Is there any number of his armies? and upon whom doth not his light arise?
Parallel translations
- WEB Can his armies be counted? On whom does his light not arise?
- BSB Can His troops be numbered? On whom does His light not rise?
- NKJV Is there any number to His armies? Upon whom does His light not rise?
- NASB “Is there any number to His troops? And upon whom does His light not rise?
- NLT Who is able to count his heavenly army? Doesn’t his light shine on all the earth?
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Bildad asks who can number God's armies or escape His light. It matters because it stresses God's limitless power and presence.
Overview
Bildad points to the countless hosts of heaven and the universal reach of God's light. No one lies beyond His power or sight. While the affirmation is sound, Bildad wields it to argue that no man, including Job, can stand before such a God, a point Job already knows and feels deeply.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- Jas 1:17Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.
- Matt 5:45That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.
- John 1:4In him was life; and the life was the light of men.
- Dan 7:10A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him: thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened.
- Ps 103:20–21Bless the LORD, ye his angels, that excel in strength, that do his commandments, hearkening unto the voice of his word.
- Job 38:12–13Hast thou commanded the morning since thy days; and caused the dayspring to know his place;
- Isa 40:26Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things, that bringeth out their host by number: he calleth them all by names by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power; not one faileth.
- Ps 19:4–6Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun,
- Rev 5:11And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and the beasts and the elders: and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands;
- Gen 1:14–16And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:
- John 1:9That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.
- Gen 1:3–5And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
- Ps 148:2–4Praise ye him, all his angels: praise ye him, all his hosts.
- Matt 26:53Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels?
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Commentaries & study tools
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Job's cry for a mediator who can lay his hand on both God and man, and his confidence that 'my Redeemer lives' and will stand on the earth, reaches forward to Jesus the living Redeemer.
How Job 25:3 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.