'Cannot' in the Bible

Behold now, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have magnified your kindness and mercy to me in saving my life; but I cannot escape to the mountains, lest the evil overtake me, and I die.

Make haste and take refuge there, for I cannot do anything until you arrive there. Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar [little].

Then Laban and Bethuel answered, The thing comes forth from the Lord; we cannot speak bad or good to you.

But they said, We cannot until all the flocks are gathered together; then [the shepherds] roll the stone from the well's mouth and we water the sheep.

And [Rachel] said to her father, Do not be displeased, my lord, that I cannot rise up before you, for the period of women is upon me and I am unwell. And he searched, but did not find the gods.

And You said, I will surely do you good and make your descendants as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.

They said to them, We cannot do this thing and give our sister to one who is not circumcised, for that would be a reproach and disgrace to us.

So he returned to Judah and said, I cannot find her; and also the local men said, There was no harlot or temple prostitute around here.

And we said to my lord, The lad cannot leave his father; for if he should do so, his father would die.

But we said, We cannot go down. If our youngest brother is with us, then we will go down; for we may not see the man's face except our youngest brother is with us.

And they shall cover the land so that one cannot see the ground; and they shall eat the remainder of what escaped and is left to you from the hail, and they shall eat every tree of yours that grows in the field;

And Moses said to the Lord, The people cannot come up to Mount Sinai, for You Yourself charged us, saying, Set bounds about the mountain and sanctify it [set it apart for God].

But if he cannot afford a lamb, then he shall bring for his guilt offering to the Lord two turtledoves or two young pigeons, one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering.

But if the offender cannot afford to bring two turtledoves or two young pigeons, then he shall bring for his offering the tenth part of an ephah of fine flour for a sin offering; he shall put no oil or frankincense on it, for it is a sin offering.

If the cleansed leper is poor and cannot afford so much, he shall take one lamb for a guilt or trespass offering to be waved to make atonement for him, and one tenth of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil for a cereal offering, and a log of oil,

All the heave offerings [the lifted-out and kept portions] of the holy things which the Israelites give to the Lord I give to you and to your sons and your daughters with you, as a continual debt forever. It is a covenant of salt [that cannot be dissolved or violated] forever before the Lord for you [Aaron] and for your posterity with you.

And Balaam answered the servants of Balak, If Balak would give me his house full of silver and gold, I cannot go beyond the word of the Lord my God, to do less or more.

You see, I have received His command to bless Israel. He has blessed, and I cannot reverse or qualify it.

If Balak would give me his house full of silver and gold, I cannot go beyond the command of the Lord, to do either good or bad of my own will, but what the Lord says, that will I speak?

Everything that can stand fire, you shall make go through fire, and it shall be clean. Nevertheless it shall also be purified with the water of impurity; and all that cannot stand fire [such as fabrics] you shall pass through water.

Moreover, your little ones whom you said would become a prey, and your children who at this time cannot discern between good and evil, they shall enter Canaan, and to them I will give it and they shall possess it.

The Lord will smite you with the boils of Egypt and the tumors, the scurvy and the itch, from which you cannot be healed.

The Lord will smite you on the knees and on the legs with a sore boil that cannot be healed, from the sole of your foot to the top of your head.

And Joshua said to the people, You cannot serve the Lord, for He is a holy God; He is a jealous God. He will not forgive your transgressions or your sins.

And when he saw her, he rent his clothes and said, Alas, my daughter! You have brought me very low, and you are the cause of great trouble to me; for I have opened my mouth [in a vow] to the Lord, and I cannot take it back.

But if you cannot declare it to me, then shall you give me thirty linen undergarments and thirty changes of festive [costly] raiment. And they said to him, Put forth your riddle, that we may hear it.

But we cannot give them wives of our daughters, for the Israelites have sworn, Cursed be he who gives a wife to Benjamin.

And the kinsman said, I cannot redeem it for myself, lest [by marrying a Moabitess] I endanger my own inheritance. Take my right of redemption yourself, for I cannot redeem it.

And turn not aside after vain and worthless things which cannot profit or deliver you, for they are empty and futile.

And David girded his sword over his armor. Then he tried to go, but could not, for he was not used to it. And David said to Saul, I cannot go with these, for I am not used to them. And David took them off.

When Saul saw David go out against the Philistine, he said to Abner, the captain of the host, Abner, whose son is this youth? And Abner said, As your soul lives, O king, I cannot tell.

So know this and consider what you will do, for evil is determined against our master and all his house. For he is such a wicked man that one cannot speak to him.

And the king and his men went to Jerusalem against the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land, who said to David, You shall not enter here, for the blind and the lame will prevent you; they thought, David cannot come in here.

We must all die; we are like water spilled on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again. And God does not take away life, but devises means so that he who is banished may not be an utter outcast from Him.

But wicked, godless, and worthless lives are all like thorns to be thrust away, because they cannot be taken with the hand.

Your servant is in the midst of Your people whom You have chosen, a great people who cannot be counted for multitude.

But will God indeed dwell with men on the earth? Behold, the heavens and heaven of heavens [in its most extended compass] cannot contain You; how much less this house that I have built?

And as soon as I have gone out from you, the Spirit of the Lord will carry you I know not where; so when I come and tell Ahab and he cannot find you, he will kill me. But I your servant have feared and revered the Lord from my youth.

So he said to Ben-hadad's messengers, Tell my lord the king, All you first sent for to your servant I will do, but this thing I cannot do. And the messengers left; then they brought him word again.

Tremble and reverently fear before Him, all the earth's peoples; the world also shall be established, so it cannot be moved.

But who is able to build Him a house, since heaven, even highest heaven, cannot contain Him? Who am I to build Him a house, except as a place to burn incense in worship before Him?

But will God actually dwell with men on the earth? Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain You; how much less this house which I have built!

Behold, God Himself is with us at our head, and His priests with their battle trumpets to sound an alarm against you. O Israelites, fight not against the Lord, the God of your fathers, for you cannot prosper.

Then the Spirit of God came upon Zechariah son of Jehoiada the priest, who stood over the people, and he said to them, Thus says God: Why do you transgress the commandments of the Lord so that you cannot prosper? Because you have forsaken the Lord, He also has forsaken you.

But the people are many and it is a time of heavy rain; we cannot stand outside. Nor can this work be done in a day or two, for we have greatly transgressed in this matter.

And I sent messengers to them, saying, I am doing a great work and cannot come down. Why should the work stop while I leave to come down to you?

And Haman recounted to Zeresh his wife and all his friends everything that had happened to him. Then his wise men and Zeresh his wife said to him, If Mordecai, before whom you have begun to fall, is of the offspring of the Jews, you cannot prevail against him, but shall surely fall before him.

He frustrates the devices of the crafty, so that their hands cannot perform their enterprise or anything of [lasting] worth.

Is there wrong on my tongue? Cannot my taste discern what is destructive?

If one should want to contend with Him, he cannot answer one [of His questions] in a thousand.

Behold, He tears down, and it cannot be built again; He shuts a man in, and none can open.

Since a man's days are already determined, and the number of his months is wholly in Your control, and he cannot pass the bounds of his allotted time -- "

He has walled up my way so that I cannot pass, and He has set darkness upon my paths.

Your light is darkened, so that you cannot see, and a flood of water covers you.

Behold, I go forward [and to the east], but He is not there; I go backward [and to the west], but I cannot perceive Him;

On the left hand [and to the north] where He works [I seek Him], but I cannot behold Him; He turns Himself to the right hand [and to the south], but I cannot see Him.

The womb shall forget him, the worm shall feed sweetly on him; he shall be no more remembered, and unrighteousness shall be broken like a tree [which cannot be healed].

It cannot be gotten for gold, neither shall silver be weighed for the price of it.

It cannot be valued in [terms of] the gold of Ophir, in the precious onyx or beryl, or the sapphire.

Gold and glass cannot equal [Wisdom], nor can it be exchanged for jewels or vessels of fine gold.

The topaz of Ethiopia cannot compare with it, nor can it be valued in pure gold.

His flesh is so wasted away that it cannot be seen, and his bones that were not seen stick out.

Your wickedness touches and affects a man such as you are, and your righteousness is for yourself, one of the human race [but it cannot touch God, Who is above such influence].

God thunders marvelously with His voice; He does great things which we cannot comprehend.

Tell us [Job] with what words of man we may address such a Being; we cannot state our case because we are in the dark [in the presence of the unsearchable God].

And now men cannot look upon the light when it is bright in the skies, when the wind has passed and cleared them.

Touching the Almighty, we cannot find Him out; He is excellent in power; and to justice and plenteous righteousness He does no violence [He will disregard no right].

They are joined one to another; they stick together so that they cannot be separated.

The folds of his flesh cleave together; they are firm upon him, and they cannot shake [when he moves].

Even if one strikes at him with the sword, it cannot get any hold, nor does the spear, the dart, or the javelin.

The arrow cannot make [the crocodile] flee; slingstones are treated by him as stubble.

All the mighty ones upon earth shall eat [in thanksgiving] and worship; all they that go down to the dust shall bow before Him, even he who cannot keep himself alive.

Let their eyes be darkened so that they cannot see, and make their loins tremble continually [from terror, dismay, and feebleness].

You hold my eyes from closing; I am so troubled that I cannot speak.

How long, O Lord? Will You be angry forever? Shall Your jealousy [which cannot endure a divided allegiance] burn like fire?

You have put my [familiar] friends far from me; You have made me an abomination to them. I am shut up, and I cannot come forth.

Once [for all] have I sworn by My holiness, which cannot be violated; I will not lie to David:

The Lord reigns, He is clothed with majesty; the Lord is robed, He has girded Himself with strength and power; the world also is established, that it cannot be moved.

Say among the nations that the Lord reigns; the world also is established, so that it cannot be moved; He shall judge and rule the people righteously and with justice.

Whoso privily slanders his neighbor, him will I cut off [from me]; he who has a haughty look and a proud and arrogant heart I cannot and I will not tolerate.

Those who trust in, lean on, and confidently hope in the Lord are like Mount Zion, which cannot be moved but abides and stands fast forever.

Your [infinite] knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high above me, I cannot reach it.

He also established them forever and ever; He made a decree which shall not pass away [He fixed their bounds which cannot be passed over].

For they cannot sleep unless they have caused trouble or vexation; their sleep is taken away unless they have caused someone to fall.

She loses sight of and walks not in the path of life; her ways wind about aimlessly, and you cannot know them.

The reverent, worshipful fear of the Lord leads to life, and he who has it rests satisfied; he cannot be visited with [actual] evil.

Under three things the earth is disquieted, and under four it cannot bear up:

All things are weary with toil and all words are feeble; man cannot utter it. The eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing.

What is crooked cannot be made straight, and what is defective and lacking cannot be counted.

He has made everything beautiful in its time. He also has planted eternity in men's hearts and minds [a divinely implanted sense of a purpose working through the ages which nothing under the sun but God alone can satisfy], yet so that men cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.

Then I saw all the work of God, that man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun -- "because however much a man may toil in seeking, yet he will not find it out; yes, more than that, though a wise man thinks and claims he knows, yet will he not be able to find it out.

Many waters cannot quench love, neither can floods drown it. If a man would offer all the goods of his house for love, he would be utterly scorned and despised.

Bring no more offerings of vanity (emptiness, falsity, vainglory, and futility); [your hollow offering of] incense is an abomination to Me; the New Moons and Sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot endure -- "[it is] iniquity and profanation, even the solemn meeting.

Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them, who have no regard for silver and do not delight in gold [and thus cannot be bribed].

Therefore are my [Isaiah's] loins filled with anguish, pangs have seized me like the pangs of a woman in childbirth; I am bent and pained so that I cannot hear, I am dismayed so that I cannot see.

And the vision of all this has become for you like the words of a book that is sealed. When men give it to one who can read, saying, Read this, I pray you, he says, I cannot, for it is sealed.

And when the book is given to him who is not learned, saying, Read this, I pray you, he says, I cannot read.

Yet will all be ashamed because of a people [the Egyptians] who cannot profit them, who are not a help or benefit, but a shame and disgrace.

A mournful, inspired prediction (a burden to be lifted up) concerning the beasts of the South (the Negeb): Oh, the heavy burden, the load of treasures going to Egypt! Through a land of trouble and anguish, in which are lioness and lion, viper and fiery flying serpent, they carry their riches upon the shoulders of young donkeys, and their treasures upon the humps of camels, to a people that will not and cannot profit them.

And he shall break it as a potter's vessel is broken, breaking it in pieces without sparing so that there cannot be found among its pieces one large enough to carry coals of fire from the hearth or to dip water out of the cistern.