Isaiah 46:10

46:10 who announces the end from the beginning

and reveals beforehand ¹  what has not yet occurred,

who says, ‘My plan will be realized,

I will accomplish what I desire,’

Job 9:12

9:12 If he snatches away, ²  who can turn him back? ³ 

Who dares to say to him, ‘What are you doing?’

Job 34:14-15

34:14 If God ⁴  were to set his heart on it, ⁵ 

and gather in his spirit and his breath,

34:15 all flesh would perish together

and human beings would return to dust.

Job 34:29

34:29 But if God ⁶  is quiet, who can condemn ⁷  him?

If he hides his face, then who can see him?

Yet ⁸  he is over the individual and the nation alike, ⁹ 

Proverbs 21:30

21:30 There is no wisdom and there is no understanding,

and there is no counsel against ¹⁰  the Lord. ¹¹ 

Daniel 4:35

4:35 All the inhabitants of the earth are regarded as nothing. ¹² 

He does as he wishes with the army of heaven

and with those who inhabit the earth.

No one slaps ¹³  his hand

and says to him, ‘What have you done?’

Romans 9:18-19

9:18 So then, ¹⁴  God ¹⁵  has mercy on whom he chooses to have mercy, and he hardens whom he chooses to harden. ¹⁶ 

9:19 You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For who has ever resisted his will?”

Ephesians 1:11

1:11 In Christ ¹⁷  we too have been claimed as God’s own possession, ¹⁸  since we were predestined according to the one purpose of him who accomplishes all things according to the counsel of his will

[46:10]  ¹ tn Or “from long ago”; KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV “from ancient times.”

[9:12]  ² tn E. Dhorme (Job, 133) surveys the usages and concludes that the verb חָתַף (khataf) normally describes the wicked actions of a man, especially by treachery or trickery against another. But a verb חָתַף (khataf) is found nowhere else; a noun “robber” is found in Prov 23:28. Dhorme sees no reason to emend the text, because he concludes that the two verbs are synonymous. Job is saying that if God acts like a plunderer, there is no one who can challenge what he does.

[9:12]  ³ tn The verb is the Hiphil imperfect (potential again) from שׁוּב (shuv). In this stem it can mean “turn back, refute, repel” (BDB 999 s.v. Hiph.5).

[34:14]  ⁴ tn Heb “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[34:14]  ⁵ tc This is the reading following the Qere. The Kethib and the Syriac and the LXX suggest a reading יָשִׂים (yasim, “if he [God] recalls”). But this would require leaving out “his heart,” and would also require redividing the verse to make “his spirit” the object. It makes better parallelism, but may require too many changes.

[34:29]  ⁶ tn Heb “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[34:29]  ⁷ tn The verb in this position is somewhat difficult, although it does make good sense in the sentence – it is just not what the parallelism would suggest. So several emendations have been put forward, for which see the commentaries.

[34:29]  ⁸ tn The line simply reads “and over a nation and over a man together.” But it must be the qualification for the points being made in the previous lines, namely, that even if God hides himself so no one can see, yet he is still watching over them all (see H. H. Rowley, Job [NCBC], 222).

[34:29]  ⁹ tn The word translated “alike” (Heb “together”) has bothered some interpreters. In the reading taken here it is acceptable. But others have emended it to gain a verb, such as “he visits” (Beer), “he watches over” (Duhm), “he is compassionate” (Kissane), etc. But it is sufficient to say “he is over.”

[21:30]  ¹⁰ tn The form לְנֶגֶד (lÿneged) means “against; over against; in opposition to.” The line indicates they cannot in reality be in opposition, for human wisdom is nothing in comparison to the wisdom of God (J. H. Greenstone, Proverbs, 232).

[21:30]  ¹¹ sn The verse uses a single sentence to state that all wisdom, understanding, and advice must be in conformity to the will of God to be successful. It states it negatively – these things cannot be in defiance of God (e.g., Job 5:12-13; Isa 40:13-14).

[4:35]  ¹² tc The present translation reads כְּלָא (kÿla’), with many medieval Hebrew MSS, rather than כְּלָה (kÿlah) of BHS.

[4:35]  ¹³ tn Aram “strikes against.”

[9:18]  ¹⁴ sn There is a double connective here that cannot be easily preserved in English: “consequently therefore,” emphasizing the conclusion of what he has been arguing.

[9:18]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[9:18]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “So then, he has mercy on whom he desires, and he hardens whom he desires.”

[1:11]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “in whom,” as a continuation of the previous verse.

[1:11]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “we were appointed by lot.” The notion of the verb κληρόω (klhrow) in the OT was to “appoint a portion by lot” (the more frequent cognate verb κληρονομέω [klhronomew] meant “obtain a portion by lot”). In the passive, as here, the idea is that “we were appointed [as a portion] by lot” (BDAG 548 s.v. κληρόω 1). The words “God’s own” have been supplied in the translation to clarify this sense of the verb. An alternative interpretation is that believers receive a portion as an inheritance: “In Christ we too have been appointed a portion of the inheritance.” See H. W. Hoehner, Ephesians, 226-27, for discussion on this interpretive issue.