“I know that You can do all things and that no plan of Yours can be thwarted.
Parallel translations
- WEB “I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be restrained.
- KJV I know that thou canst do every thing, and that no thought can be withholden from thee.
- NKJV “I know that You can do everything, And that no purpose of Yours can be withheld from You.
- NASB “I know that You can do all things, And that no plan is impossible for You.
- NLT “I know that you can do anything, and no one can stop you.
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
Job confesses that God can do all things and that no purpose of His can be thwarted. He bows to God's absolute sovereignty.
Overview
Job acknowledges God's omnipotence and the unfailing certainty of His every plan, echoing the divine speeches he has just heard. This confession answers his earlier complaints by resting in God's wisdom and power rather than demanding answers. It anticipates the New Testament assurance that God works all things according to the counsel of His will (Ephesians 1:11), so that even suffering serves His good and unstoppable purposes.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 21
- Matt 19:26Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
- Mark 10:27Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.”
- Gen 18:14Is anything too difficult for the LORD? At the appointed time I will return to you—in about a year—and Sarah will have a son.”
- Heb 4:12–13For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it pierces even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It judges the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
- Jer 32:17“Oh, Lord GOD! You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too difficult for You!
- Isa 46:10I 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.’
- Eph 1:11In Him we were also chosen as God’s own, having been predestined according to the plan of Him who works out everything by the counsel of His will,
- Ps 44:21would not God have discovered, since He knows the secrets of the heart?
- Prov 19:21Many plans are in a man’s heart, but the purpose of the LORD will prevail.
- Job 23:13But He is unchangeable, and who can oppose Him? He does what He desires.
- Isa 14:27The LORD of Hosts has purposed, and who can thwart Him? His hand is outstretched, so who can turn it back?
- Isa 43:13Even from eternity I am He, and none can deliver out of My hand. When I act, who can reverse it?”
- Eccl 3:14I know that everything God does endures forever; nothing can be added to it or taken from it. God does it so that they should fear Him.
- Dan 4:35All 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 His hand or say to Him, ‘What have You done?’”
- John 2:24–25But Jesus did not entrust Himself to them, for He knew them all.
- Ps 139:2You know when I sit and when I rise; You understand my thoughts from afar.
- Mark 14:36“Abba, Father,” He said, “all things are possible for You. Take this cup from Me. Yet not what I will, but what You will.”
- Ezek 38:10This is what the Lord GOD says: On that day, thoughts will arise in your mind, and you will devise an evil plan.
- Jer 17:10I, the LORD, search the heart; I examine the mind to reward a man according to his way, by what his deeds deserve.
- Luke 18:27But Jesus said, “What is impossible with man is possible with God.”
- John 21:17Jesus asked a third time, “Simon son of John, do you love Me?” Peter was deeply hurt that Jesus had asked him a third time, “Do you love Me?” “Lord, You know all things,” he replied. “You know I love You.” Jesus said to him, “Feed My sheep.
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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 42:2 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.