’s address to him. That address did not insist on any one Divine attribute, but rather presented God in the whole circle of His attributes, power and wisdom but also goodness, for He refreshes the thirsty ground where no man is. He feeds the ravens, and presides over the birth-pangs of the goats of the rock; and His omnipotence goes hand in hand with His moral rule (ch. Job_40:9 seq.). The Divine nature is not a segment but a circle. Any one Divine attribute implies all others. Omnipotence cannot exist apart from righteousness. Similarly Job’s reply reflects the great, general impression of God now made on him. The exhibition of the Divine wisdom as it operates in nature has led him to feel that within his own history also there is a divine “thought” or “counsel,” though he is unable to understand it. It can hardly, however, be the Author’s purpose to teach the general principle that the “counsel” of God is incomprehensible, because he gives an explanation of it in the Prologue. He is not teaching general principles here, but shewing the position which just thoughts of God will induce a man to take, even when God’s dealings may be beyond his understanding.
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.