Job 11:8

11:8 It is higher ¹  than the heavens – what can you do?

It is deeper than Sheol ²  – what can you know?

Psalms 139:8

139:8 If I were to ascend ³  to heaven, you would be there.

If I were to sprawl out in Sheol, there you would be. ⁴ 

Psalms 139:11

139:11 If I were to say, “Certainly the darkness will cover me, ⁵ 

and the light will turn to night all around me,” ⁶ 

Proverbs 15:11

15:11 Death and Destruction ⁷  are before the Lord –

how much more ⁸  the hearts of humans! ⁹ 

Isaiah 14:9

14:9 Sheol ¹⁰  below is stirred up about you,

ready to meet you when you arrive.

It rouses ¹¹  the spirits of the dead for you,

all the former leaders of the earth; ¹² 

it makes all the former kings of the nations

rise from their thrones. ¹³ 

Amos 9:2

9:2 Even if they could dig down into the netherworld, ¹⁴ 

my hand would pull them up from there.

Even if they could climb up to heaven,

I would drag them down from there.

Hebrews 4:13

4:13 And no creature is hidden from God, ¹⁵  but everything is naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must render an account.

[11:8]  ¹ tn The Hebrew says “heights of heaven, what can you do?” A. B. Davidson suggested this was an exclamation and should be left that way. But most commentators will repoint גָּבְהֵי שָׁמַיִם (govhe shamayim, “heights of heaven”) to גְּבֹהָה מִשָּׁמַיִם (gÿvohah mishamayim, “higher than the heavens”) to match the parallel expression. The LXX may have rearranged the text: “heaven is high.”

[11:8]  ² tn Or “deeper than hell.” The word “Sheol” always poses problems for translation. Here because it is the opposite of heaven in this merism, “hell” would be a legitimate translation. It refers to the realm of the dead – the grave and beyond. The language is excessive; but the point is that God’s wisdom is immeasurable – and Job is powerless before it.

[139:8]  ³ tn The Hebrew verb סָלַק (salaq, “to ascend”) occurs only here in the OT, but the word is well-attested in Aramaic literature from different time periods and displays a wide semantic range (see DNWSI 2:788-90).

[139:8]  ⁴ tn Heb “look, you.”

[139:11]  ⁵ tn The Hebrew verb שׁוּף (shuf), which means “to crush; to wound,” in Gen 3:15 and Job 9:17, is problematic here. For a discussion of attempts to relate the verb to Arabic roots, see L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 251. Many emend the form to יְשׂוּכֵּנִי (yesukkeniy), from the root שׂכך (“to cover,” an alternate form of סכך), a reading assumed in the present translation.

[139:11]  ⁶ tn Heb “and night, light, around me.”

[15:11]  ⁷ tn Heb “Sheol and Abaddon” (שְׁאוֹל וַאֲבַדּוֹן (shÿ’ol va’adon); so ASV, NASB, NRSV; cf. KJV “Hell and destruction”; NAB “the nether world and the abyss.” These terms represent the remote underworld and all the mighty powers that reside there (e.g., Prov 27:20; Job 26:6; Ps 139:8; Amos 9:2; Rev 9:11). The Lord knows everything about this remote region.

[15:11]  ⁸ tn The construction אַף כִּי (’af ki, “how much more!”) introduces an argument from the lesser to the greater: If all this is open before the Lord, how much more so human hearts. “Hearts” here is a metonymy of subject, meaning the motives and thoughts (cf. NCV “the thoughts of the living”).

[15:11]  ⁹ tn Heb “the hearts of the sons of man,” although here “sons of man” simply means “men” or “human beings.”

[14:9]  ¹⁰ sn Sheol is the proper name of the subterranean world which was regarded as the land of the dead.

[14:9]  ¹¹ tn Heb “arousing.” The form is probably a Polel infinitive absolute, rather than a third masculine singular perfect, for Sheol is grammatically feminine (note “stirred up”). See GKC 466 §145.t.

[14:9]  ¹² tn Heb “all the rams of the earth.” The animal epithet is used metaphorically here for leaders. See HALOT 903 s.v. *עַתּוּד.

[14:9]  ¹³ tn Heb “lifting from their thrones all the kings of the nations.” הֵקִים (heqim, a Hiphil perfect third masculine singular) should be emended to an infinitive absolute (הָקֵים, haqem). See the note on “rouses” earlier in the verse.

[9:2]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “into Sheol” (so ASV, NASB, NRSV), that is, the land of the dead localized in Hebrew thought in the earth’s core or the grave. Cf. KJV “hell”; NCV, NLT “the place of the dead”; NIV “the depths of the grave.”

[4:13]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “him”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.