Proverbs 25:2

²⁹The secret things belong to the LORD our God; but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.

³³Oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past tracing out! ³⁴“For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?”

⁷“Can you fathom the mystery of God? Or can you probe the limits of the Almighty? ⁸They are high as heaven. What can you do? They are deeper than Sheol.^[+] What can you know?

⁴“Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Declare, if you have understanding. ⁵Who determined its measures, if you know? Or who stretched the line on it? ⁶What were its foundations fastened on? Or who laid its cornerstone, ⁷when 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 out of the womb, ⁹when I made clouds its garment, and wrapped it in thick darkness, ¹⁰marked out for it my bound, set bars and doors, ¹¹and said, ‘You may come here, but no further. Your proud waves shall be stopped here’? ¹²“Have you commanded the morning in your days, and caused the dawn to know its place, ¹³that it might take hold of the ends of the earth, and shake the wicked out of it? ¹⁴It is changed as clay under the seal, and presented as a garment. ¹⁵From 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? ¹⁷Have the gates of death been revealed to you? Or have you seen the gates of the shadow of death? ¹⁸Have you comprehended the earth in its width? Declare, if you know it all. ¹⁹“What is the way to the dwelling of light? As for darkness, where is its place, ²⁰that you should take it to its bound, that you should discern the paths to its house? ²¹Surely you know, for you were born then, and the number of your days is great! ²²Have you entered the storehouses of the snow, or have you seen the storehouses of the hail, ²³which I have reserved against the time of trouble, against the day of battle and war? ²⁴By what way is the lightning distributed, or the east wind scattered on the earth? ²⁵Who has cut a channel for the flood water, or the path for the thunderstorm, ²⁶to cause it to rain on a land where there is no man, on the wilderness, in which there is no man, ²⁷to satisfy the waste and desolate ground, to cause the tender grass to grow? ²⁸Does the rain have a father? Or who fathers the drops of dew? ²⁹Whose womb did the ice come out of? Who has given birth to the gray frost of the sky? ³⁰The waters become hard like stone, when the surface of the deep is frozen.

³You asked, ‘Who is this who hides counsel without knowledge?’ therefore I have uttered that which I didn’t understand, things too wonderful for me, which I didn’t know.

²⁹God gave Solomon abundant wisdom, understanding, and breadth of mind like the sand that is on the seashore. ³⁰Solomon’s wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the children of the east and all the wisdom of Egypt. ³¹For he was wiser than all men—wiser than Ethan the Ezrahite, Heman, Calcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol; and his fame was in all the nations all around. ³²He spoke three thousand proverbs, and his songs numbered one thousand five. ³³He spoke of trees, from the cedar that is in Lebanon even to the hyssop that grows out of the wall; he also spoke of animals, of birds, of creeping things, and of fish. ³⁴People of all nations came to hear the wisdom of Solomon, sent by all kings of the earth who had heard of his wisdom.

¹⁶I was a father to the needy. I researched the cause of him whom I didn’t know.

⁹Give your servant therefore an understanding heart to judge your people, that I may discern between good and evil; for who is able to judge this great people of yours?”

¹⁰This request pleased the Lord, that Solomon had asked this thing. ¹¹God said to him, “Because you have asked this thing, and have not asked for yourself long life, nor have you asked for riches for yourself, nor have you asked for the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern justice, ¹²behold, I have done according to your word. Behold, I have given you a wise and understanding heart, so that there has been no one like you before you, and after you none will arise like you. ¹³I have also given you that which you have not asked, both riches and honor, so that there will not be any among the kings like you for all your days. ¹⁴If you will walk in my ways, to keep my statutes and my commandments, as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your days.”

¹⁵Solomon awoke; and behold, it was a dream. Then he came to Jerusalem and stood before the ark of the LORD’s covenant, and offered up burnt offerings, offered peace offerings, and made a feast for all his servants.

¹⁶Then two women who were prostitutes came to the king, and stood before him. ¹⁷The one woman said, “Oh, my lord, I and this woman dwell in one house. I delivered a child with her in the house. ¹⁸The third day after I delivered, this woman delivered also. We were together. There was no stranger with us in the house, just us two in the house. ¹⁹This woman’s child died in the night, because she lay on it. ²⁰She arose at midnight, and took my son from beside me while your servant slept, and laid it in her bosom, and laid her dead child in my bosom. ²¹When I rose in the morning to nurse my child, behold, he was dead; but when I had looked at him in the morning, behold, it was not my son whom I bore.”

²²The other woman said, “No! But the living one is my son, and the dead one is your son.” The first one said, “No! But the dead one is your son, and the living one is my son.” They argued like this before the king.

²³Then the king said, “One says, ‘This is my son who lives, and your son is the dead one;’ and the other says, ‘No! But your son is the dead one, and my son is the living one.’”

²⁴The king said, “Get me a sword.” So they brought a sword before the king.

²⁵The king said, “Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one, and half to the other.”

²⁶Then the woman whose the living child was spoke to the king, for her heart yearned over her son, and she said, “Oh, my lord, give her the living child, and in no way kill him!” But the other said, “He shall be neither mine nor yours. Divide him.”

²⁷Then the king answered, “Give the first woman the living child, and definitely do not kill him. She is his mother.”

²⁸All Israel heard of the judgment which the king had judged; and they feared the king, for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him to do justice.

¹⁵that search may be made in the book of the records of your fathers. You will see in the book of the records, and know that this city is a rebellious city, and hurtful to kings and provinces, and that they have started rebellions within it in the past. That is why this city was destroyed.

¹⁹I decreed, and search has been made, and it was found that this city has made insurrection against kings in the past, and that rebellion and revolts have been made in it.