If I ascend to heaven, you are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there. The paired cosmic extremes (heaven above, Sheol below) exhaustively enumerate possible locations; in neither can one escape God's presence. Heaven represents the realm of the divine; Sheol represents the realm of the dead and the underworld. That God is present in both realms eliminates any possible refuge. The making of bed in Sheol references lying down in death; even in death itself, the divine presence persists. This verse suggests that God's presence extends beyond the realm of the living into the realm of death itself.

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