Is not God high in the heavens?: in Hebrew, as in Revised Standard Version, this is a question. In Psalm 14.2 the psalmist describes God as “The LORD looks down from heaven upon the children of men to see if there are any that act wisely, that seek after God.”

See the highest stars, how lofty they are!: See translates the imperative “Look!” and can be understood as Eliphaz telling Job to “look at the highest stars.” However, Good News Translation, following the Septuagint, understands God as the one who looks down on the stars. The change from the imperative See to “sees” involves a very minor change of the Hebrew vowel markings. New English Bible also follows the change made in the Septuagint but understands the word translated the highest to mean the totality of stars, “God … looks down on all the stars….” If the translator follows the thought of Good News Translation, verse 12 may be rendered, for example, “God lives in the highest heaven and looks down on the stars” or “Doesn’t God live high in the heaven, where he looks down on the highest stars? Certainly he does!” Verse 12 may also be translated as in Revised Standard Version; for example, “God is high in the heavens. Look up at the stars, how high they are.” In order to relate verse 12 to verse 13, it may be necessary to translate verse 12 as the reason for verse 13; for example, “Because God is high in the heaven and you see how high the stars are, you ask….”

Quoted with permission from Reyburn, Wiliam. A Handbook on Job. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1992. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .