Lectionary Calendar
Monday, October 28th, 2024
the Week of Proper 25 / Ordinary 30
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Read the Bible

King James Version

Job 22:12

Is not God in the height of heaven? and behold the height of the stars, how high they are!

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Blasphemy;   God;   Heaven;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Eliphaz;   Charles Buck Theological Dictionary - Greatness of God;   Hypocrisy;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Job, the Book of;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Astronomy;   Eliphaz (2);   Job, Book of;  

Parallel Translations

New Living Translation
"God is so great—higher than the heavens, higher than the farthest stars.
English Revised Version
Is not God in the height of heaven? and behold the height of the stars, how high they are!
Update Bible Version
Isn't God in the height of heaven? And look at the height of the stars, how high they are!
New Century Version
"God is in the highest part of heaven. See how high the highest stars are!
New English Translation
"Is not God on high in heaven? And see the lofty stars, how high they are!
Webster's Bible Translation
[Is] not God in the hight of heaven? and behold the hight of the stars, how high they are!
World English Bible
"Isn't God in the heights of heaven? See the height of the stars, how high they are!
Amplified Bible
"Is not God in the height of heaven? And behold the distant stars, how high they are!
English Standard Version
"Is not God high in the heavens? See the highest stars, how lofty they are!
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Whether thou thenkist, that God is hiyere than heuene, and is enhaunsid aboue the coppe of sterris?
Berean Standard Bible
Is not God as high as the heavens? Look at the highest stars, how lofty they are!
Contemporary English Version
God lives in the heavens above the highest stars, where he sees everything.
American Standard Version
Is not God in the height of heaven? And behold the height of the stars, how high they are!
Bible in Basic English
Is not God as high as heaven? and see the stars, how high they are!
Complete Jewish Bible
"Isn't God in the heights of heaven, looking [down even] on the highest stars?
Darby Translation
Is not +God in the height of the heavens? And behold the summit of the stars: how exalted are they!
Easy-to-Read Version
"God lives in the highest part of heaven and looks down on the highest stars.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
Is not God in the height of heaven? And behold the topmost of the stars, how high they are!
King James Version (1611)
Is not God in the height of heauen? and behold the height of the starres how high they are.
New Life Bible
"Is not God high up in heaven? See the highest stars, how high they are!
New Revised Standard
"Is not God high in the heavens? See the highest stars, how lofty they are!
Geneva Bible (1587)
Is not God on hie in the heauen? and behold the height of the starres how hie they are.
George Lamsa Translation
Behold, God is in the height of heaven, and sees the highest of the stars that are very high.
Good News Translation
Doesn't God live in the highest heavens and look down on the stars, even though they are high?
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Is not, GOD, in the height of the heavens? Behold, then, the head of the stars, that they are high.
Douay-Rheims Bible
Dost not thou think that God is higher than heaven, and is elevated above the height of the stars?
Revised Standard Version
"Is not God high in the heavens? See the highest stars, how lofty they are!
Bishop's Bible (1568)
Is not God on high in the heauen? beholde the heyght of the starres how hie they are.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
Does not he that dwells in the high places observe? and has he not brought down the proud?
Christian Standard Bible®
Isn’t God as high as the heavens?And look at the highest stars—how lofty they are!
Hebrew Names Version
"Isn't God in the heights of heaven? See the height of the stars, how high they are!
Lexham English Bible
"Is not God in the height of the heavens? But see how lofty are the highest stars.
Literal Translation
Is not God high in Heaven? Also behold the leading stars, for they are high.
Young's Literal Translation
Is not God high [in] heaven? And see the summit of the stars, That they are high.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Now because yt God is hyer the the heauens, & because thou seist yt the starres are so hye,
THE MESSAGE
"You agree, don't you, that God is in charge? He runs the universe—just look at the stars! Yet you dare raise questions: ‘What does God know? From that distance and darkness, how can he judge? He roams the heavens wrapped in clouds, so how can he see us?'
New American Standard Bible
"Is God not in the height of heaven? Look also at the highest stars, how high they are!
New King James Version
"Is not God in the height of heaven? And see the highest stars, how lofty they are!
New American Standard Bible (1995)
"Is not God in the height of heaven? Look also at the distant stars, how high they are!
Legacy Standard Bible
"Is not God in the height of heaven?Look also at the distant stars, how high they are!

Contextual Overview

5 Is not thy wickedness great? and thine iniquities infinite? 6 For thou hast taken a pledge from thy brother for nought, and stripped the naked of their clothing. 7 Thou hast not given water to the weary to drink, and thou hast withholden bread from the hungry. 8 But as for the mighty man, he had the earth; and the honourable man dwelt in it. 9 Thou hast sent widows away empty, and the arms of the fatherless have been broken. 10 Therefore snares are round about thee, and sudden fear troubleth thee; 11 Or darkness, that thou canst not see; and abundance of waters cover thee. 12 Is not God in the height of heaven? and behold the height of the stars, how high they are! 13 And thou sayest, How doth God know? can he judge through the dark cloud? 14 Thick clouds are a covering to him, that he seeth not; and he walketh in the circuit of heaven.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

not God: Psalms 115:3, Psalms 115:16, Ecclesiastes 5:2, Isaiah 57:15, Isaiah 66:1

height: Heb. head

the stars: Psalms 8:3, Psalms 8:4

Reciprocal: 2 Chronicles 6:21 - thy dwelling place Job 11:8 - It is as high as heaven Job 35:5 - Look Psalms 59:7 - who Psalms 94:7 - they say Psalms 102:19 - the height Psalms 103:11 - as the Psalms 139:11 - Surely Ezekiel 8:12 - The Lord seeth

Cross-References

Genesis 20:11
And Abraham said, Because I thought, Surely the fear of God is not in this place; and they will slay me for my wife's sake.
Genesis 22:2
And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.
Genesis 22:6
And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife; and they went both of them together.
Genesis 22:8
And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together.
Genesis 22:9
And they came to the place which God had told him of; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order, and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood.
Genesis 22:10
And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son.
Genesis 22:12
And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me.
Genesis 22:13
And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son.
Genesis 22:21
Huz his firstborn, and Buz his brother, and Kemuel the father of Aram,
Genesis 22:22
And Chesed, and Hazo, and Pildash, and Jidlaph, and Bethuel.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

[Is] not God in the height of heaven?.... The heaven is high, it has its name from its height, and is noted for it; some of the heavens are higher than others, as the heaven of heavens, the third heaven, the habitation of angels and glorified saints; and here God dwells, this is the habitation of his holiness, and the high and holy place he inhabits; his throne is in heaven, in the heaven of heavens is his throne, where he in an especial manner manifests his glory, and the lustre of it; he is not indeed continued here, the heaven of heavens cannot contain him, he is everywhere; yet this is his court and palace, where his residence and retinue is and angels behold his face, and wait upon him; and because this is the principal seat of his majesty, it becomes one of his names, Daniel 4:26; and the words here will bear to be rendered, "is not God the height of the heavens?" t or, as the Vulgate Latin version, "higher than the heavens"; he is above them, more exalted than they, being the Creator of them, see Hebrews 7:26;

and behold the height of the stars, how high they are; or "the head" or "top of the stars" u, which Ben Gersom interprets of the supreme orb, or that high and vast space in which the fixed stars are, or the highest of them, which are at the greatest distance; according to Mr. Huygens w a cannon ball discharged would be twenty five years in passing from the earth to the sun, from, Jupiter to the sun an hundred twenty five years, from Saturn two hundred fifty, and from the sun to the dog star v 691,600 years; and if therefore it would be so long going to the nearest of the fixed stars, how great must be the distance of them from our earth, which are so much higher than the dog star as that is from the sun? But, though these are so exceeding high, yet God is higher than they, see Isaiah 14:13; the truth contained in these words was what both Eliphaz and Job were agreed in, let them be spoken by which they will, some ascribing them to the One, and some to the other; from whence Eliphaz represents Job drawing an inference very impious, blasphemous, and atheistical.

t גבה שמים "sublimitas coelorum", Bolducius; "altitudo coeli", Michaelis; "altitudo coelorum", Schultens. u ראש כוכבים "capat stellarum", Montanus, Bolaucius, Mercerus, Cocceius; "verticem stellarum", V. L. Tigurine version, Michaelis, Schultens. w Cosmotheoros, l. 2. p. 125, 137. v (The Dog Star is the brighest star in the heavens when viewed from the earth. It has a visual magnitude of -1.4 and is 8.7 light years from the earth. It is in the constellation Sirius. The closest star to the earth is α Centaurus and has a visual magnitude of 0 and is 4.3 light years from the earth. It is several times fainter the the Dog Star but is still quite bright compared to neighbouring stars. 1969 Oberserver's Handbook, p. 74, 75. The Royal Astonomical Society of Canada, Toronto, Ontario. Editor)

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Is not God in the height of heaven? - In the highest heaven. That is, Is not God exalted over all worlds? This seems to be intended to refer to the sentiments of Job, as if he had maintained that God was so exalted that he could not notice what was occurring on earth. It should, therefore, be read in connection with the following verse: “God is so exalted, that thou sayest, How can he know? Can he look down through the thick clouds which intervene between him and man?” Job had maintained no such opinion, but the process of thought in the mind of Eliphaz seems to have been this. Job had maintained that God did “not” punish the wicked in this life as they deserved, but that they lived and prospered. Eliphaz “inferred” that he could hold that opinion only because he supposed that God was so exalted that he could not attend to worldly affairs. He knew no other way in which the opinion could be held, and he proceeds to argue “as if” it were so.

Job had in the previous chapter appealed to plain “facts,” and had rested his whole argument on them. Eliphaz, instead of meeting the “facts” in the case, or showing that they did not exist as Job said they did, considered his discourse as a denial of Divine Providence, and as representing God to be so far above the earth that he could not notice what was occurring here. How common is this in theological controversy! One man, in defending his opinions, or in searching for the truth, appeals to “facts,” and endeavors to ascertain their nature and bearing. His adversary, instead of meeting them, or showing that they are not so, at once appeals to some admitted doctrine, to some established article of a creed, or to some tradition of the fathers, and says that the appeal to fact is but a denial of an important doctrine of revelation. It is easier to charge a man with denying the doctrine of Providence, or to call him by a harsh name, than it is to meet an argument drawn from fact and from the plain meaning of the Bible.

And behold the height of the stars - Margin, as in Hebrew “head” - ראשׁ rô'sh. God is more exalted than the highest of the stars. The stars are the highest objects in view, and the sense, therefore, is, that God is infinitely exalted.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Job 22:12. Is not God in the height of heaven? — It appears, from this and the following verses, that Eliphaz was attributing infidel and blasphemous speeches or sentiments to Job. As if he had said: "Thou allowest that there is a God, but thou sayest that he is infinitely exalted above the heavens and the stars, and that there is so much dense ether and thick cloud between his throne and the earth, that he can neither see it nor its inhabitants." These were sentiments which Job never held, and never uttered; but if a man be dressed in a bear's skin, he may be hunted and worried by his own dogs. Job's friends attribute falsities to him, and then dilate upon them, and draw inferences from them injurious to his character. Polemic writers, both in theology and politics, often act in this way.


 
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