The Meaning of Job 5:9 Explained

Job 5:9

KJV: Which doeth great things and unsearchable; marvellous things without number:

YLT: Doing great things, and there is no searching. Wonderful, till there is no numbering.

Darby: Who doeth great things and unsearchable, marvellous things without number;

ASV: Who doeth great things and unsearchable, Marvellous things without number:

KJV Reverse Interlinear

Which doeth  great things  and unsearchable;  marvellous things  without number: 

What does Job 5:9 Mean?

Context Summary

Job 5:1-27 - The Benefits Of Chastisement
In this chapter Eliphaz closes his first speech. He had already suggested that Job's sufferings were the result of some secret sin. It could not be otherwise according to his philosophy. Affliction and trouble did not come by chance. It was as much a law of nature, so Eliphaz thought, for calamity to follow sin as for sparks to fly upward. However deeply evil men had rooted themselves, they were doomed to be destroyed. Was it not obvious that Job had in some way offended? Let him confess and be restored!
The ideal life which will ensue on a genuine repentance is described in the most thrilling and glowing terms, Job 5:8-17. Each sentence is a priceless jewel, and each has been tested by generations of returning prodigals, for whom each promise has been countersigned by the "Yea" of Christ, 2 Corinthians 1:20. Paul quotes Job 5:13 in 1 Corinthians 3:19. [source]

Chapter Summary: Job 5

1  Eliphaz shows that the end of the wicked is misery;
6  that man is born to trouble;
8  that God is to be regarded in affliction;
17  the happy end of God's correction

What do the individual words in Job 5:9 mean?

who does great things and unsearchable Marvelous things outside without number
עֹשֶׂ֣ה גְ֭דֹלוֹת וְאֵ֣ין חֵ֑קֶר נִ֝פְלָא֗וֹת עַד־ אֵ֥ין מִסְפָּֽר

עֹשֶׂ֣ה  who  does 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Participle, masculine singular
Root: עָשָׂה 
Sense: to do, fashion, accomplish, make.
גְ֭דֹלוֹת  great  things 
Parse: Adjective, feminine plural
Root: גָּבֹול 
Sense: great.
חֵ֑קֶר  unsearchable 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular
Root: חֵקֶר  
Sense: a search, investigation, searching, enquiry, thing to be searched out.
נִ֝פְלָא֗וֹת  Marvelous  things 
Parse: Verb, Nifal, Participle, feminine plural
Root: פָּלָא  
Sense: to be marvellous, be wonderful, be surpassing, be extraordinary, separate by distinguishing action.
עַד־  outside 
Parse: Preposition
Root: עַד  
Sense: as far as, even to, until, up to, while, as far as.
אֵ֥ין  without 
Parse: Adverb
Root: אַיִן 
Sense: nothing, not, nought n.
מִסְפָּֽר  number 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular
Root: מִסְפָּר  
Sense: number, tale.