Bible Strands
Job 37:7
He seals up the hand of every man, so that all men may know His work.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Elihu speaks to Job during a storm discourse, contrasting God’s direct command over weather with human inability to stop it.
The words — יַחְתּ֑וֹם (yach.Tom) literally means "he puts a seal," and בְּ/יַד\־ (be./yad-) means "on the hand." The text states God halts human action so recognition follows.
The thread — This pattern of divine restraint to expose human limitation runs in Job 5:12, where crafty plans are blocked, and Psalm 109:27, where people are told to recognize God’s hand.
Why it lands — The verse demands that readers accept their stopped capacity as the mechanism through which God’s work becomes known to all.
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
He sealeth up the hand of every man; that all men may know his work.
Cross-references
- Psalms 111:2 Great are the works of the LORD; they are pondered by all who delight in them.
- Psalms 109:27 Let them know that this is Your hand, that You, O LORD, have done it.
- Job 5:12 He thwarts the schemes of the crafty, so that their hands find no success.
- Job 9:7 He commands the sun not to shine; He seals off the stars.
- Job 12:14 What He tears down cannot be rebuilt; the man He imprisons cannot be released.
- Job 36:24 Remember to magnify His work, which men have praised in song.
- Psalms 46:8 Come, see the works of the LORD, who brings devastation upon the earth.
- Psalms 64:9 Then all mankind will fear and proclaim the work of God; so they will ponder what He has done.
- Psalms 92:4 For You, O LORD, have made me glad by Your deeds; I sing for joy at the works of Your hands.
- Ecclesiastes 8:17 I saw every work of God, and that a man is unable to comprehend the work that is done under the sun. Despite his efforts to search it out, he cannot find its meaning; even if the wise man claims to know, he is unable to comprehend.