Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Job 42:2
I know that thou canst do every [thing], and [that] no thought can be withheld from thee.
2. do every thing ] Or, canst do all.
no thought can be withholden ] That is, no purpose. The meaning is that there is no purpose which the Almighty cannot carry out. Though literally the words seem merely an acknowledgement of power, they are also an admission of wisdom, the plans or purposes of which may be beyond the understanding of man ( Job 42:3). Job does not, as might have been expected, acknowledge the Divine righteousness. His confession corresponds to the Almighty’s address to him. That address did not insist on any one Divine attribute, but rather presented God in the whole circle of His attributes, power and wisdom but also goodness, for He refreshes the thirsty ground where no man is. He feeds the ravens, and presides over the birth-pangs of the goats of the rock; and His omnipotence goes hand in hand with His moral rule (ch. Job 40:9 seq.). The Divine nature is not a segment but a circle. Any one Divine attribute implies all others. Omnipotence cannot exist apart from righteousness. Similarly Job’s reply reflects the great, general impression of God now made on him. The exhibition of the Divine wisdom as it operates in nature has led him to feel that within his own history also there is a divine “thought” or “counsel,” though he is unable to understand it. It can hardly, however, be the Author’s purpose to teach the general principle that the “counsel” of God is incomprehensible, because he gives an explanation of it in the Prologue. He is not teaching general principles here, but shewing the position which just thoughts of God will induce a man to take, even when God’s dealings may be beyond his understanding.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
I know that thou canst do everything – This is said by Job in view of what had been declared by the Almighty in the previous chapters. It is an acknowledgment that God was omnipotent, and that man ought to be submissive, under the putting forth of his infinite power. One great object of the address of the Almighty was to convince Job of his majesty, and that object was fully accomplished.
And that no thought – No purpose or plan of thine. God was able to execute all his designs.
Can be withholden from thee – Margin, or, of thine can be hindered. Literally, cut off – batsar. The word, however, means also to cut off access to, and then to prevent, hinder, restrain. This is its meaning here; so Gen 11:6, Nothing will be restrained ( yibatsar) from them, which they have imagined to do.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 2. I know that thou canst do every thing] Thy power is unlimited; thy wisdom infinite.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Thou canst do; not only by power, (for that he always thought,) but also by right; about which he had in some sort doubted and disputed. It is a maxim in law, that a man can only do that which he hath a right to do.
Every thing; whatsoever it pleaseth thee to do with thy creatures.
No thought can be withholden from thee; he speaks either,
1. Of Jobs thoughts. Thou knowest me and all my sinful and unworthy thoughts of thy providential dealings with me, though I was not able to see the evil of them. Or,
2. Of Gods thoughts. Whatsoever thou thinkest or proposest to do thou canst or mayst do it; and neither I nor any of thy creatures can either restrain thee from it, or condemn thee for it, as I have boldly and wickedly presumed to do. So this last clause of the verse explains the former.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
2. In the first clause he ownsGod to be omnipotent over nature, as contrasted with his ownfeebleness, which God had proved (Job 40:15;Job 41:34); in the second, thatGod is supremely just (which, in order to be governor of the world,He must needs be) in all His dealings, as contrasted with his ownvileness (Job 42:6), andincompetence to deal with the wicked as a just judge (Job40:8-14).
thought“purpose,”as in Job 17:11; but it isusually applied to evil devices (Job 21:27;Psa 10:2): the ambiguous word isdesignedly chosen to express that, while to Job’s finite view, God’splans seem bad, to the All-wise One they continue unhindered in theirdevelopment, and will at last be seen to be as good as they areinfinitely wise. No evil can emanate from the Parent of good (Jas 1:13;Jas 1:17); but it is Hisprerogative to overrule evil to good.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
I know that thou canst do every [thing],…. As the works of creation, and the sustentation of them, show; so the Targum,
“thou sustainest all things,”
and can manage, every creature made by him, even such as were not tractable by men, such as behemoth and leviathan, the creatures last instanced in; and was able to abase and bring low the proud, which Job could not do; and could also save him by his right hand, and bring him out of his low estate in which he was, and raise him to great prosperity again, which Job always despaired of till now; and though he had a theoretical knowledge of the omnipotence of God before, see Job 9:4; yet not a practical experimental knowledge of it; at least not to such a degree as he now had, working upon his heart, bowing his will, and bringing him to a resignation to the will of God; he not only knew he could do all things, but that he had a right to do what he pleased; and that whatever he did he did well and wisely, and in a righteous manner, of which before he seemed to have some doubt. And that no thought can be withholden from thee; either no thought of men, good or bad, of God or of themselves, and so is an acknowledgment of the omniscience of God, and may be an appeal to that; that God, who knows the secrets of men’s hearts, knew what thoughts Job now had of God; of the wisdom, righteousness, and goodness of God in the dispensations of his providence, different from what he had before; see
Joh 21:17; or rather it may be understood of every thought of God’s heart, of every secret purpose and wise counsel of his; which, as they are all well known to him, and cannot be withheld from having effect, or the performance of them hindered, Job now saw and was fully assured that all that had befallen him was according to the sovereign and inscrutable purposes of God, and according to the wise counsels of his will; he knew that not only God could do everything, but that he also did whatever he pleased.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
2. Thought , signifies meditation, thinking, thence purpose or plan, very frequently in a bad sense. Comp. Job 21:27; Psa 10:2; Psa 21:12; Pro 14:17; Pro 24:8; Jer 23:20; Jer 30:24. “Perhaps this ambiguous word is selected designedly, in order to express the thought, that, from the circumscribed nature of Job’s views, the plans of God appeared to him to be bad, while to the Allwise they continued unhindered, and, as they originated from him, the Fountain of all good, they would at length be understood in the most favourable light. The Almighty can prosecute a plan which appears to the human understanding bad, ( mezimmah,) for it is in his power to transform the bad into good.” Umbreit.
Withholden from thee Literally, cut off from thee. Compare Gen 11:6, where the same word is rendered “restrained.” He whose wondrous plans have been wrought out in the formation of the colossi of the brute creation is also the author of affliction, in whose varied features Job now sees marks of divine wisdom. The divine plan in sorrow impresses him as never before. He sees most vividly that his afflictions came forth from the all powerful, and therefore irresistible, will of God. The power of God is the postulate from which he reasons out to the entire being of Deity. One diameter measures all the other diameters of the same circle: so the possession of one infinite attribute implies that all the other attributes of that Being must be infinite. Hence the stress Job lays on the infinite power of God.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Job 42:2. I know that thou canst do every thing I know that thou art able to do every thing, and that wisdom cannot be attained without thee. Heath. And that there is no design which thou canst not accomplish. Houbigant.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Job 42:2 I know that thou canst do every [thing], and [that] no thought can be withholden from thee.
Ver. 2. I know that thou canst do everything ] God’s power is either absolute or actual. By the former he can do everything, make a world, and unmake it in an instant; of stones raise up children to Abraham, &c. By the latter, whatsoever he willeth, that he doth both in heaven and in earth, and none can withstand him. This Job knew before, but now better, because by experience and unquestionable evidence given in by God’s own mouth. And although this be but a short acknowledgment of God’s power and justice, yet is it well accepted, as proceeding from a true sense of faith. Neque exigit Deus a nobis multa verba, sed multam fidem (Merlin).
And that no thought can be withholden from thee
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
thou: Gen 18:14, Isa 43:13, Jer 32:17, Mat 19:26, Mar 10:27, Mar 14:36, Luk 18:27
no: Psa 44:21, Psa 139:2, Jer 17:10, Eze 38:10, Joh 2:24, Joh 2:25, Joh 21:17, Heb 4:12, Heb 4:13
can be withholden from thee: or, of thine can be hindered, Job 23:13, Pro 19:21, Ecc 3:14, Isa 14:27, Isa 46:10, Dan 4:35, Eph 1:11
Reciprocal: Job 23:5 – know Isa 66:18 – their thoughts Mat 15:27 – Truth Luk 6:8 – But Rom 9:20 – who art
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Job 42:2. I know thou canst do every thing Job here subscribes to Gods unlimited power, knowledge, and dominion, to prove which was the scope of Gods discourse out of the whirlwind. And his judgment being convinced of these, his conscience also was convinced of his own folly in speaking so irreverently concerning him. No thought can be withholden from thee No thought of ours can be withholden from thy knowledge. And there is no thought of thine which thou canst be hindered from bringing into execution.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
42:2 I know that thou canst do every [thing], and [that] no {a} thought can be withholden from thee.
(a) No thought so secret but you see it, nor anything that you think but that you can bring it to pass.