Proverbs 30:4

World English Bible (2000)

Who has ascended up into heaven, and descended? Who has gathered the wind in his fists? Who has bound the waters in his garment? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is his name, and what is his son's name, if you know?

📖 Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

מִ֤י עָלָֽה־שָׁמַ֨יִם ׀ וַיֵּרַ֡ד מִ֤י אָֽסַף־ר֨וּחַ ׀ בְּחָפְנָ֡יו מִ֤י צָֽרַר־מַ֨יִם ׀ בַּשִּׂמְלָ֗ה מִ֭י הֵקִ֣ים כָּל־אַפְסֵי־אָ֑רֶץ מַה־שְּׁמ֥וֹ וּמַֽה־שֶּׁם־בְּ֝נ֗וֹ כִּ֣י תֵדָֽע׃

Transliteration

Mî ʿālâ-šāmayim wayyērad mî ʾāsap-rûaḥ beḥopnāyw mî ṣārar-mayim baśśimlâ mî hēqîm kol-ʾapsê-ʾāreṣ mah-šemô ûmah-šem-benô kî tēdāʿ

Grammar Details

• *Mî*: interrogative pronoun - who
• *ʿālâ*: qal perfect, third masculine singular - went up/ascended
• *šāmayim*: masculine plural noun - heavens/sky
• *wayyērad*: waw-consecutive + qal imperfect, third masculine singular - and descended/came down
• *ʾāsap*: qal perfect, third masculine singular - gathered/collected
• *rûaḥ*: feminine singular noun - wind/breath/spirit
• *beḥopnāyw*: preposition + masculine dual noun + third person masculine singular suffix - in his fists/handfuls
• *ṣārar*: qal perfect, third masculine singular - bound/wrapped up
• *mayim*: masculine plural noun - waters
• *baśśimlâ*: preposition + definite article + feminine singular noun - in the garment/cloak
• *hēqîm*: hiphil perfect, third masculine singular - established/set up
• *kol*: construct state - all of
• *ʾapsê*: construct state, masculine plural - ends of
• *ʾāreṣ*: feminine singular noun - earth/land
• *mah*: interrogative pronoun - what
• *šemô*: masculine singular noun + third person masculine singular suffix - his name
• *ûmah*: conjunction + interrogative pronoun - and what
• *šem*: construct state, masculine singular - name of
• *benô*: masculine singular noun + third person masculine singular suffix - his son
• *kî*: conjunction - for/if/that/when/because
• *tēdāʿ*: qal imperfect, second masculine singular - you know/will know

Word Meanings

• *rûaḥ*: wind/breath/spirit
• *ʾapsê*: ends/boundaries/extremities
• *kî*: for/if/that/surely/when

Referenced Verses

• John 3:13 : 13 No one has ascended into heaven, but he who descended out of heaven, the Son of Man, who is in heaven.
• Rev 19:12 : 12 His eyes are a flame of fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has names written and a name written which no one knows but he himself.
• Exod 34:5-7 : 5 Yahweh descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of Yahweh. 6 Yahweh passed by before him, and proclaimed, "Yahweh! Yahweh, a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness and truth, 7 keeping loving kindness for thousands, forgiving iniquity and disobedience and sin; and that will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, and on the children's children, on the third and on the fourth generation."
• Job 38:4-9 : 4 "Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Declare, if you have understanding. 5 Who determined its measures, if you know? Or who stretched the line on it? 6 Whereupon were its foundations fastened? Or who laid its cornerstone, 7 when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy? 8 "Or who shut up the sea with doors, when it broke forth from the womb, 9 when I made clouds its garment, and wrapped it in thick darkness, 10 marked out for it my bound, set bars and doors, 11 and said, 'Here you may come, but no further. Here your proud waves shall be stayed?' 12 "Have you commanded the morning in your days, and caused the dawn to know its place; 13 that it might take hold of the ends of the earth, and shake the wicked out of it? 14 It is changed as clay under the seal, and stands forth as a garment. 15 From the wicked, their light is withheld. The high arm is broken. 16 "Have you entered into the springs of the sea? Or have you walked in the recesses of the deep? 17 Have the gates of death been revealed to you? Or have you seen the gates of the shadow of death? 18 Have you comprehended the earth in its breadth? Declare, if you know it all. 19 "What is the way to the dwelling of light? As for darkness, where is its place, 20 that you should take it to its bound, that you should discern the paths to its house? 21 Surely you know, for you were born then, and the number of your days is great! 22 Have you entered the treasuries of the snow, or have you seen the treasures of the hail, 23 which I have reserved against the time of trouble, against the day of battle and war? 24 By what way is the lightning distributed, or the east wind scattered on the earth? 25 Who has cut a channel for the flood water, or the path for the thunderstorm; 26 To cause it to rain on a land where no man is; on the wilderness, in which there is no man; 27 to satisfy the waste and desolate ground, to cause the tender grass to spring forth? 28 Does the rain have a father? Or who fathers the drops of dew? 29 Out of whose womb came the ice? The gray frost of the sky, who has given birth to it? 30 The waters become hard like stone, when the surface of the deep is frozen. 31 "Can you bind the cluster of the Pleiades, or loosen the cords of Orion? 32 Can you lead forth the constellations in their season? Or can you guide the Bear with her cubs? 33 Do you know the laws of the heavens? Can you establish its dominion over the earth? 34 "Can you lift up your voice to the clouds, That abundance of waters may cover you? 35 Can you send forth lightnings, that they may go? Do they report to you, 'Here we are?' 36 Who has put wisdom in the inward parts? Or who has given understanding to the mind? 37 Who can number the clouds by wisdom? Or who can pour out the bottles of the sky, 38 when the dust runs into a mass, and the clods of earth stick together? 39 "Can you hunt the prey for the lioness, or satisfy the appetite of the young lions, 40 when they crouch in their dens, and lie in wait in the thicket? 41 Who provides for the raven his prey, when his young ones cry to God, and wander for lack of food?
• Deut 30:12 : 12 It is not in heaven, that you should say, "Who shall go up for us to heaven, and bring it to us, and make us to hear it, that we may do it?"
• Isa 7:14 : 14 Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin will conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.
• Isa 9:6 : 6 For to us a child is born. To us a son is given; and the government will be on his shoulders. His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
• Isa 53:8 : 8 He was taken away by oppression and judgment; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living and stricken for the disobedience of my people?
• Jer 23:6 : 6 In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely; and this is his name by which he shall be called: Yahweh our righteousness.
• Matt 1:21-23 : 21 She shall bring forth a son. You shall call his name Jesus, for it is he who shall save his people from their sins." 22 Now all this has happened, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, 23 "Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son. They shall call his name Immanuel;" which is, being interpreted, "God with us."
• Matt 11:27 : 27 All things have been delivered to me by my Father. No one knows the Son, except the Father; neither does anyone know the Father, except the Son, and he to whom the Son desires to reveal him.
• Luke 10:22 : 22 Turning to the disciples, he said, "All things have been delivered to me by my Father. No one knows who the Son is, except the Father, and who the Father is, except the Son, and he to whomever the Son desires to reveal him."
• Isa 40:12-31 : 12 Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and marked off the sky with his span, and calculated the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance? 13 Who has directed the Spirit of Yahweh, or has taught him as his counselor? 14 Who did he take counsel with, and who instructed him, and taught him in the path of justice, and taught him knowledge, and showed him the way of understanding? 15 Behold, the nations are like a drop in a bucket, and are regarded as a speck of dust on a balance. Behold, he lifts up the islands like a very little thing. 16 Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor its animals sufficient for a burnt offering. 17 All the nations are like nothing before him. They are regarded by him as less than nothing, and vanity. 18 To whom then will you liken God? Or what likeness will you compare to him? 19 A workman has cast an image, and the goldsmith overlays it with gold, and casts silver chains for it. 20 He who is too impoverished for such an offering chooses a tree that will not rot. He seeks a skillful workman to set up an engraved image for him that will not be moved. 21 Haven't you known? Haven't you heard, yet? Haven't you been told from the beginning? Haven't you understood from the foundations of the earth? 22 It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in; 23 who brings princes to nothing; who makes the judges of the earth like meaningless. 24 They are planted scarcely. They are sown scarcely. Their stock has scarcely taken root in the ground. He merely blows on them, and they wither, and the whirlwind takes them away as stubble. 25 "To whom then will you liken me? Who is my equal?" says the Holy One. 26 Lift up your eyes on high, and see who has created these, who brings out their army by number. He calls them all by name. by the greatness of his might, and because he is strong in power, Not one is lacking. 27 Why do you say, Jacob, and speak, Israel, "My way is hidden from Yahweh, and the justice due me is disregarded by my God?" 28 Haven't you known? Haven't you heard? The everlasting God, Yahweh, The Creator of the ends of the earth, doesn't faint. He isn't weary. His understanding is unsearchable. 29 He gives power to the weak. He increases the strength of him who has no might. 30 Even the youths faint and get weary, and the young men utterly fall; 31 But those who wait for Yahweh will renew their strength. They will mount up with wings like eagles. They will run, and not be weary. They will walk, and not faint.
• Judg 13:18 : 18 The angel of Yahweh said to him, "Why do you ask about my name, since it is wonderful?"
• Job 26:8 : 8 He binds up the waters in his thick clouds, and the cloud is not burst under them.
• Ps 2:7 : 7 I will tell of the decree. Yahweh said to me, "You are my son. Today I have become your father.
• Ps 22:27 : 27 All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to Yahweh. All the relatives of the nations shall worship before you.
• Ps 24:2 : 2 For he has founded it on the seas, and established it on the floods.
• Ps 68:18 : 18 You have ascended on high. You have led away captives. You have received gifts among men, yes, among the rebellious also, that Yah God might dwell there.
• Ps 104:2-9 : 2 He covers himself with light as with a garment. He stretches out the heavens like a curtain. 3 He lays the beams of his rooms in the waters. He makes the clouds his chariot. He walks on the wings of the wind. 4 He makes his messengers winds; his servants flames of fire. 5 He laid the foundations of the earth, that it should not be moved forever. 6 You covered it with the deep as with a cloak. The waters stood above the mountains. 7 At your rebuke they fled. At the voice of your thunder they hurried away. 8 The mountains rose, the valleys sank down, to the place which you had assigned to them. 9 You have set a boundary that they may not pass over; that they don't turn again to cover the earth. 10 He sends forth springs into the valleys. They run among the mountains. 11 They give drink to every animal of the field. The wild donkeys quench their thirst. 12 The birds of the sky nest by them. They sing among the branches. 13 He waters the mountains from his rooms. The earth is filled with the fruit of your works. 14 He causes the grass to grow for the livestock, and plants for man to cultivate, that he may bring forth food out of the earth: 15 wine that makes glad the heart of man, oil to make his face to shine, and bread that strengthens man's heart. 16 Yahweh's trees are well watered, the cedars of Lebanon, which he has planted; 17 where the birds make their nests. The stork makes its home in the fir trees. 18 The high mountains are for the wild goats. The rocks are a refuge for the rock badgers. 19 He appointed the moon for seasons. The sun knows when to set. 20 You make darkness, and it is night, in which all the animals of the forest prowl. 21 The young lions roar after their prey, and seek their food from God. 22 The sun rises, and they steal away, and lay down in their dens. 23 Man goes forth to his work, to his labor until the evening. 24 Yahweh, how many are your works! In wisdom have you made them all. The earth is full of your riches. 25 There is the sea, great and wide, in which are innumerable living things, both small and large animals. 26 There the ships go, and leviathan, whom you formed to play there. 27 These all wait for you, that you may give them their food in due season. 28 You give to them; they gather. You open your hand; they are satisfied with good. 29 You hide your face: they are troubled; you take away their breath: they die, and return to the dust. 30 You send forth your Spirit: they are created. You renew the face of the ground. 31 Let the glory of Yahweh endure forever. Let Yahweh rejoice in his works. 32 He looks at the earth, and it trembles. He touches the mountains, and they smoke. 33 I will sing to Yahweh as long as I live. I will sing praise to my God while I have any being. 34 Let your meditation be sweet to him. I will rejoice in Yahweh. 35 Let sinners be consumed out of the earth. Let the wicked be no more. Bless Yahweh, my soul. Praise Yah!
• Deut 28:58 : 58 If you will not observe to do all the words of this law that are written in this book, that you may fear this glorious and fearful name, YAHWEH YOUR GOD;
• Gen 32:29 : 29 Jacob asked him, "Please tell me your name." He said, "Why is it that you ask what my name is?" He blessed him there.
• Exod 3:13-15 : 13 Moses said to God, "Behold, when I come to the children of Israel, and tell them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you;' and they ask me, 'What is his name?' What should I tell them?" 14 God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM," and he said, "You shall tell the children of Israel this: 'I AM has sent me to you.'" 15 God said moreover to Moses, "You shall tell the children of Israel this, 'Yahweh, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.' This is my name forever, and this is my memorial to all generations.
• Exod 6:3 : 3 and I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty; but by my name Yahweh I was not known to them.
• Rom 10:6 : 6 But the righteousness which is of faith says this, "Don't say in your heart, 'Who will ascend into heaven?' (that is, to bring Christ down);
• Eph 4:8-9 : 8 Therefore he says, "When he ascended on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts to men." 9 Now this, "He ascended," what is it but that he also first descended into the lower parts of the earth? 10 He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things.