Behold, he snatches away. Who can hinder him? Who will ask him, ‘What are you doing?’
Parallel translations
- KJV Behold, he taketh away, who can hinder him? who will say unto him, What doest thou?
- BSB If He takes away, who can stop Him? Who dares to ask Him, ‘What are You doing?’
- 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 strives with his Maker — a clay pot among the clay pots of the earth! Shall the clay ask him who fashions it, ‘What are you making?’ or your work, ‘He has no hands?’
- Job 11:10If he passes by, or confines, or convenes a court, then who can oppose him?
- Job 23:13But he stands alone, and who can oppose him? What his soul desires, even that he does.
- Rom 11:34“For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?”
- Job 34:29When he gives quietness, who then can condemn? When he hides his face, who then can see him? Alike whether to a nation, or to a man,
- 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?
- Matt 20:15Isn’t it lawful for me to do what I want to with what I own? Or is your eye evil, because I am good?’
- Job 33:13Why do you strive against him, because he doesn’t give account of any of his matters?
- Jer 18:6“House of Israel, can’t I do with you as this potter?” says Yahweh. “Behold, as the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand, house of Israel.
- 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;
- Matt 11:26Yes, Father, for so it was well-pleasing in your sight.
- Rom 9:18–20So then, he has mercy on whom he desires, and he hardens whom he desires.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
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The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
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.