Psalms 36:5

36:5 O Lord, your loyal love reaches to the sky; ¹ 

your faithfulness to the clouds. ² 

Psalms 57:10

57:10 For your loyal love extends beyond the sky, ³ 

and your faithfulness reaches the clouds.

Psalms 89:2

89:2 For I say, “Loyal love is permanently established; ⁴ 

in the skies you set up your faithfulness.” ⁵ 

Job 22:12

22:12 “Is not God on high in heaven? ⁶ 

And see ⁷  the lofty stars, ⁸  how high they are!

Proverbs 25:3

25:3 As the heaven is high ⁹  and the earth is deep

so the hearts of kings are unsearchable. ¹⁰ 

Isaiah 55:9

55:9 for just as the sky ¹¹  is higher than the earth,

so my deeds ¹²  are superior to ¹³  your deeds

and my plans ¹⁴  superior to your plans.

Ephesians 2:4-7

2:4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of his great love with which he loved us, 2:5 even though we were dead in transgressions, made us alive together with Christ – by grace you are saved! ¹⁵  – 2:6 and he raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 2:7 to demonstrate in the coming ages ¹⁶  the surpassing wealth of his grace in kindness toward ¹⁷  us in Christ Jesus.

Ephesians 3:18-19

3:18 you may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, ¹⁸  3:19 and thus to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled up to ¹⁹  all the fullness of God.

[36:5]  ¹ tn Heb “[is] in the heavens.”

[36:5]  ² sn The Lord’s loyal love/faithfulness is almost limitless. He is loyal and faithful to his creation and blesses mankind and the animal kingdom with physical life and sustenance (vv. 6-9).

[57:10]  ³ tn Heb “for great upon the sky [or “heavens”] [is] your loyal love.”

[89:2]  ⁴ tn Heb “built.”

[89:2]  ⁵ sn You set up your faithfulness. This may allude to the Lord’s heavenly throne, which symbolizes his just rule and from which the Lord decrees his unconditional promises (see vv. 8, 14).

[22:12]  ⁶ tn This reading preserves the text as it is. The nouns “high” and “heavens” would then be taken as adverbial accusatives of place (see GKC 373-74 §118.g).

[22:12]  ⁷ tn The parallel passage in Isa 40:26-27, as well as the context here, shows that the imperative is to be retained here. The LXX has “he sees.”

[22:12]  ⁸ tn Heb “head of the stars.”

[25:3]  ⁹ tn Heb “heavens for height and earth for depth.” The proverb is clearly intending the first line to be an illustration of the second – it is almost emblematic parallelism.

[25:3]  ¹⁰ sn The proverb is affirming a simple fact: The king’s plans and decisions are beyond the comprehension of the common people. While the king would make many things clear to the people, there are other things that are “above their heads” or “too deep for them.” They are unsearchable because of his superior wisdom, his caprice, or his need for secrecy. Inscrutability is sometimes necessary to keep a firm grip on power.

[55:9]  ¹¹ tn Or “the heavens.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heavens” or “sky” depending on the context.

[55:9]  ¹² tn Heb “ways” (so many English versions).

[55:9]  ¹³ tn Heb “are higher than.”

[55:9]  ¹⁴ tn Or “thoughts” (so many English versions).

[2:5]  ¹⁵ tn Or “by grace you have been saved.” The perfect tense in Greek connotes both completed action (“you have been saved”) and continuing results (“you are saved”).

[2:7]  ¹⁶ tn Or possibly “to the Aeons who are about to come.”

[2:7]  ¹⁷ tn Or “upon.”

[3:18]  ¹⁸ sn The object of these dimensions is not stated in the text. Interpreters have suggested a variety of referents for this unstated object, including the cross of Christ, the heavenly Jerusalem (which is then sometimes linked to the Church), God’s power, the fullness of salvation given in Christ, the Wisdom of God, and the love of Christ. Of these interpretations, the last two are the most plausible. Associations from Wisdom literature favor the Wisdom of God, but the immediate context favors the love of Christ. For detailed discussion of these interpretive options, see A. T. Lincoln, Ephesians (WBC), 207-13, who ultimately favors the love of Christ.

[3:19]  ¹⁹ tn Or “with.”