Bible Strands
Job 35:5
Look to the heavens and see; gaze at the clouds high above you.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Elihu addresses Job and his friends to interrupt their debate over divine justice. He speaks at the moment they have exhausted their arguments about human righteousness and God's response.
The words — The Hebrew הַבֵּ֣ט (ha.Bet) commands "look at," paired with שָמַ֣יִם (sha.Ma.yim) for "heavens." The verb שׁוּר (Shur) instructs the reader to "observe" the clouds' height above himself.
The thread — The text directs attention to the elevated sky, a motif repeated in Job 22:12 and Isaiah 40:22. Isaiah 55:9 extends this upward gaze to contrast divine ways with human perspective.
Why it lands — The verse states a physical fact: the clouds and heavens exist at a measurable height above the observer. It requires the reader to acknowledge that spatial distance before evaluating any claim about influencing God.
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
Look unto the heavens, and see; and behold the clouds which are higher than thou.
Cross-references
- Job 22:12 Is not God as high as the heavens? Look at the highest stars, how lofty they are!
- 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.
- Isaiah 40:22 He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth; its dwellers are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in.
- Nahum 1:3 The LORD is slow to anger and great in power; the LORD will by no means leave the guilty unpunished. His path is in the whirlwind and storm, and clouds are the dust beneath His feet.
- Genesis 15:5 And the LORD took him outside and said, “Now look to the heavens and count the stars, if you are able.” Then He told him, “So shall your offspring be.”
- 1 Kings 8:27 But will God indeed dwell upon the earth? The heavens, even the highest heavens, cannot contain You, much less this temple I have built.
- Job 25:5 If even the moon does not shine, and the stars are not pure in His sight,
- Job 36:26 Indeed, God is great—beyond our knowledge; the number of His years is unsearchable.
- Job 37:16 Do you understand how the clouds float, those wonders of Him who is perfect in knowledge?
- Job 37:22 Out of the north He comes in golden splendor; awesome majesty surrounds Him.