Job 11:10
in Job 11If He comes along to imprison you, or convenes a court, who can stop Him?
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
If he pass through, and shut up, And call unto judgment, then who can hinder him?
KJV
If he cut off, and shut up, or gather together, then who can hinder him?
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This verse in Job 11
Commentary
8 notes on this verseIf 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?
This site's exposition
who can stop Him
on Job 11:10-12
The question "who can stop Him?" states God's freedom to act with no creature able to call Him to account, a doctrine every speaker accepts. Zophar turns at once to accusation, "Surely He knows the deceit of men", assuming that Job's suffering shows God has already judged him.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church2 voices
If He overturn all things, or shut them up together, then who shall gainsay Him? Or who can say to Him, Why doest Thou so? The Lord 'overturns heaven,' when by His terrible and secret ordering He pulls down the height of man's contemptations. He 'subverts hell,' when He allows the soul of any affrighted under its temptations to fall even into worse extremes. He 'overturns the earth,' when He cuts off the fruitfulness of good works by adversities pouring in.
Divine power not only exceeds every being in producing them, but also in preserving them in being. For the preservation of a creature is only from God and there is no power in the creature which could resist the divine will if he does not …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
): If he cut off by death (margin, If he make a change, for death is a change; if he make a change in nations, in families, in the posture of our affairs),--if he shut up in prison, or in the net of affliction ( Ps. lxvi.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation
If he cut off,....
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
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. gather together--the parties for judgment: hold a judicial assembly; to pass sentence on the prisoners.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
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. 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. […]
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
For He knows deceitful people; when He sees iniquity, He does not consider it [He sees the iniquity] that they commit for days and years, and it seems as though He does not consider it because He is slow to anger.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 5 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
6 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| אִם־ | ʾim- | if | H518 → | 1069 times |
| יַחֲלֹ֥ף | yachalof | he will pass by | H2498 → | 28 times |
| וְיַסְגִּ֑יר | veyasgir | and he may shut up | H5462 → | 91 times |
| וְ֝יַקְהִ֗יל | veyakhil | so he may summon an assembly | H6950 → | |
| וּמִ֣י | umi | and who? | H4310 → | 423 times |
| יְשִׁיבֶֽנּוּ׃ | yeshivenu | will he turn back him | H7725 → | 1056 times |
אִם־if
ʾim-H518 →1069 times
יַחֲלֹ֥ףhe will pass by
yachalofH2498 →28 times
וְיַסְגִּ֑ירand he may shut up
veyasgirH5462 →91 times
וְ֝יַקְהִ֗ילso he may summon an assembly
veyakhilH6950 →
וּמִ֣יand who?
umiH4310 →423 times
יְשִׁיבֶֽנּוּ׃will he turn back him
yeshivenuH7725 →1056 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Revelation 3:7To the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: These are the words of the One who is holy and true, who holds the key of David. What He opens no one can shut,…
it leads to
- Isaiah 22:22
I will place on his shoulder the key to the house of David. What he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Matthew 16:19
I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”
- Revelation 1:18
the Living One. I was dead, and behold, now I am alive forever and ever! And I hold the keys of Death and of Hades.
- Job 12:14
What He tears down cannot be rebuilt; the man He imprisons cannot be released.
- Isaiah 22:22
Through
Daniel 4:35All the peoples of the earth are counted as nothing, and He does as He pleases with the army of heaven and the peoples of the earth. There is no one who can restrain…
it leads to
- Job 42:2
“I know that You can do all things and that no plan of Yours can be thwarted.
- Psalms 135:6
The LORD does all that pleases Him in the heavens and on the earth, in the seas and in all their depths.
- Psalms 115:3
Our God is in heaven; He does as He pleases.
- Romans 11:33–36
O, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments, and untraceable His ways!
- Job 42:2
About Job
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book X; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.