Bible Strands
Job 34:13
Who gave Him charge over the earth? Who appointed Him over the whole world?
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The speaker addresses Job within a continuous discourse, positioned between statements on divine justice and the withdrawal of God's Spirit.
The words — The verse centers on פָקַד (fa.Kad), meaning did he assign, and שׂם (Sam), meaning did he put, both directed at God's governance of the earth and the world.
The thread — The rhetorical assertion of supreme, unaccountable authority appears in 1 Chronicles 29:11, Isaiah 40:13, and Romans 11:34.
Why it lands — The text demands acknowledgment that no higher power exists to delegate, oversee, or question God's appointment over creation.
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
Who hath given him a charge over the earth? or who hath disposed the whole world?
Cross-references
- 1 Chronicles 29:11 Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the splendor and the majesty, for everything in heaven and on earth belongs to You. Yours, O LORD, is the kingdom, and You are exalted as head over all.
- Isaiah 40:13 Who has directed the Spirit of the LORD, or informed Him as His counselor?
- Romans 11:34 “Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been His counselor?”
- Job 36:23 Who has appointed His way for Him, or told Him, ‘You have done wrong’?
- Job 38:4 Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding.
- Job 40:8 Would you really annul My justice? Would you condemn Me to justify yourself?
- Proverbs 8:23 From everlasting I was established, from the beginning, before the earth began.
- 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?’”