9:1 Capitals are the tops of the columns, and thresholds are the bases. The two together form a merism expressing the totality of the temple structure. Revelation 20:11–15 uses this image of no escape to describe the last judgment. 9:1 The lack of escape prefigures the universality of the last judgment (Rev. 20:11–15). 9:2–3 Two more merisms: Sheol (the underworld) vs. heaven; and Carmel (the mountaintop) vs. the bottom of the sea. In short, there is no place between these extremes to escape God.