Bible Strands
Job 11:8
They are higher than the heavens—what can you do? They are deeper than Sheol—what can you know?
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Zophar addresses Job during his first speech in the covenant dialogue, responding to Job's preceding lament.
The words — The phrase גָּבְהֵי שָׁמַיִם (ga.ve.Hei Sha.ma.yim) translates literally to "heights of the heavens," while עֲמֻקָּה מִשְׁאֹל ('a.mu.Kah mi./she.'ol) means "deep beyond Sheol."
The thread — This motif of divine transcendence appears in Job 22:12, Psalms 139:6, and Isaiah 55:9.
Why it lands — The text states that God's nature and knowledge surpass human measurement and comprehension. It requires the reader to accept human limitation rather than demand divine accountability.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
It is as high as heaven; what canst thou do? deeper than hell; what canst thou know?
Cross-references
- Job 22:12 Is not God as high as the heavens? Look at the highest stars, how lofty they are!
- Psalms 139:6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.
- Isaiah 55:9 “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so My ways are higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.
- Job 26:6 Sheol is naked before God, and Abaddon has no covering.
- Job 35:5 Look to the heavens and see; gaze at the clouds high above you.
- Psalms 148:13 Let them praise the name of the LORD, for His name alone is exalted; His splendor is above the earth and the heavens.
- Amos 9:2 Though they dig down to Sheol, from there My hand will take them; and though they climb up to heaven, from there I will pull them down.
- 2 Chronicles 6:18 But will God indeed dwell with man upon the earth? The heavens, even the highest heavens, cannot contain You, much less this temple I have built.
- Psalms 103:11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His loving devotion for those who fear Him.
- Proverbs 25:2 It is the glory of God to conceal a matter and the glory of kings to search it out.