Proverbs 25:2
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
2 It is the glory of God to conceal things,
but the glory of kings is to search things out.(A)
Deuteronomy 29:29
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29 The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the revealed things belong to us and to our children forever, to observe all the words of this law.
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Romans 11:33-34
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33 O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!(A)
34 “For who has known the mind of the Lord?
Or who has been his counselor?”(B)
Job 11:7-8
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Job 42:3
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3 ‘Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?’
Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand,
things too wonderful for me that I did not know.(A)
Job 38:4-39:30
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4 “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?
Tell me, if you have understanding.(A)
5 Who determined its measurements—surely you know!
Or who stretched the line upon it?
6 On what were its bases sunk,
or who laid its cornerstone(B)
7 when the morning stars sang together
and all the heavenly beings[a] shouted for joy?(C)
8 “Or who shut in the sea with doors
when it burst out from the womb,(D)
9 when I made the clouds its garment
and thick darkness its swaddling band,(E)
10 and prescribed bounds for it,
and set bars and doors,(F)
11 and said, ‘Thus far shall you come and no farther,
and here shall your proud waves be stopped’?(G)
12 “Have you commanded the morning since your days began
and caused the dawn to know its place,(H)
13 so that it might take hold of the skirts of the earth,
and the wicked be shaken out of it?(I)
14 It is changed like clay under the seal,
and it is dyed[b] like a garment.
15 Light is withheld from the wicked,
and their uplifted arm is broken.(J)
16 “Have you entered into the springs of the sea
or walked in the recesses of the deep?(K)
17 Have the gates of death been revealed to you,
or have you seen the gates of deep darkness?(L)
18 Have you comprehended the expanse of the earth?
Declare, if you know all this.(M)
19 “Where is the way to the dwelling of light,
and where is the place of darkness,
20 that you may take it to its territory
and that you may discern the paths to its home?(N)
21 Surely you know, for you were born then,
and the number of your days is great!(O)
22 “Have you entered the storehouses of the snow,
or have you seen the storehouses of the hail,(P)
23 which I have reserved for the time of trouble,
for the day of battle and war?(Q)
24 What is the way to the place where the light is distributed
or where the east wind is scattered upon the earth?(R)
25 “Who has cut a channel for the torrents of rain
and a way for the thunderbolt,(S)
26 to bring rain on a land where no one lives,
on the desert, which is empty of human life,(T)
27 to satisfy the waste and desolate land,
and to make the ground put forth grass?(U)
28 “Has the rain a father,
or who has fathered the drops of dew?(V)
29 From whose womb did the ice come forth,
and who has given birth to the hoarfrost of heaven?(W)
30 The waters become hard like stone,
and the face of the deep is frozen.
31 “Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades
or loose the cords of Orion?(X)
32 Can you lead forth the Mazzaroth in their season,
or can you guide the Bear with its children?
33 Do you know the ordinances of the heavens?
Can you establish their rule on the earth?(Y)
34 “Can you lift up your voice to the clouds,
so that a flood of waters may cover you?(Z)
35 Can you send forth lightnings, so that they may go
and say to you, ‘Here we are’?(AA)
36 Who has put wisdom in the inward parts[c]
or given understanding to the mind?[d](AB)
37 Who has the wisdom to number the clouds?
Or who can tilt the waterskins of the heavens
38 when the dust runs into a mass
and the clods cling together?
39 “Can you hunt the prey for the lion
or satisfy the appetite of the young lions,(AC)
40 when they crouch in their dens
or lie in wait in their covert?(AD)
41 Who provides for the raven its prey,
when its young ones cry to God
and wander about for lack of food?(AE)
39 “Do you know when the mountain goats give birth?
Do you observe the calving of the deer?(AF)
2 Can you number the months that they fulfill,
and do you know the time when they give birth,
3 when they crouch to give birth to their offspring
and are delivered of their young?(AG)
4 Their young ones become strong; they grow up in the open;
they go forth and do not return to them.
5 “Who has let the wild ass go free?
Who has loosed the bonds of the swift ass,(AH)
6 to which I have given the steppe for its home,
the salt land for its dwelling place?(AI)
7 It scorns the tumult of the city;
it does not hear the shouts of the driver.
8 It ranges the mountains as its pasture,
and it searches after every green thing.
9 “Is the wild ox willing to serve you?
Will it spend the night at your crib?(AJ)
10 Can you tie it in the furrow with ropes,
or will it harrow the valleys after you?
11 Will you depend on it because its strength is great,
and will you hand over your labor to it?
12 Do you have faith in it that it will return
and bring your grain to your threshing floor?[e]
13 “The ostrich’s wings flap wildly,
though its pinions lack plumage.[f]
14 For it leaves its eggs to the earth
and lets them be warmed on the ground,
15 forgetting that a foot may crush them
and that a wild animal may trample them.
16 It deals cruelly with its young, as if they were not its own;
though its labor should be in vain, yet it has no fear;(AK)
17 because God has made it forget wisdom
and given it no share in understanding.(AL)
18 When it spreads its plumes aloft,[g]
it laughs at the horse and its rider.
19 “Do you give the horse its might?
Do you clothe its neck with mane?(AM)
20 Do you make it leap like the locust?
Its majestic snorting is terrible.(AN)
21 It paws[h] violently, exults mightily;
it goes out to meet the weapons.(AO)
22 It laughs at fear and is not dismayed;
it does not turn back from the sword.
23 Upon it rattle the quiver,
the flashing spear, and the javelin.
24 With fierceness and rage it swallows the ground;
it cannot stand still at the sound of the trumpet.(AP)
25 When the trumpet sounds, it says ‘Aha!’
From a distance it smells the battle,
the thunder of the captains, and the shouting.(AQ)
26 “Is it by your wisdom that the hawk soars
and spreads its wings toward the south?
27 Is it at your command that the eagle mounts up
and makes its nest on high?(AR)
28 It lives on the rock and makes its home
in the fastness of the rocky crag.
29 From there it spies the prey;
its eyes see it from far away.(AS)
30 Its young ones suck up blood,
and where the slain are, there it is.”(AT)
1 Kings 4:29-34
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Fame of Solomon’s Wisdom
29 God gave Solomon very great wisdom, discernment, and breadth of understanding as vast as the sand on the seashore,(A) 30 so that Solomon’s wisdom surpassed the wisdom of all the people of the East and all the wisdom of Egypt.(B) 31 He was wiser than anyone else, wiser than Ethan the Ezrahite and Heman, Calcol, and Darda, children of Mahol; his fame spread throughout all the surrounding nations.(C) 32 He composed three thousand proverbs, and his songs numbered a thousand and five.(D) 33 He would speak of trees, from the cedar that is in the Lebanon to the hyssop that grows in the wall; he would speak of animals, and birds, and reptiles, and fish. 34 People came from all the nations to hear the wisdom of Solomon, from all the kings of the earth who had heard of his wisdom.(E)
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Job 29:16
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16 I was a father to the needy,
and I championed the cause of the stranger.(A)
1 Kings 3:9-28
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9 Give your servant, therefore, an understanding mind to govern your people, able to discern between good and evil, for who can govern this great people of yours?”(A)
10 It pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked this. 11 God said to him, “Because you have asked this and have not asked for yourself long life or riches or for the life of your enemies but have asked for yourself understanding to discern what is right,(B) 12 I now do according to your word. Indeed, I give you a wise and discerning mind; no one like you has been before you, and no one like you shall arise after you.(C) 13 I give you also what you have not asked, both riches and honor all your life; no other king shall compare with you.(D) 14 If you will walk in my ways, keeping my statutes and my commandments, as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your life.”(E)
15 Then Solomon awoke; it had been a dream. He came to Jerusalem, where he stood before the ark of the covenant of the Lord. He offered up burnt offerings and offerings of well-being and provided a feast for all his servants.(F)
Solomon’s Wisdom in Judgment
16 Later, two women who were prostitutes came to the king and stood before him. 17 The one woman said, “Please, my lord, this woman and I live in the same house, and I gave birth while she was in the house.(G) 18 Then on the third day after I gave birth, this woman also gave birth. We were together; there was no one else with us in the house; only the two of us were in the house. 19 Then this woman’s son died in the night because she lay on him. 20 She got up in the middle of the night and took my son from beside me while your servant slept. She laid him at her breast and laid her dead son at my breast.(H) 21 When I rose in the morning to nurse my son, I saw that he was dead, but when I looked at him closely in the morning, clearly it was not the son I had borne.” 22 But the other woman said, “No, the living son is mine, and the dead son is yours.” The first said, “No, the dead son is yours, and the living son is mine.” So they argued before the king.
23 Then the king said, “The one says, ‘This is my son who is alive, and your son is dead,’ while the other says, ‘Not so! Your son is dead, and my son is the living one.’ ” 24 So the king said, “Bring me a sword,” and they brought a sword before the king. 25 The king said, “Divide the living boy in two; then give half to the one and half to the other.” 26 But the woman whose son was alive said to the king, because compassion for her son burned within her, “Please, my lord, give her the living boy; certainly do not kill him!” The other said, “It shall be neither mine nor yours; divide it.”(I) 27 Then the king responded, “Give her the living boy; do not kill him. She is his mother.” 28 All Israel heard of the judgment that the king had rendered, and they stood in awe of the king because they perceived that the wisdom of God was in him to execute justice.(J)
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Ezra 4:15
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15 so that a search may be made in the annals of your ancestors. You will discover in the annals that this is a rebellious city, hurtful to kings and provinces, and that sedition was stirred up in it from long ago. On that account this city was laid waste.
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Ezra 4:19
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19 So I made a decree, and someone searched and discovered that this city has risen against kings from long ago and that rebellion and sedition have been made in it.
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Job 40:2
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Footnotes
- 40.2 Traditional rendering of Heb Shaddai
Ezra 5:17-6:1
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
17 And now, if it seems good to the king, have a search made in the royal archives there in Babylon, to see whether a decree was issued by King Cyrus for the rebuilding of this house of God in Jerusalem. Let the king send us his pleasure in this matter.”(A)
The Decree of Darius
6 Then King Darius made a decree, and they searched the archives where the documents were stored in Babylon.(B)
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.