Job 11:8

Easy-to-Read Version

That knowledge is higher than the heavens and deeper than the place of death. So what can you do? How can you learn it all?

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
They are higher than the heavens—what can you do?They are deeper than Sheol—what can you know?

Hebrew Names Version
They are high as heaven. What can you do? Deeper than She'ol: what can you know?

King James Version
It is as high as heaven; what canst thou do? deeper than hell; what canst thou know?

English Standard Version
It is higher than heaven—what can you do? Deeper than Sheol—what can you know?

New Century Version
His limits are higher than the heavens; you cannot reach them! They are deeper than the grave; you cannot understand them!

New English Translation
It is higher than the heavens—what can you do? It is deeper than Sheol—what can you know?

Amplified Bible
"His wisdom is as high as the heights of heaven. What can you do? It is deeper than Sheol (the nether world, the place of the dead). What can you know?

New American Standard Bible
"They are as high as the heavens; what can you do? Deeper than Sheol; what can you know?

World English Bible
They are high as heaven. What can you do? Deeper than Sheol: what can you know?

Geneva Bible (1587)
The heauens are hie, what canst thou doe? it is deeper then the hel, how canst thou know it?

Legacy Standard Bible
They are high as the heavens, what can you do?Deeper than Sheol, what can you know?

Berean Standard Bible
They are higher than the heavens-what can you do? They are deeper than Sheol-what can you know?

Contemporary English Version
They are higher than the heavens and deeper than the grave. So what can you do when you know so little,

Complete Jewish Bible
They're as high as heaven; what can you do? They're deeper than Sh'ol; what can you know?

Darby Translation
[It is as] the heights of heaven; what wilt thou do? deeper than Sheol; what canst thou know?

George Lamsa Translation
Do you know the height of the heaven? Or the depth of Sheol? How can you know?

Good News Translation
The sky is no limit for God, but it lies beyond your reach. God knows the world of the dead, but you do not know it.

Lexham English Bible
It is higher than the heaven; what can you do? It is deeper than Sheol; what can you know?

Literal Translation
Heights of the heavens! What can you do? It is deeper than Sheol; what can you know?

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
He is hyer the heaue, what wilt thou do? Deper the hell, how wilt thou then knowe him?

American Standard Version
It is high as heaven; what canst thou do? Deeper than Sheol; what canst thou know?

Bible in Basic English
They are higher than heaven; what is there for you to do? deeper than the underworld, and outside your knowledge;

JPS Old Testament (1917)
It is high as heaven; what canst thou do? Deeper than the nether-world; what canst thou know?

King James Version (1611)
It is as high as heauen, what canst thou doe? deeper then hell, what canst thou know?

Bishop's Bible (1568)
It is hier then heauen, what art thou able to do? deeper then the hel, how wilt thou then knowe it?

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
Heaven is high; and what wilt thou do? and there are deeper things than those in hell; what dost thou know?

English Revised Version
It is high as heaven; what canst thou do? deeper than Sheol; what canst thou know?

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
He is hiyere than heuene, and what schalt thou do? he is deppere than helle, and wherof schalt thou knowe?

Update Bible Version
At the height of heaven, what can you do? Deeper than Sheol; what can you know?

Webster's Bible Translation
[It is] as high as heaven; what canst thou do? deeper than hell; what canst thou know?

New King James Version
They are higher than heaven-- what can you do? Deeper than Sheol-- what can you know?

New Living Translation
Such knowledge is higher than the heavens— and who are you? It is deeper than the underworld— what do you know?

New Life Bible
They are higher than the heavens. What can you do? They are deeper than the place of the dead. What can you know?

New Revised Standard
It is higher than heaven—what can you do? Deeper than Sheol—what can you know?

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
The heights of the heavens, what canst thou do? Depths deeper than hades, what canst thou know?

Douay-Rheims Bible
He is higher than heaven, and what wilt thou do? he is deeper than hell, and how wilt thou know?

Revised Standard Version
It is higher than heaven--what can you do? Deeper than Sheol--what can you know?

Young's Literal Translation
Heights of the heavens! -- what dost thou? Deeper than Sheol! -- what knowest thou?

New American Standard Bible (1995)
"They are high as the heavens, what can you do? Deeper than Sheol, what can you know?

Contextual Overview

⁷ "Do you think you really understand God? Do you completely understand God All-Powerful? ⁸ That knowledge is higher than the heavens and deeper than the place of death. So what can you do? How can you learn it all? ⁹ It is greater than the earth and bigger than the seas. ¹⁰ "If God decides to arrest you and take you to court, no one could stop him. ¹¹ God knows who is worthless. When he sees evil, he remembers it. ¹² A wild donkey cannot give birth to a man, and a stupid person will never become wise.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

It is as high as heaven: Heb. the heights of heaven, Job 22:12, Job 35:5, 2 Chronicles 6:18, Psalms 103:11, Psalms 148:13, Proverbs 25:2, Proverbs 25:3, Isaiah 55:9

deeper: Job 26:6, Psalms 139:6-8, Amos 9:2, Ephesians 3:18, Ephesians 3:19

Reciprocal: Job 37:20 - surely Psalms 16:10 - my Ecclesiastes 7:24 - General 1 Corinthians 13:9 - General

Cross-References

Genesis 10:25
Eber was the father of two sons. One son was named Peleg. He was given this name because the earth was divided during his life. The other son was named Joktan.

Genesis 10:32
This is the list of the families from Noah's sons. They are arranged according to their nations. From these families came all the people who spread across the earth after the flood.

Genesis 11:4
Then the people said, "Let's build ourselves a city and a tower that will reach to the sky. Then we will be famous. This will keep us together so that we will not be scattered all over the earth."

Genesis 11:9
That is the place where the Lord confused the language of the whole world. That is why it is called Babel. And it was from there that the Lord caused the people to spread out to all the other places on earth.

Genesis 49:7
Their anger is so strong that it is a curse. They are too cruel when they are angry. They will not get their own land in the land of Jacob. They will be spread throughout Israel.

Deuteronomy 32:8
God Most High separated the people on earth and gave each nation its land. He set up borders for all people. He made as many nations as there are angels.

Luke 1:51
He reached out his arm and showed his power. He scattered those who are proud and think great things about themselves.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

[It is] as high as heaven; what canst thou do?.... Or, "is higher than the heavens" i; either the wisdom of God and the secrets of it; the perfection of his wisdom, by which he has made the heavens; or evangelical wisdom, hid in his heart, and which the highest of creatures, the angels, come at the knowledge of only by revelation; and therefore, what can man do to find it out, unless God reveals it? or wisdom displayed in dark providences, which can never be accounted for until the judgments of God are made manifest: or else, "he [that is] God", as the Vulgate Latin version, is "higher than the heavens"; the heaven is his throne on which he sits, and therefore he must be higher than that; the heavens, and heaven of heavens, cannot contain him; he fills up the infinite space beyond them; how is it possible therefore to find him out, to comprehend him?

deeper than hell; what canst thou know? meaning, neither the grave nor the place of the damned, for both which "Sheol" is sometimes used, but the centre or lowest part of the earth; there is a depth in God, in his essence, in his thoughts, in his wisdom, displayed in nature, providence, and grace, that is unfathomable; we can know nothing of it but what he is pleased to make known; see Psalms 92:5; the Targum of the verse is,

"in the height of heaven, what canst thou do? in the law, which is deeper than hell, what canst thou know?''

i גבהי שמים "altior est altissimis coelis", Junius & Tremellius.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

It is as high as heaven - That is, the knowledge of God; or the subject is as high as heaven. The idea is, that man is incompetent to examine, with accuracy, an object that is as far off as the heavens; and that as the knowledge of God must be of that character, it is vain for him to attempt to investigate it fully. There is an energy in the Hebrew which is lost in our common translation. The Hebrew is abrupt and very emphatic: “The heights of the heavens!” It is the language of one looking up with astonishment at the high heavens, and over-powered with the thought that the knowledge of God must be higher even than those distant skies. Who can hope to understand it? Who can be qualified to make the investigation? It is a matter of simple but sublime truth, that God must be higher than these heavens; and when we take into view the amazing distances of many of the heavenly bodies, as now known by the aid of modern astronomy, we may ask with deeper emphasis by far than Zophar did. “Can we, by searching, find out God?”

Deeper than hell - Hebrew “Than Sheol” - משׁאול mesh^e'ôl. The Septuagint renders this, “the heaven is high, what canst thou do? And there are things deeper than in Hades - βαθύτερα τῶν ἐν ᾃδου bathutera tōn en Hadou - what dost thou know?” On the meaning of the word Sheol, see Isaiah 5:14, note; Isaiah 14:9, note. It seems to have been supposed to be as deep as the heavens are high; and the idea here is, that it would be impossible for man to investigate a subject that was as profound as Sheol was deep. The idea is not that God was in Sheol, but that the subject was as profound as the abode of departed spirits was deep and remote. It is possible that the Psalmist may have had this passage in his eye in the similar expression, occurring in Psalms 139:0:

If I ascend into heaven, thou art there;

If I make my bed in hell, behold thou art there.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Job 11:8. It is as high as heaven — High as the heavens, what canst thou work? Deep below sheol, (the invisible world,) what canst thou know? Long beyond the earth, and broad beyond the sea, is its measure. These are instances in the immensity of created things, and all out of the reach of human power and knowledge; and if these things are so, how incomprehensible must he be, who designed, created, preserves, and governs the whole!

We find the same thought in Milton: -

"These are thy glorious works, Parent of good!

Almighty! Thine this universal frame:

How wondrous fair! Thyself how wondrous then!"