This saying compares the mind of a king with the unsearchable heights and depths of sky and earth.

“As the heavens for height, and the earth for depth”: New Revised Standard Version says “Like the heavens. . ., like the earth. . ..” The sense here is that we may compare the thinking of kings to the height of the sky and the depth of the earth in that the mind of kings is unreachable or unknowable. “The earth for depth” may refer to the underparts of the earth as seen, for example, in Job 9.6. Note that Good News Translation speaks of “the depths of the ocean.”

“So the mind of kings is unsearchable”: “The mind”, as elsewhere in Proverbs, is literally “heart.” “Unsearchable” comes from the same Hebrew root as “search” in verse 2.

Good News Translation has reversed the two lines of this saying so that the comparison comes in the second line: “his thoughts are beyond us, like. . ..” Contemporary English Version is similar with “Who can fully understand the thoughts of a ruler? They reach beyond the sky and go deep into the earth.”

Quoted with permission from Reyburn, William D. and Fry, Euan McG. A Handbook on Proverbs. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2000. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .