Is there any number to His armies? Upon whom does His light not rise?
Parallel translations
- WEB Can his armies be counted? On whom does his light not arise?
- KJV Is there any number of his armies? and upon whom doth not his light arise?
- BSB Can His troops be numbered? On 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, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom can be no variation, nor turning shadow.
- Matt 5:45that you may be children of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust.
- John 1:4In him was life, and the life was the light of men.
- Dan 7:10A fiery stream issued and came out from before him: thousands of thousands ministered to him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened.
- Ps 103:20–21Praise Yahweh, you angels of his, who are mighty in strength, who fulfill his word, obeying the voice of his word.
- Job 38:12–13“Have you commanded the morning in your days, and caused the dawn to know its place;
- Isa 40:26Lift up your eyes on high, and see who has created these, who brings out their army by number. He calls them all by name. by the greatness of his might, and because he is strong in power, Not one is lacking.
- Ps 19:4–6Their voice has gone out through all the earth, their words to the end of the world. In them he has set a tent for the sun,
- Rev 5:11I saw, and I heard something like a voice of many angels around the throne, the living creatures, and the elders; and the number of them was ten thousands of ten thousands, and thousands of thousands;
- Gen 1:14–16God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs to mark seasons, days, and years;
- John 1:9The true light that enlightens everyone was coming into the world.
- Gen 1:3–5God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light.
- Ps 148:2–4Praise him, all his angels! Praise him, all his army!
- Matt 26:53Or do you think that I couldn’t ask my Father, and he would even now send me more than twelve legions of angels?
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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.