Anakalypsis / Unveiling the Word

Daniel 4:35

And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing: and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou?

KJV

and all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing; and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou?

ASV

and all who are dwelling on the earth as nothing are reckoned, and according to his will He is doing among the forces of the heavens and those dwelling on the earth, and there is none that doth clap with his hand, and saith to Him, What hast Thou done?

YLT

Open in reader with connections →

Themes

Historic Christian voices

3 passages from patristic writers, Reformers, and church catechisms citing this verse.

God foreknows nothing contingently, but He foresees, purposes, and does all things according to His own immutable, eternal and infallible will. This thunderbolt throws free will flat, and utterly shatters it. Those who want to assert free will must either deny this thunderbolt, or pretend not to notice it, or find some other way of dodging it.
The Arminian notion of liberty — that the will must be self-determined, or able to determine itself without any prior cause — involves an infinite regress. For if the first act of choice must itself be chosen by a prior act, then that prior act must also be chosen, and so on to infinity. This is absurd. The truth is that the will is determined by the motives which God's provide…

Cross-references

  • 1Cor 2:16 — For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.
  • 1Cor 3:7 — So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.
  • 1Cor 10:22 — Do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? are we stronger than he?
  • 1Kgs 12:15 — Wherefore the king hearkened not unto the people; for the cause was from the LORD, that he might perform his saying, which the LORD spake by Ahijah the Shilonite unto Jeroboam the son of Nebat.
  • 1Sam 3:18 — And Samuel told him every whit, and hid nothing from him. And he said, It is the LORD: let him do what seemeth him good.
  • 2Chr 36:23 — Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, All the kingdoms of the earth hath the LORD God of heaven given me; and he hath charged me to build him an house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Who is there among yo
  • 2Kgs 9:3 — Then take the box of oil, and pour it on his head, and say, Thus saith the LORD, I have anointed thee king over Israel. Then open the door, and flee, and tarry not.
  • 2Sam 16:10 — And the king said, What have I to do with you, ye sons of Zeruiah? so let him curse, because the LORD hath said unto him, Curse David. Who shall then say, Wherefore hast thou done so?
  • Acts 2:23 — Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain:
  • Acts 4:28 — For to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done.
  • Acts 5:39 — But if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it; lest haply ye be found even to fight against God.
  • Acts 5:39 — But if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it; lest haply ye be found even to fight against God.
  • Acts 9:5 — And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.
  • Acts 11:17 — Forasmuch then as God gave them the like gift as he did unto us, who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ; what was I, that I could withstand God?
  • Acts 11:17 — Forasmuch then as God gave them the like gift as he did unto us, who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ; what was I, that I could withstand God?
  • Acts 17:24 — God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands;
  • Dan 3:17 — If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king.
  • Dan 5:21 — And he was driven from the sons of men; and his heart was made like the beasts, and his dwelling was with the wild asses: they fed him with grass like oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven
  • Deut 4:39 — Know therefore this day, and consider it in thine heart, that the LORD he is God in heaven above, and upon the earth beneath: there is none else.
  • Eccl 8:3 — Be not hasty to go out of his sight: stand not in an evil thing; for he doeth whatsoever pleaseth him.
  • Eccl 8:4 — Where the word of a king is, there is power: and who may say unto him, What doest thou?
  • Eccl 9:11 — I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skil
  • Eph 1:5 — Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,
  • Eph 1:11 — In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:
  • Gen 17:1 — And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect.
  • Heb 2:4 — God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will?
  • Isa 14:24 — The LORD of hosts hath sworn, saying, Surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass; and as I have purposed, so shall it stand:
  • Isa 19:17 — And the land of Judah shall be a terror unto Egypt, every one that maketh mention thereof shall be afraid in himself, because of the counsel of the LORD of hosts, which he hath determined against it.
  • Isa 26:9 — With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early: for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.
  • Isa 40:15 — Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance: behold, he taketh up the isles as a very little thing.
  • Isa 40:22 — It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretcheth out the heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in:
  • Isa 41:11 — Behold, all they that were incensed against thee shall be ashamed and confounded: they shall be as nothing; and they that strive with thee shall perish.
  • Isa 43:13 — Yea, before the day was I am he; and there is none that can deliver out of my hand: I will work, and who shall let it?
  • Isa 43:13 — Yea, before the day was I am he; and there is none that can deliver out of my hand: I will work, and who shall let it?
  • Isa 45:9 — Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker! Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth. Shall the clay say to him that fashioneth it, What makest thou? or thy work, He hath no hands?
  • Isa 46:10 — Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:
  • Isa 46:10 — Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:
  • Jer 23:24 — Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the LORD. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the LORD.
  • Jer 32:19 — Great in counsel, and mighty in work: for thine eyes are open upon all the ways of the sons of men: to give every one according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings:
  • Job 9:4 — He is wise in heart, and mighty in strength: who hath hardened himself against him, and hath prospered?