Limitless Word
“I know that you can do anything, and no one can stop you.
Job 42:2 · New Living Translation
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.
  • BSB “I know that You can do all things and that no plan of Yours can be thwarted.
  • 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.

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 19:26Looking at them, Jesus said, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
  • Mark 10:27Jesus, looking at them, said, “With men it is impossible, but not with God, for all things are possible with God.”
  • Gen 18:14Is anything too hard for Yahweh? At the set time I will return to you, when the season comes round, and Sarah will have a son.”
  • Heb 4:12–13For the word of God is living and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and is able to discern the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
  • Jer 32:17“Ah Lord Yahweh! Behold, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm; there is nothing too hard for you,
  • Isa 46:10I declare the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet done. I say: My counsel will stand, and I will do all that I please.
  • Eph 1:11in whom also we were assigned an inheritance, having been foreordained according to the purpose of him who does all things after the counsel of his will;
  • Ps 44:21won’t God search this out? For he knows the secrets of the heart.
  • Prov 19:21There are many plans in a man’s heart, but Yahweh’s counsel will prevail.
  • Job 23:13But he stands alone, and who can oppose him? What his soul desires, even that he does.
  • Isa 14:27For Yahweh of Armies has planned, and who can stop it? His hand is stretched out, and who can turn it back?”
  • Isa 43:13Yes, since the day was I am he; and there is no one who can deliver out of my hand. I will work, and who can hinder it?”
  • Eccl 3:14I know that whatever God does, it shall be forever. Nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it; and God has done it, that men should fear before him.
  • Dan 4:35All the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing; and he does according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth; and no one can stop his hand, or ask him, What are you doing?
  • John 2:24–25But Jesus didn’t trust himself to them, because he knew everyone,
  • Ps 139:2You know my sitting down and my rising up. You perceive my thoughts from afar.
  • Mark 14:36He said, “Abba, Father, all things are possible to you. Please remove this cup from me. However, not what I desire, but what you desire.”
  • Ezek 38:10Thus says the Lord Yahweh: It shall happen in that day, that things shall come into your mind, and you shall devise an evil device:
  • Jer 17:10“I, Yahweh, search the mind, I try the heart, even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings.”
  • Luke 18:27But he said, “The things which are impossible with men are possible with God.”
  • John 21:17He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you have affection for me?” Peter was grieved because he asked him the third time, “Do you have affection for me?” He said to him, “Lord, you know everything. You know that I have affection for you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (1)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Job videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Job 42:2YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on JobMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    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 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.