examination · interrogative particle + noun, common masculine singular construct
out
תִּמְצָ֑אtim.Tza'
H4672
properly · verb, qal imperfect, 2nd person masculine singular
God
אֱל֣וֹהַ'e.Lo.ha
H433
a deity or the Deity · noun, common masculine singular absolute
find
תִּמְצָֽאtim.Tza'
H4672
properly · verb, qal imperfect, 2nd person masculine singular
Almighty
שַׁדַּ֣יsha.Dai
H7706
the Almighty · proper noun, a title
perfection
תַּכְלִ֖יתtakh.Lit
H8503
completion · noun, common feminine singular construct
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Romans 11:33 O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!
Psalms 145:3 Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised; and his greatness is unsearchable.
Ecclesiastes 3:11 He hath made every thing beautiful in his time: also he hath set the world in their heart, so that no man can find out the work that God mak…
Isaiah 40:28 Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is…
Job 5:9 Which doeth great things and unsearchable; marvellous things without number:
Job 37:23 Touching the Almighty, we cannot find him out: he is excellent in power, and in judgment, and in plenty of justice: he will not afflict.
Psalms 77:19 Thy way is in the sea, and thy path in the great waters, and thy footsteps are not known.
Ephesians 3:8 Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of C…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Job 11:7-12
Zophar here speaks very good things concerning God and his greatness and glory, concerning man and his vanity and folly: these two compared together, and duly considered, will have a powerful influence upon our submission to all the dispensations of the divine Providence.
I. See here what God is, and let him be adored.
1. He is an incomprehensible Being, infinite and immense, whose nature and perfections our finite understandings cannot possibly form any adequate conceptions of, and whose counsels and actings we cannot therefore, without the greatest presumption, pass a judgment upon. We that are so little acquainted with the divine nature are incompetent judges of the divine providence; and…
Rather, "Penetrate to the perfections of the Almighty" (Job 9:10; Psa 139:6).
John Gill on Job 11:7
Canst thou by searching find out God?.... God is not to be found out by human search; that there is a God may be found out by inquiring into the book of nature, by considering the creatures that are made, who all proclaim some first cause or maker of them, who is God; but then it cannot be found out what God is, his nature, being, and perfections: an Heathen philosopher (i), being asked by a certain king what God was, required a day to give in his answer; when that was up he desired a second, and still went on asking more; and being demanded the reason of his dilatoriness, replied, the more he had considered the question, the more obscure it was to him: the world by wisdom, or the wiser part…
7 Canst thou find out the nature of Eloah,
And penetrate to the foundation of the existence of the Almighty?
8 It is as the heights of heaven-what wilt thou do?
Deeper than Hades-what canst thou know?
9 The measure thereof is longer than the earth,
And broader than the sea.
The majority of modern commentators erroneously translate חקר searching = comprehension, and תּכלית perfection, a meaning which this word never has. The former, indeed, signifies first in an active sense: finding out by search; and then also objectively: the object sought after: "the hidden ground" (Ewald), the depth (here and Job 38:16; also, according to Ew., Job 8:8, of the deep innermost thought). The latter denotes p…
The Church Fathers
"Have you entered the sanctuary of divinity? To dare to condemn her.
These words mean, "Do you know what the Almighty will do at the end of his works?" I certainly grant that we have experience of things that are otherwise evident and manifest, but they only disclose to us the loftiness of heaven and all divine things.
Canst thou find out the footsteps of God? Canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection? What does he call 'the footsteps of God,' saving the lovingkindness of His visitation? by which same we are stimulated to advance forward to things above, when we are influenced by the inspiration of His Spirit, and being carried without the narrow compass of the flesh, by love we see and own the likeness of our Maker presented to our contemplation that we may follow it. For when the love of the spiritual Land kindles the heart, He as it were gives knowledge of a way to persons that follow it, and a sort of footstep of God as He goes is imprinted upon the heart laid under it, that the way of life may be kept by the same in right goings of the thoughts. For Him, Whom we do not as yet see, it only remains for us to trace out by the footsteps of His love, that at length the mind may find Him, to the reaching the likeness contemplation gives of Him, Whom now as it were, following Him in the rear, it searches out by holy desires. The Psalmist was well skilled to follow these footsteps of our Creator, when he said, My soul followeth hard after Thee. Whom too he busied himself that he might find even to attaining the vision of His loftiness, when he said, My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before the face of God? For then Almighty God is found out by clear conception, when the corruption of our mortality being once for all trodden under our feet, He is seen by us that are taken up into heaven in the brightness of His Divine Nature. But at this present time, the grace of the Spirit which is poured into our hearts lifts the soul from carnal aims, and elevates it into a contempt for transitory things, and the mind looks down upon all that it coveted below, and is kindled to objects of desire above, and by the force of her contemplation she is carried out of the flesh, while by the weight of her corruption she is still held fast in the flesh; she strives to obtain sight of the splendour of uncircumscribed Light, and has not power; for the soul, being burthened with infirmity, both never wins admittance, and yet loves when repelled. For our Creator already exhibits concerning Himself something whereby love may be excited, but He withdraws the appearance of His vision from those so loving. Therefore we all go on seeing only His footsteps,…
Dictionary and topics
God · Is declared to be: Unsearchable — Is declared to be: Unsearchable
Ignorance · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
No one can discover everything about the Almighty (literally find out the limits of the Almighty), who is beyond the limits of the heavens, underworld, land, and sea (11:8-9).
Rashi on Job 11:7
Can you find out the mystery of God that you think that you have fulfilled everything?
