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God is wise in heart and mighty in strength. Who has resisted Him and prospered?
Job 9:4 · Berean Standard Bible
Parallel translations
  • WEB God who is wise in heart, and mighty in strength: who has hardened himself against him, and prospered?
  • KJV He is wise in heart, and mighty in strength: who hath hardened himself against him, and hath prospered?
  • NKJV God is wise in heart and mighty in strength. Who has hardened himself against Him and prospered?
  • NASB “Wise in heart and mighty in strength, Who has defied Him without harm?
  • NLT For God is so wise and so mighty. Who has ever challenged him successfully?

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 describes God as supremely wise and mighty, and asks who has ever defied him and come out unscathed. None can successfully resist God.

Overview

Job extols God's wisdom and power, noting that no one who hardens himself against God prospers. The rhetorical question underscores the futility of human resistance to the Almighty. This high view of God's sovereignty frames Job's struggle: he must reckon with a God too great to be challenged on equal terms.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 24

  • Job 36:5Indeed, God is mighty, but He despises no one; He is mighty in strength of understanding.
  • Rom 11:33O, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments, and untraceable His ways!
  • Eph 3:20Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us,
  • Exod 14:17–18And I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go in after them. Then I will gain honor by means of Pharaoh and all his army and chariots and horsemen.
  • Job 9:19If it is a matter of strength, He is indeed mighty! If it is a matter of justice, who can summon Him?
  • Prov 29:1A man who remains stiff-necked after much reproof will suddenly be shattered beyond recovery.
  • Eph 3:10His purpose was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms,
  • Jude 1:24–25Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you unblemished in His glorious presence, with great joy—
  • Dan 5:20–30But when his heart became arrogant and his spirit was hardened with pride, he was deposed from his royal throne, and his glory was taken from him.
  • Exod 9:14–17Otherwise, I will send all My plagues against you and your officials and your people, so you may know that there is no one like Me in all the earth.
  • Dan 4:34–37But at the end of those days I, Nebuchadnezzar, looked up to heaven, and my sanity was restored to me. Then I praised the Most High, and I honored and glorified Him who lives forever: “For His dominion is an everlasting dominion, and His kingdom endures from generation to generation.
  • 2 Chr 13:12Now behold, God Himself is with us as our head, and His priests with their trumpets sound the battle call against you. O children of Israel, do not fight against the LORD, the God of your fathers, for you will not succeed.”
  • Job 15:23–27He wanders about as food for vultures; he knows the day of darkness is at hand.
  • Eph 1:19and the surpassing greatness of His power to us who believe. These are in accordance with the working of His mighty strength,
  • Job 40:9Do you have an arm like God’s? Can you thunder with a voice like His?
  • 1 Cor 10:22Are we trying to provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than He?
  • Job 6:10It still brings me comfort, and joy through unrelenting pain, that I have not denied the words of the Holy One.
  • Eph 1:8that He lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding.
  • Job 11:6and disclose to you the secrets of wisdom, for true wisdom has two sides. Know then that God exacts from you less than your iniquity deserves.
  • Prov 28:14Blessed is the man who is always reverent, but he who hardens his heart falls into trouble.
  • Dan 2:20and declared: “Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, for wisdom and power belong to Him.
  • Ps 104:24How many are Your works, O LORD! In wisdom You have made them all; the earth is full of Your creatures.
  • Job 12:13Wisdom and strength belong to God; counsel and understanding are His.
  • Ps 136:5By His insight He made the heavens. His loving devotion endures forever.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (4)

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 9:4YouTube · 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 9:4 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.