Who has spoken and it came to pass, unless the Lord has ordained it?
Parallel translations
- WEB Who is he who says, and it comes to pass, when the Lord doesn’t command it?
- KJV Who is he that saith, and it cometh to pass, when the Lord commandeth it not?
- NKJV Who is he who speaks and it comes to pass, When the Lord has not commanded it?
- NASB Who is there who speaks and it comes to pass, Unless the Lord has commanded it?
- NLT Who can command things to happen without the Lord’s permission?
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
Nothing comes to pass unless the Lord commands it; God is sovereign over all events.
Overview
The rhetorical question affirms that no word or event takes effect apart from God's permission and decree. Human plans succeed only if the Lord ordains them. This high view of God's sovereignty offers comfort in suffering: even Judah's calamity lies within God's purposes, as does the cross of Christ (Acts 2:23).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Ps 33:9–11For He spoke, and it came to be; He commanded, and it stood firm.
- Isa 46:10I declare the end from the beginning, and ancient times from what is still to come. I say, ‘My purpose will stand, and all My good pleasure I will accomplish.’
- Prov 16:9A man’s heart plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps.
- Prov 19:21Many plans are in a man’s heart, but the purpose of the LORD will prevail.
- Prov 21:30There is no wisdom, no understanding, no counsel that can prevail against the LORD.
- 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?’”
- 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,
- Rom 9:15For He says to Moses: “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”
- Jas 4:13–15Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business, and make a profit.”
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
The weeping over a ruined city and the steadfast mercies that are new every morning point to the man of sorrows who wept over Jerusalem and whose mercy rises new from the grave.
How Lamentations 3:37 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.