- English translation
No one can stop what God grants a person.
- Literal wording
Who can contend with the one to whom his Creator gives?
- Meaning and lesson
Within a religious view of events, the proverb says that a benefit or favor granted by God cannot be removed or withheld by another person’s opposition. Human resistance is presented as unable to overcome what the Creator has allotted.
It also casts conflict over another person’s divinely granted share as futile. Used rhetorically, it asks what could be gained by contending with someone over a benefit understood to lie beyond human control.
- When it is used
Used when someone tries to challenge or block another person’s benefit, favor, or good fortune. It may reassure the recipient that opposition cannot undo what God has granted, while portraying that opposition as futile within the saying’s religious framing.
Cite or copy proverb
How this record reached us: Editorially sourced.
Report an issue with this meaning: No one can stop what God grants a person.