Bible Strands
Job 33:13
Why do you complain to Him that He answers nothing a man asks?
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The speaker of Job 33 addresses Job directly, following his declaration that God is greater than man and preceding his explanation of how God communicates.
The words — The Hebrew verb רִיב֑וֹתָ (ri.Vo.ta) translates to "have you contended," and the phrase כָּל־דְּבָרָיו (khol-de.va.Ra/v) means "all his words," framing Job's grievance as a legal dispute over perceived divine silence.
The thread — This pattern of human contention with God recurs in Job 40:2, Isaiah 45:9, and Daniel 4:35, where questioning or disputing the Creator's responsiveness is consistently rebuked.
Why it lands — It requires the reader to confront whether their complaints presume God owes them explanations, rather than acknowledging that unanswered petitions do not indicate divine absence.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Why dost thou strive against him? for he giveth not account of any of his matters.
Cross-references
- Job 40:2 “Will the faultfinder contend with the Almighty? Let him who argues with God give an answer.”
- Isaiah 45:9 Woe to him who quarrels with his Maker—one clay pot among many. Does the clay ask the potter, ‘What are you making?’ Does your work say, ‘He has no hands’?
- Daniel 4:35 All 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?’”
- Romans 11:34 “Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been His counselor?”
- Deuteronomy 29:29 The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, so that we may follow all the words of this law.
- Job 9:14 How then can I answer Him or choose my arguments against Him?
- Job 15:25 For he has stretched out his hand against God and has vaunted himself against the Almighty,
- Psalms 62:11 God has spoken once; I have heard this twice: that power belongs to God,
- Isaiah 46:10 I declare the end from the beginning, and from ancient times what is still to come. I say, ‘My purpose will stand, and all My good pleasure I will accomplish.’
- Jeremiah 50:24 I laid a snare for you, O Babylon, and you were caught before you knew it. You were found and captured because you challenged the LORD.