Job 40:2
in Job 40“Will the faultfinder contend with the Almighty? Let him who argues with God give an answer.”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Shall he that cavilleth contend with the Almighty? He that argueth with God, let him answer it.
KJV
Shall he that contendeth with the Almighty instruct him? he that reproveth God, let him answer it.
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This verse in Job 40
Commentary
10 notes on this verseThis site's exposition
And the LORD said to Job
on Job 40:1-2
God's first demand fills a single verse. The line “Let him who argues with God give an answer” turns on Job the courtroom he has wanted. Barnes reads the brevity as deliberate, one sharp sentence standing in place of the long list of creatures that has just closed.
This site's exposition
Will the faultfinder contend with the Almighty
The faultfinder is Job, who had so often wished to contend with God, as Jamieson, Fausset and Brown note. The answer God asks for is an answer to the questions of chapters 38 and 39. Gill asks who could teach the God of knowledge.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church2 voices
A commentator
Gregory the DialogistMorals on the Book of Job, Book XXXI · Written before 604.
proposed
The Lord added, and spake to Job; Doth he that contendeth with God, so easily remain quiet? He that reproveth God, ought certainly also to answer Him. 107. The holy man did not consider that his merits were being increased, but that his vices were being cut away by this so great severity of the scourge. And since he knew that there were no vices within him, he believed that he was unjustly smitten; and, to murmur at the blow, is altogether to reprove the Smiter.
"Is he who asserts himself with confidence against God," who offers to argue with him, "so easily stopped?", namely, as if he has been vanquished like you who are silent? "Certainly he who accuses God," in disputing with him about his just judgments, "ought also …
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
We may sometimes have reason to expect better treatment from God, and a more candid construction of what we do, than we meet with from our friends. This the good man is here overcome by, and yields himself a conquered captive to the grace of God. He owns himself an offender, and has nothing to say in his own justification (
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
Shall he that contendeth with the Almighty instruct him?.... Is he capable of it? He ought to be that takes upon him to dispute with God, to object or reply to him; that brings a charge against him, enters the debate, and litigates a point with him; which Job wanted to do. But could he or any other instruct him, who is the God of knowledge, the all wise and only wise God; who gives man wisdom, and teaches him knowledge? What folly is it to pretend to instruct him!
Those that are truly sensible of their own sinfulness and vileness dare not justify themselves before God, but are ashamed that ever they entertained such a thought, and, in token of their shame, lay their hand upon their mouth. He promises not to offend any more as he had done; for Elihu had told him that this was meet to be said unto God.
3 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
he that contendeth--as Job had so often expressed a wish to do. Does Job now still (after seeing and hearing of God's majesty and wisdom) wish to set God right? answer it--namely, the questions I have asked.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
He that reproveth God, let him answer it - Let the man who has made so free with God and his government, answer to what he has now heard.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Shall he that contendeth with the A mighty instruct him? - Gesenius renders this, “Contending shall the reprover of God contend with the Almighty?” Prof. Lee, “Shall one by contending with the Almighty correct this?” On the grammatical construction, see Gesenius on the word יסור yissôr, and Rosenmuller and Lee, in loc. The meaning seems to be this: “Will he who would enter into a controversy with the Almighty now presume to instruct him? He that was so desirous of arguing his cause with God, will he now answer?” All the language used here is taken from courts, and is such as I have had frequent occasion to explain in these notes. The reference is to the fact that Job had so often expressed a wish to carry his cause, as before a judicial tribunal, directly up to God. He had felt that if he could get it there, he could so argue it as to secure a verdict in his favor; that he could set arguments before the Almighty which would secure a reversal of the fearful sentence which had gone out against him, and which had caused him to be held as a guilty man. God now asks whether he who had been so anxious to have a legal argument, and to carry his cause himself before God - a man disposed to litigation before God (רוב rûb) - was still of the same mind, and felt himself qualified to take upon himself the office of an instructor, a corrector, an admonisher (יסור yissôr) of God? He had the opportunity now, and God here paused, after the sublime exhibition of his majesty and power in the previous chapters, to give him an opportunity, as he wished, to carry his cause directly before him. The result is stated in Job 40:3-4. Job had now nothing to say. He that reproveth God - Or rather, “He that is disposed to carry his cause before God,” as Job had often expressed a wish to do. […]
The words behind it
7 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| הֲ֭רֹב | haro | ¿ will he contend | H7378 → | 67 times |
| עִם־ | ʾim- | with | H5973 → | 1050 times |
| שַׁדַּ֣י | shadai | [the] Almighty | H7706 → | 48 times |
| יִסּ֑וֹר | yisor | a faultfinder | H3250 → | |
| מוֹכִ֖יחַ | mokhiach | [one who] corrects | H3198 → | 59 times |
| אֱל֣וֹהַּ | ʾeloah | God | H433 → | 57 times |
| יַעֲנֶֽנָּה׃ פ | yaanenah | let him answer him | H6030 → | 331 times |
הֲ֭רֹב¿ will he contend
haroH7378 →67 times
עִם־with
ʾim-H5973 →1050 times
שַׁדַּ֣י[the] Almighty
shadaiH7706 →48 times
יִסּ֑וֹרa faultfinder
yisorH3250 →
מוֹכִ֖יחַ[one who] corrects
mokhiachH3198 →59 times
אֱל֣וֹהַּGod
ʾeloahH433 →57 times
יַעֲנֶֽנָּה׃ פlet him answer him
yaanenahH6030 →331 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
1 Corinthians 2:16“For who has known the mind of the Lord, so as to instruct Him?” But we have the mind of Christ.
it leads to
- Romans 11:34
“Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been His counselor?”
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Isaiah 40:13–14
Who has directed the Spirit of the LORD, or informed Him as His counselor?
- John 16:13–16
However, when the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all truth. For He will not speak on His own, but He will speak what He hears, and He will declare to…
- John 15:15
No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not understand what his master is doing. But I have called you friends, because everything I have learned from My Father I have…
- Job 15:8
Do you listen in on the council of God or limit wisdom to yourself?
- Romans 11:34
Through
Isaiah 40:14Whom did He consult to enlighten Him, and who taught Him the paths of justice? Who imparted knowledge to Him and showed Him the way of understanding?
it leads to
- Job 21:22
Can anyone teach knowledge to God, since He judges those on high?
- Colossians 2:3
in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
- Job 21:22
Through
Job 33:13Why do you complain to Him that He answers nothing a man asks?
it leads to
- Isaiah 45:9
Woe to him who quarrels with his Maker—one clay pot among many. Does the clay ask the potter, ‘What are you making?’ Does your work say, ‘He has no hands’?
- Isaiah 45:9
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies1
About Job
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Book of Job; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book XXXI; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.