Job 9:12
in Job 9If He takes away, who can stop Him? Who dares to ask Him, ‘What are You doing?’
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Behold, he seizeth the prey, who can hinder him? Who will say unto him, What doest thou?
KJV
Behold, he taketh away, who can hinder him? who will say unto him, What doest thou?
⋯
This verse in Job 9
Commentary
9 notes on this verseHe taketh away - He never gives, but he is ever lending: and while the gift is useful or is improved, he permits it to remain; but when it becomes useless or is misused, he recalls it. Who can hinder him? - Literally, Who can cause him to restore it? What doest thou? - He is supreme, and will give account of none of his matters. He is infinitely wise, and cannot mistake. He is infinitely kind, and can do nothing cruel. He is infinitely good, and can do nothing wrong.
This site's exposition
Were He to pass by me, I would not see Him
on Job 9:11-13
The words "Were He to pass by me, I would not see Him" turn praise into an ache, a God active everywhere and visible nowhere. The line "the helpers of Rahab cower beneath Him" carries the same unanswerable strength further, since none can stand against Him.
This site's exposition
If He takes away, who can stop Him
Job had said at Job 1:21 that God gave and has taken away. Barnes renders who can stop Him as who can make Him restore what He takes away. Clarke calls each gift a loan.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church2 voices
Secondly, the depth of divine wisdom is shown in the examination of human acts, because he so acutely and efficaciously scrutinizes them that no one can escape his examination through any sort of craftiness. He says this next, "If he suddenly interrogates someone, who will …
If He question on a sudden, who will answer Him? God 'questions suddenly' when He calls us unexpectedly to the strict searching of His scrutiny. But man cannot answer to His questioning, for that, if he be then sifted, all pity laid aside, even the life of the righteous sinks under the scrutiny. Or, surely, He questions, when He deals us hard blows, that, when the mind entertains great thoughts of itself in peace and quiet, it may find itself out in trouble, what sort it really is of.
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
He takes away our creature-comforts and confidences when and as he pleases, takes away health, estate, relations, friends, takes away life itself; whatever goes, it is he that takes it; by what hand so ever it is removed, his hand must be acknowledged in its removal.
Taketh - If he determines to take away from any man his children or servants, or estate, who is able to restrain him from doing it? Or who dare presume to reprove him for it?
Behold, he taketh away,....
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
Behold, he taketh away - Property, friends, or life. Who can hinder him? - Margin, turn him away. Or, rather, “who shall cause him to restore?” that is, who can bring back what he takes away? He is so mighty, that what he removes, it is impossible for us to recover. Who will say unto him, What doest thou? - A similar expression occurs in Dan 4:35. The meaning is plain. God has a right to remove any thing which we possess. Our friends, property, health, and lives, are his gift, and he has a right to them all. When he takes them away, he is but taking that which is his own, and which has been lent to us for a little time, and which he has a right to remove when it seems good to him. This truth Job fully admits, and in the calm contemplation of all his losses and his sorrows, he acknowledges that God had a right to do as he had done; see note, Job 1:21.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
Behold, He strikes suddenly Heb. יחתף, He strikes suddenly, like (Prov.:28), “She, too, will suddenly (כחתף) lurk,” an expression of suddenness.
1 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
will not hold back His wrath because of fear (other editions: righteousness) of a man.
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. 6 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
9 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| הֵ֣ן | hen | there! | H2005 → | 316 times |
| יַ֭חְתֹּף | yachtof | he will snatch away | H2862 → | |
| מִ֣י | mi | who? | H4310 → | 423 times |
| יְשִׁיבֶ֑נּוּ | yeshivenu | will he turn back him | H7725 → | 1056 times |
| מִֽי־ | mi- | who? | H4310 → | 423 times |
| יֹאמַ֥ר | yomar | will he say | H559 → | 5305 times |
| אֵ֝לָ֗יו | ʾelav | to him | H413 → | 5510 times |
| מַֽה־ | mah- | what? | H4100 → | 752 times |
| תַּעֲשֶֽׂה׃ | taaseh | are you doing | H6213 → | 2628 times |
הֵ֣ןthere!
henH2005 →316 times
יַ֭חְתֹּףhe will snatch away
yachtofH2862 →
מִ֣יwho?
miH4310 →423 times
יְשִׁיבֶ֑נּוּwill he turn back him
yeshivenuH7725 →1056 times
מִֽי־who?
mi-H4310 →423 times
יֹאמַ֥רwill he say
yomarH559 →5305 times
אֵ֝לָ֗יוto him
ʾelavH413 →5510 times
מַֽה־what?
mah-H4100 →752 times
תַּעֲשֶֽׂה׃are you doing
taasehH6213 →2628 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
Job 23:13But He is unchangeable, and who can oppose Him? He does what He desires.
it leads to
- Daniel 4:35
All 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…
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Psalms 115:3
Our God is in heaven; He does as He pleases.
- Proverbs 19:21
Many plans are in a man’s heart, but the purpose of the LORD will prevail.
- Isaiah 46:10
I declare the end from the beginning, and ancient times from what is still to come. I say, ‘My purpose will stand, and all My good pleasure I will accomplish.’
- Daniel 4:35
Through
Romans 11:34“Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been His counselor?”
it leads to
- Isaiah 40:13
Who has directed the Spirit of the LORD, or informed Him as His counselor?
- 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.
- Isaiah 40:13
Through
Isaiah 45:9Woe 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’?
it leads to
- Isaiah 64:8
But now, O LORD, You are our Father; we are the clay, and You are the potter; we are all the work of Your hand.
- Romans 9:20–21
But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? Shall what is formed say to Him who formed it, “Why did You make me like this?”
- Isaiah 64:8
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Job
This page draws on 9 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book IX; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.