Job 22:12
in Job 22Is not God as high as the heavens? Look at the highest stars, how lofty they are!
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Is not God in the height of heaven? And behold the height of the stars, how high they are!
KJV
Is not God in the height of heaven? and behold the height of the stars, how high they are!
⋯
This verse in Job 22
Commentary
9 notes on this verseIs 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.
This site's exposition
Is not God as high as the heavens
on Job 22:12-14
Eliphaz next puts in Job's mouth a God too remote to see: "What does God know". Job has said nothing of the kind, and at 21:22 he affirmed the opposite. The same pattern of a charge without ground runs through the whole speech.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church2 voices
The opinion that one will not suffer punishments for sins is related to the fact that one does not believe that God has providence over human things. He perhaps wished to twist what Job had said, "Will anyone teach God knowledge," (21:22) which he interpreted …
Dost thou bethink thee that God is in the height of heaven, and high above the height of the stars? And thou sayest, How doth God know? and, He judgeth as in the dark. Thick clouds are a covering to Him, that He seeth not our matters; and He walketh in the circuit of heaven. There are very many so dull that they cannot dread aught, saving what they see in a bodily form. Whence it is brought to pass that they do not fear God, in that they cannot see Him.
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
): Is not God in the height of heaven? No heaven so high but God is there; and in the highest heavens, the heavens of the blessed, the residence of his glory, he is present in a special manner.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
Heaven - And from that high tower looketh down upon men, to behold, and govern, and recompense all their actions, whether good or bad. How high - Yet God is far higher than they, and from thence can easily see all things.
Is not God in the height of heaven?....
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
Eliphaz says this to prove that God can from His height behold all things; gratuitously inferring that Job denied it, because he denied that the wicked are punished here. height--Hebrew, "head of the stars"; that is, "elevation" (Job 11:8).
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
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. […]
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
Is not God in the height of heaven and will not lower Himself to see.
1 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
or darkness so that you do not see That is to say, You shall not put your eyes and your trust in strength, and say..
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 5 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
9 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| הֲֽלֹא־ | halo'- | ¿ not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| אֱ֭לוֹהַּ | ʾeloah | [is] God | H433 → | 57 times |
| גֹּ֣בַהּ | goah | [the] height of | H1363 → | 17 times |
| שָׁמָ֑יִם | shamayim | heaven | H8064 → | 421 times |
| וּרְאֵ֤ה | ureeh | and look at | H7200 → | 1300 times |
| רֹ֖אשׁ | rosh | [the] top of | H7218 → | 599 times |
| כּוֹכָבִ֣ים | kokhavim | [the] stars | H3556 → | 37 times |
| כִּי־ | ki- | that | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| רָֽמּוּ׃ | ramu | they are high | H7311 → | 190 times |
הֲֽלֹא־¿ not
halo'-H3808 →5168 times
אֱ֭לוֹהַּ[is] God
ʾeloahH433 →57 times
גֹּ֣בַהּ[the] height of
goahH1363 →17 times
שָׁמָ֑יִםheaven
shamayimH8064 →421 times
וּרְאֵ֤הand look at
ureehH7200 →1300 times
רֹ֖אשׁ[the] top of
roshH7218 →599 times
כּוֹכָבִ֣ים[the] stars
kokhavimH3556 →37 times
כִּי־that
ki-H3588 →4482 times
רָֽמּוּ׃they are high
ramuH7311 →190 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Isaiah 57:15For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in a high and holy place, and with the oppressed and humble in spirit,…
it leads to
- Psalms 34:18
The LORD is near to the brokenhearted; He saves the contrite in spirit.
- Isaiah 66:1–2
This is what the LORD says: “Heaven is My throne, and earth is My footstool. What kind of house will you build for Me? Or where will My place of repose be?
- Psalms 138:6
Though the LORD is on high, He attends to the lowly; but the proud He knows from afar.
- Psalms 34:18
Through
Isaiah 66:1This is what the LORD says: “Heaven is My throne, and earth is My footstool. What kind of house will you build for Me? Or where will My place of repose be?
it leads to
- Acts 17:24
The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples made by human hands.
- Acts 7:48–50
However, the Most High does not dwell in houses made by human hands. As the prophet says:
- Matthew 5:34–35
But I tell you not to swear at all: either by heaven, for it is God’s throne;
- 1 Kings 8:27
But will God indeed dwell upon the earth? Even heaven, the highest heaven, cannot contain You, much less this temple I have built.
- Acts 17:24
Through
Ecclesiastes 5:2Do not be quick to speak, and do not be hasty in your heart to utter a word before God. After all, God is in heaven and you are on earth. So let your…
it leads to
- Matthew 6:7
And when you pray, do not babble on like pagans, for they think that by their many words they will be heard.
- Matthew 6:7
About Job
This page draws on 10 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book XVI; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.