Bible Strands
Job 40:9
Do you have an arm like God’s? Can you thunder with a voice like His?
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — God addresses Job directly in the ongoing whirlwind discourse, responding to Job’s challenge by shifting the focus from legal justice to raw power.
The words — The terms ze.roa' (arm) and tar.'em (will you thunder) frame the rhetorical challenge around physical strength and authoritative speech.
The thread — The text’s imagery of divine power appears in Job 37:4 where God thunders with His voice, and in Psalms 89:13 and Exodus 15:6 where God’s arm and right hand display unmatched might.
Why it lands — The verse states that human capacity cannot match divine strength or voice, requiring the reader to acknowledge the factual gap between creature and Creator without evasion.
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
Hast thou an arm like God? or canst thou thunder with a voice like him?
Cross-references
- Job 37:4 Then there comes a roaring sound; He thunders with His majestic voice. He does not restrain the lightning when His voice resounds.
- Psalms 89:13 Mighty is Your arm; strong is Your hand. Your right hand is exalted.
- Exodus 15:6 Your right hand, O LORD, is majestic in power; Your right hand, O LORD, has shattered the enemy.
- Job 9:4 God is wise in heart and mighty in strength. Who has resisted Him and prospered?
- Job 23:6 Would He contend with me in His great power? No, He would certainly take note of me.
- Job 33:12 Behold, you are not right in this matter. I will answer you, for God is greater than man.
- Psalms 29:3 The voice of the LORD is over the waters; the God of glory thunders; the LORD is heard over many waters.
- Psalms 39:3 My heart grew hot within me; as I mused, the fire burned. Then I spoke with my tongue:
- Psalms 89:10 You crushed Rahab like a carcass; You scattered Your enemies with Your mighty arm.
- 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’?