'Able' in the Bible

So now, do not let Hezekiah deceive you. Do not let him urge you according to this. Do not put trust in him, for no god of any nation and kingdom has been able to save his people from my hand and from the hand of my ancestors. Surely then your God will not save you from my hand!'"

Now these were the ones who came up from Tel-melah, Tel-harsha, Cherub, Addan, and Immer, but they were not able to prove their fathers' household and their descent, if they were from Israel:

But Judah said, "The strength of the carriers is failing, and there is too much dirt, and we are not able to build at the wall."

and I said to them: "We ourselves have bought back our brothers the Jews who were sold to the nations as we were able. But now you yourselves have sold your brothers so they may be sold to us!" They were silent and could not find a word [to say].

So I sent messengers to them, saying, "I am doing a great work and I am not able to come down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and come down to you all?"

These were the ones who came up from Tel-melah, Tel-harsha, Cherub, Addon, and Immer, but they were not able to prove their ancestral houses or their descent, whether they were from Israel:

"If you are able, answer me. Present [your argument] {before me}; take your stand.

I struck them and they were not able to stand up; they fell under my feet.

There doers of evil have fallen; they are thrust down and not able to rise.

For evils without number have encompassed me. My iniquities have overtaken me, so that I am not able to see. They are more than the hairs of my head, and my heart fails me.

[The] stouthearted are plundered; they sleep their sleep, and all [the] able men cannot {use} their hands.

And they spoke against God. They said, "Is God able to prepare a table in the wilderness?

Under three [things] the earth trembles, and under four, it is not able to bear up:

Consider the work of God. For who is able to make straight what he made crooked?

Then I saw all the work of God--man [is] not able to discover the work that is done under the sun. Although man may toil in seeking, he cannot find it. Even if a wise man claims [that he] knows it, he cannot find it.

Your new moons and your appointed festivals my soul hates; they have become to me like burden, I am not able to bear [them].

This happened in the days of Ahaz, son of Jotham, son of Uzziah, king of Judah. Rezin, king of Aram, and Pekah, son of Remaliah, king of Israel, went up [to] Jerusalem for warfare against it, but he was not able to fight against it.

And I will put the key of the house of David on his shoulder, and he shall open and no one [will be able to] shut; and he shall shut and no one [will be able to] open.

And the vision of all this has become for you like [the] words of sealed document. When they give it to one who knows the document, saying, "{Read} this now!" He says, "I am not able, for it [is] sealed."

And now please make a wager with my master the king of Assyria, and I will give you two thousand horses, [that is,] if you are able {put} riders for yourself on them!

Thus says the king: '[Do] not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he will not be able to deliver you!

They stoop; they bow down together. They are not able to save [the] burden, but {they themselves go} in captivity.

And evil shall come upon you, you will not know; it will be on the lookout for her. And disaster shall fall upon you; you will not be able to {avert} it. And ruin shall come on you suddenly; you do not know.

Stand, now, in your enchantments, and in your many sorceries with which you have labored from your youth. Perhaps you may be able to benefit; perhaps you may {scare away}.

But the wicked [are] like the churning sea, that is not able to keep quiet, and its waters toss up mire and mud.

To whom shall I speak and admonish, that they may hear? Look, their ears [are] {closed}, and they are not able to listen attentively. Look, the word of Yahweh is to them an object of scorn, they do not delight in it.

{Therefore} thus says Yahweh, "I [am] about to bring on them disaster from which they will not be able to escape. Though they cry out to me, yet I will not listen to them.

Can a Cushite change his skin, or a leopard his spots? [Then] you also will be able to do good, [who] are accustomed to doing evil.

Why should you be like a confused man, like a warrior [who] is not able to help? Yet you [are] in our midst, Yahweh, and your name is called upon us. You must not leave us!

"Like this potter, am I not able to do to you, O house of Israel?" {declares} Yahweh. "Look, like the clay in the hand of the potter, so [are] you in my hand, O house of Israel.

And you shall say to them, 'Thus says Yahweh of hosts: "So I will break this people and this city as one breaks the vessel of the potter, [so] that it is not able to be repaired again. And in Topheth they will bury {until there is no room to bury}.

But [if] I say, "I will not mention him and I will no longer speak in his name," then it becomes in my heart like a fire burning, locked up in my bones, and I struggle to contain [it], and I am not able.

And Jeremiah instructed Baruch, {saying}, "I [am] held back, I am not able to enter the temple of Yahweh.

And Zedekiah the king said, "Look, he [is] in your hand, for the king is not able [to do] a thing against you."

And Yahweh was no longer able to bear [it], {because of} the evil of your deeds, {because of} the detestable things that you committed. Thus your land became as a site of ruins, and as a horror, and as a curse, {without} inhabitants, as [it is] this day.

But I have stripped Esau bare. I have uncovered his hiding places, and he is not able to hide himself. His offspring are devastated, {along with} his brothers, and his neighbors, and {he is no more}.

Concerning Damascus: "Hamath and Arpad are ashamed, for they have heard bad news; they melt. [There is] concern in the sea. It is not able to keep quiet.

For the seller will not return to the merchandise {while they are still alive}, for the vision [is] about all of its multitude; it will not change, and a man because of his guilt will not be able to hold onto his life.

Their silver they will discard on the streets, and filth will be their gold; their silver and their gold will not be able to rescue them on the day of the wrath of Yahweh. They will not satisfy their {hunger} and their stomachs they will not fill, for their guilt will be their stumbling block.

"So you, son of man, say to {your people} [that] the righteousness of the righteous shall not save him in the day of his transgression, and the wickedness of the wicked {will not cause him to stumble} on the day of his returning from his wickedness; and [the] righteous will not be able to live by it on the day when he returns to his sin.

And he measured a thousand [cubits], [and] [it became] a stream that I was not able to cross, because the water rose, {waters a person could swim in}, [and became] a stream that could not be crossed.

The {astrologers} answered the king and said, "There is not a man on earth that is able to reveal the word of the king; {in fact}, no great and powerful king has [ever] asked a thing like this of any magician or conjurer or {astrologer}.

{The king then asked} and said to Daniel, whose name [was] Belteshazzar, "Are you able to make known to me the dream that I have seen and its explanation?"

Daniel answered the king and said, "The mystery that the king asks, no wise men, conjurers, magicians, [or] diviners are able to make known to the king.

The king answered Daniel and said, "{Truly} your God [is] the God of gods and the Lord of kings, and he reveals mysteries, for you are able to reveal this mystery."

{If it is so}, our God, whom we serve, is able to rescue us from the furnace of blazing fire. And from your hand, O king, let him rescue us.

And from me {is set forth} a decree that any people, nation, or language that [may] utter criticism against their God--[the God of] Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego--will be broken into pieces and their house will be made like ruins. {For} there is not another God who is able to rescue like this [God]."

" 'This [is] the dream [that] I, Nebuchadnezzar the king, saw. Now you, Belteshazzar, declare its explanation, {for} all of [the] wise men of my kingdom were not able to make the explanation known to me, but you are able because [the] spirit of holy gods [is] in you.'

Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and exalt and honor the king of heaven, for all his works [are] truth, and his ways [are] justice and that he is able to humble those who walk in pride."

Then all the wise men of the king came in, but they were not able to read the writing or to make known its explanation.

And now the wise men [and] the conjurers were brought in before me [so] that they could read this writing [in order to] make its explanation known to me, but they were not able to disclose the explanation of the matter.

But I have heard concerning you that you are able {to produce interpretations} and to solve riddles; now if you are able to read the writing and to make known its explanation to me, you will be clothed [in] purple and necklace of gold [will be placed] around your neck and you will rule [as] third [in command] in the kingdom."

Then the [other] administrators and satraps {began to seek} to find pretext against Daniel {in connection with the kingdom}, but they were not able to find any pretext and {corruption} {because} he was trustworthy, and no negligence or {corruption} {could be found in him}.

And {when he came near} to the pit, he cried out to Daniel with distressed voice, [and] the king {spoke} and said to Daniel, "O Daniel, servant of the living God, your God whom you serve faithfully, was he able to rescue you from the lions?"

Then Amaziah the priest of Bethel sent to Jeroboam the king of Israel, saying, "Amos has conspired against you in the midst of the house of Israel. The land is not able to endure all of his words.

Therefore, thus says Yahweh: Look! I am planning disaster against this family from which you will not be able to remove your necks. You will not walk proudly, for it [is] a time of disaster.

Your eyes [are] too pure to see evil, and you are not able to look at wrongdoing. Why do you look at the treacherous? [Why] are you silent when the wicked swallows up [someone] more righteous than him?

Moreover, their silver and their gold will not be able to save them on the day of the wrath of Yahweh. And in the fire of his zeal, the whole land shall be consumed, for a terrifying end he shall make [for] all the inhabitants of the land.

And do not think to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham [as] father.' For I say to you that God is able to raise up children for Abraham from these stones!

And do not swear by your head, because you are not able to make one hair white or black.

"No one is able to serve two masters. For either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You are not able to serve God and money.

And who among you, [by] being anxious, is able to add one hour to his life span?

A good tree is not able to produce bad fruit, nor a bad tree to produce good fruit.

And behold, a leper approached [and] worshiped him, saying, "Lord, if you are willing, you are able to make me clean."

And [when] he came to the other side, to the region of the Gadarenes, two demon-possessed men coming from among the tombs met him, very violent, so that no one was able to pass by along that road.

And Jesus said to them, "{The bridegroom's attendants} are not able to mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them. But days are coming when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.

And [when he] came into the house, the blind men approached him, and Jesus said to them, "Do you believe that I am able to do this?" They said to him, "Yes, Lord."

And do not be afraid of those who kill the body but are not able to kill the soul, but instead be afraid of the one who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

Offspring of vipers! How are you able to say good things [when you] are evil? For from the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.

and early in the morning, 'Today [it will be] stormy weather, because the sky is red [and] darkening.' You know how to evaluate correctly the appearance of the sky, but you are not able [to evaluate] the signs of the times.

And I brought him to your disciples, and they were not able to heal him."

Then the disciples approached Jesus privately [and] said, {Why} were we not able to expel it?"

For there are eunuchs who were born as such from [their] mother's womb, and there are eunuchs who were made eunuchs by people, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves [eunuchs] for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. The one who is able to accept [this], let him accept [it]."

But Jesus answered [and] said, "You do not know what you are asking! Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink?" They said to him, "We are able."

And no one was able to answer him a word, nor did anyone dare from that day [on] to ask him any more [questions].

And he came to the disciples and found them sleeping, and he said to Peter, "So, were you not able to stay awake with me one hour?

[and] said, "This man said, 'I am able to destroy the temple of God and rebuild [it] within three days.'"

"He saved others; he is not able to save himself! He is the king of Israel! Let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him!

And a leper came to him, entreating him and kneeling down, saying to him, "If you are willing, you are able to make me clean."

But he went out [and] began to proclaim [it] freely and to spread abroad the account, so that he was no longer able to enter publicly into a town. But he was staying outside in deserted places, and they were coming to him from all directions.

And [when] they were not able to bring [him] to him because of the crowd, they removed the roof where he was. And [after] digging through, they lowered the stretcher on which the paralytic was lying.

"Why does this man speak like this? He is blaspheming! Who is able to forgive sins except God alone?"

And Jesus said to them, "The {bridegroom's attendants} are not able to fast while the bridegroom is with them, [are they]? As long a time [as] they have the bridegroom with them, they are not able to fast.

And he went home, and the crowd gathered again, so that they were not even able to eat a meal.

And if a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom is not able to stand.

And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand.

And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he is not able to stand, but is at an end!

But no one is able to enter into the house of a strong [man] [and] plunder his property unless he first ties up the strong [man], and then he can thoroughly plunder his house.

but when it is sown it grows up and becomes the largest of all the garden herbs, and sends out large branches so that the birds of the sky are able to nest in its shade."

And with many parables such as these he was speaking the word to them, as they were able to hear [it].

who {lived} among the tombs. And no one was able to bind him any longer, not even with a chain,

And he was not able to do any miracle in that place except to lay his hands on a few sick [people] [and] heal [them].

So Herodias held a grudge against him and was wanting to kill him, and was not able [to do so].

There is nothing outside of a person that is able to defile him [by] going into him. But the things that go out of a person are the things that defile a person."

And he said to them, "So are you also without understanding? Do you not understand that everything [that is] outside that goes into a person [is] not able to defile him?

And from there he set out [and] went to the region of Tyre. And [when he] entered into a house, he wanted no one to know, and [yet] he was not able to escape notice.

And his disciples answered him, "Where is anyone able to feed these [people] with bread here in the desert?"

And whenever it seizes him, it throws him down and he foams at the mouth and grinds his teeth and becomes paralyzed. And I told your disciples that they should expel it, and they were not able [to do so].

And often it has thrown him both into fire and into water, in order that it could destroy him. But if you are able [to do] anything, have compassion on us [and] help us!"

But Jesus said to him, "If you are able! All [things] [are] possible for the one who believes!"