If He takes away, who can stop Him? Who dares to ask Him, ‘What are You doing?’
Parallel translations
- WEB Behold, he snatches away. Who can hinder him? Who will ask him, ‘What are you doing?’
- KJV Behold, he taketh away, who can hinder him? who will say unto him, What doest thou?
- NKJV If He takes away, who can hinder Him? Who can say to Him, ‘What are You doing?’
- NASB “If He were to snatch away, who could restrain Him? Who could say to Him, ‘What are You doing?’
- NLT If he snatches someone in death, who can stop him? Who dares to ask, ‘What are you doing?’
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 says that when God snatches away, none can stop him or question what he does. God's sovereign actions are beyond human challenge.
Overview
Job acknowledges that God acts with absolute freedom; no one can restrain him or demand an account. The rhetorical questions stress human powerlessness before divine sovereignty. While Job feels the weight of this as oppressive, the book ultimately shows that God's freedom is wedded to wisdom and goodness, not arbitrary cruelty.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Isa 45:9Woe to him who quarrels with his Maker—one clay pot among many. Does the clay ask the potter, ‘What are you making?’ Does your work say, ‘He has no hands’?
- Job 11:10If He comes along to imprison you, or convenes a court, who can stop Him?
- Job 23:13But He is unchangeable, and who can oppose Him? He does what He desires.
- Rom 11:34“Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been His counselor?”
- Job 34:29But when He remains silent, who can condemn Him? When He hides His face, who can see Him? Yet He watches over both man and nation,
- 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?’”
- Matt 20:15Do I not have the right to do as I please with what is mine? Or are you envious because I am generous?’
- Job 33:13Why do you complain to Him that He answers nothing a man asks?
- Jer 18:6“O house of Israel, declares the LORD, can I not treat you as this potter treats his clay? Just like clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel.
- 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,
- Matt 11:26Yes, Father, for this was well-pleasing in Your sight.
- Rom 9:18–20Therefore God has mercy on whom He wants to have mercy, and He hardens whom He wants to harden.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
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 9:12 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.