He is wise in heart, and mighty in strength: who hath hardened himself against him, and hath prospered?
Parallel translations
- WEB God who is wise in heart, and mighty in strength: who has hardened himself against him, and prospered?
- BSB God is wise in heart and mighty in strength. Who has resisted Him and 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 36:5Behold, God is mighty, and despiseth not any: he is mighty in strength and wisdom.
- Rom 11:33O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!
- Eph 3:20Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us,
- Exod 14:17–18And I, behold, I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians, and they shall follow them: and I will get me honour upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host, upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen.
- Job 9:19If I speak of strength, lo, he is strong: and if of judgment, who shall set me a time to plead?
- Prov 29:1He, that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy.
- Eph 3:10To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God,
- Jude 1:24–25Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy,
- Dan 5:20–30But when his heart was lifted up, and his mind hardened in pride, he was deposed from his kingly throne, and they took his glory from him:
- Exod 9:14–17For I will at this time send all my plagues upon thine heart, and upon thy servants, and upon thy people; that thou mayest know that there is none like me in all the earth.
- Dan 4:34–37And at the end of the days I Nebuchadnezzar lifted up mine eyes unto heaven, and mine understanding returned unto me, and I blessed the most High, and I praised and honoured him that liveth for ever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation:
- 2 Chr 13:12And, behold, God himself is with us for our captain, and his priests with sounding trumpets to cry alarm against you. O children of Israel, fight ye not against the LORD God of your fathers; for ye shall not prosper.
- Job 15:23–27He wandereth abroad for bread, saying, Where is it? he knoweth that the day of darkness is ready at his hand.
- Eph 1:19And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power,
- Job 40:9Hast thou an arm like God? or canst thou thunder with a voice like him?
- 1 Cor 10:22Do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? are we stronger than he?
- Job 6:10Then should I yet have comfort; yea, I would harden myself in sorrow: let him not spare; for I have not concealed the words of the Holy One.
- Eph 1:8Wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence;
- Job 11:6And that he would shew thee the secrets of wisdom, that they are double to that which is! Know therefore that God exacteth of thee less than thine iniquity deserveth.
- Prov 28:14Happy is the man that feareth alway: but he that hardeneth his heart shall fall into mischief.
- Dan 2:20Daniel answered and said, Blessed be the name of God for ever and ever: for wisdom and might are his:
- Ps 104:24O LORD, how manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast thou made them all: the earth is full of thy riches.
- Job 12:13With him is wisdom and strength, he hath counsel and understanding.
- Ps 136:5To him that by wisdom made the heavens: for his mercy endureth for ever.
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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 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
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