Hast thou an arm like God? or canst thou thunder with a voice like him?
Parallel translations
- WEB Or do you have an arm like God? Can you thunder with a voice like him?
- BSB Do you have an arm like God’s? Can you thunder with a voice like His?
- NKJV Have you an arm like God? Or can you thunder with a voice like His?
- NASB “Or do you have an arm like God, And can you thunder with a voice like His?
- NLT Are you as strong as God? Can you thunder with a voice like his?
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
God asks whether Job possesses an arm and a voice like God's. Job lacks the power and majesty that belong to God alone.
Overview
With vivid imagery of God's mighty arm and thundering voice, the Lord exposes the vast gulf between himself and Job. The 'arm' and 'voice' symbolize divine power and authority. Job cannot rule the moral universe because he lacks the strength to do so. This drives Job toward humble dependence and points forward to Christ, the arm of the Lord revealed for salvation.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- Ps 89:13Thou hast a mighty arm: strong is thy hand, and high is thy right hand.
- Job 37:4–5After it a voice roareth: he thundereth with the voice of his excellency; and he will not stay them when his voice is heard.
- Job 9:4He is wise in heart, and mighty in strength: who hath hardened himself against him, and hath prospered?
- Job 23:6Will he plead against me with his great power? No; but he would put strength in me.
- Job 33:12–13Behold, in this thou art not just: I will answer thee, that God is greater than man.
- 1 Cor 10:22Do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? are we stronger than he?
- Ps 89:10Thou hast broken Rahab in pieces, as one that is slain; thou hast scattered thine enemies with thy strong arm.
- Ps 39:3–9My heart was hot within me, while I was musing the fire burned: then spake I with my tongue,
- Exod 15:6Thy right hand, O LORD, is become glorious in power: thy right hand, O LORD, hath dashed in pieces the enemy.
- Ps 29:3The voice of the LORD is upon the waters: the God of glory thundereth: the LORD is upon many waters.
- Isa 45:9Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker! Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth. Shall the clay say to him that fashioneth it, What makest thou? or thy work, He hath no hands?
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 40:9 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.