the arm (as stretched out) · noun, common feminine singular absolute
God
כָּאֵ֥לka.'El
H410
strength · preposition with the article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
thunder
תַרְעֵֽםtar.'Em
H7481
to tumble · verb, hiphil jussive, 2nd person masculine singular
voice
וּ֝בְק֗וֹלu.ve.Kol
H6963
a voice or sound · conjunction + preposition + noun, common masculine singular absolute
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
Job 37:4-5 After it a voice roareth: he thundereth with the voice of his excellency; and he will not stay them when his voice is heard.
Psalms 89:13 Thou hast a mighty arm: strong is thy hand, and high is thy right hand.
Exodus 15:6 Thy right hand, O LORD, is become glorious in power: thy right hand, O LORD, hath dashed in pieces the enemy.
Job 9:4 He is wise in heart, and mighty in strength: who hath hardened himself against him, and hath prospered?
Job 23:6 Will he plead against me with his great power? No; but he would put strength in me.
Job 33:12-13 Behold, in this thou art not just: I will answer thee, that God is greater than man.
Psalms 29:3 The voice of the LORD is upon the waters: the God of glory thundereth: the LORD is upon many waters.
Psalms 39:3-9 My heart was hot within me, while I was musing the fire burned: then spake I with my tongue,
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Job 40:6-14
Job was greatly humbled for what God had already said, but not sufficiently; he was brought low, but not low enough; and therefore God here proceeds to reason with him in the same manner and to the same purport as before, Job 40:6. Observe, 1. Those who duly receive what they have heard from God, and profit by it, shall hear more from him. 2. Those who are truly convinced of sin, and penitent for it, yet have need to be more thoroughly convinced and to be made more deeply penitent. Those who are under convictions, who have their sins set in order before their eyes and their hearts broken for them, must learn from this instance not to catch at comfort too soon; it will be everlasting when it…
Hast thou an arm like God? - Every word, from this to the end of Job 40:14, has a wonderful tendency to humble the soul; and it is no wonder that at the conclusion of these sayings Job fell in the dust confounded, and ascribed righteousness to his Maker.
John Gill on Job 40:9
Hast thou an arm like God?.... Such power as he has, which is infinite, almighty, and uncontrollable, and therefore there is no contending with him; as he has an arm on which good men may lean on and trust in, and by which they are supported, protected, and saved, so he has an arm to crush like a moth all that strive with him or against him;
or canst thou thunder with a voice like him? thunder is his voice; see Job 37:4, &c. and is expressive of his power, Job 26:14; and his powerful voice may be observed in calling all things out of nothing into being in creation; in commanding and ordering all things in providence according to his pleasure; and in quickening sinners through his Gospel, by…
When there is a reference to the voice or the "arm" [power] of God, we must be very careful not to attribute to him any corporeal feature. To enclose into corporeal dimensions him who cannot be circumscribed and fills and embraces everything would mean to fall into the heresy of the Anthropomorphites. But the almighty God, drawing us toward his condition, humiliates himself to our context, and in order to suggest to us sublime truths, he lowers himself to the humble ones. Therefore the soul of the little ones, being led by well-known models, rises to look for what is unknown, and moves with firm steps towards the Most High.
Hast thou an arm like God, and dost thou thunder with a voice like Him? 6. Because blessed Job transcended in merits the race of men, his merciful Creator and Teacher challenges him to consider the resemblance of His greatness, in order that, having known the great dissimilarity, he may keep himself down in humility. 7. But when a voice and arm are spoken of in God, we must take the greatest care that our mind imagines nothing corporeal in Him. For to confine Him within the lineaments of a body, Who without circumscription fills and embraces all things, is to fall into the heresy of the Anthropomorphites. But Almighty God, in drawing us to His own things, humbles Himself even to ours, and, to teach lofty, condescends to lowly things; in order that the mind of little ones, being nourished with the things it knows, may rise to enquire into those it knows not, and hearing from Him Who is far above it, some truths nigh itself, may move, as it were, some steps towards Him. Whence it happens, that in His own Scripture He sometimes from the bodies of men, sometimes from their minds, but sometimes from birds, and sometimes even from insensate objects, applies to Himself some very unlikely resemblances. For He frequently applies to Himself a resemblance from the bodies of men, as the Prophet says of Him to the Israelites, He that hath touched you, toucheth the apple of His eye. [Zech. 2, 8] And as it is said again of Him by the Prophet to a man who trusts in Him; He will make a shadow for thee with His shoulders. [Ps. 91, 4] It is doubtless admitted that God in His own nature has neither eye, nor shoulders; but since we see with our eye, but support burdens on our shoulders, God, because He sees all things, is said to have an eye; but because He carries us, and by carrying preserves us, He is said to make a shadow for us with His shoulders. For he says, He will make a shadow for thee with His shoulders. As if He were saying to man who was a sinner, and, after his sin asking pardon, The Lord protects thee with the same affection, with which He endured thee. For He shadows thee with His shoulders, because while He carries, He defends thee. But sometimes He applies to Himself a resemblance from our minds, as He says by the Prophet to Israel; I have remembered thee, having pity on thy youth. [Jer. 2, 2] And again speaking by the comparison of a wife, He says; Even if…
Dictionary and topics
Thunder — Often referred to in Scripture (Job 40:9; Ps. 77:18; 104:7). James and John were called by our Lord “sons of thunder” (Mark 3:17). In Job 39:19, instead of “thunder,” as in the Authorized Version,…
Power Of God, The · Expressed by the: Arm of God — Expressed by the: Arm of God
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).
Keil & Delitzsch on Job 40:7-9
7 Gird up thy loins manfully:
I will question thee, and do thou answer me!
8 Wilt thou altogether annul my right,
Condemn me, that thou mayest be righteous?
9 And hast thou then an arm like God,
And canst thou with the voice thunder like Him?
The question with האף stands to Job 40:2 in the relation of a climax: Job contended not alone with God, which is in itself wrong, let it be whatsoever it may; he went so far as to lose sight of the divine justice in the government of the world, and in order not to be obliged to give up his own righteousness, so far as to doubt the divine. ואם, Job 40:9, is also interrogative, as Job 8:3; Job 21:4; Job 34:17, comp. Job 39:13, not expressive of a wish, as…
Job’s words (10:7; 27:2; 31:35-37) had angered Elihu (32:2; 34:5); now God himself challenged them.
Rashi on Job 40:8
(God’s answer from the tempest) Will you even make void My judgment Will you even prove with your words to make My judgment void and to show that it is perverted?