Thematic Bible


Thematic Bible



For ask now the animals, and they will teach you [that God does not deal with His creatures according to their character]; ask the birds of the air, and they will tell you; Or speak to the earth [with its other forms of life], and it will teach you; and the fish of the sea will declare [this truth] to you. Who [is so blind as] not to recognize in all these [that good and evil are promiscuously scattered throughout nature and human life] that it is God's hand which does it [and God's way]? read more.
In His hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of all mankind. Is it not the task of the ear to discriminate between [wise and unwise] words, just as the mouth distinguishes [between desirable and undesirable] food? With the aged [you say] is wisdom, and with length of days comes understanding. But [only] with [God] are [perfect] wisdom and might; He [alone] has [true] counsel and understanding. Behold, He tears down, and it cannot be built again; He shuts a man in, and none can open. He withholds the waters, and the land dries up; again, He sends forth [rains], and they overwhelm the land or transform it. With Him are might and wisdom; the deceived and the deceiver are His [and in His power]. He leads [great and scheming] counselors away stripped and barefoot and makes the judges fools [in human estimation, by overthrowing their plans]. He looses the fetters [ordered] by kings and has [the] waistcloth [of a slave] bound about their [own] loins. He leads away priests as spoil, and men firmly seated He overturns. He deprives of speech those who are trusted and takes away the discernment and discretion of the aged. He pours contempt on princes and loosens the belt of the strong [disabling them, bringing low the pride of the learned]. He uncovers deep things out of darkness and brings into light black gloom and the shadow of death. He makes nations great, and He destroys them; He enlarges nations [and then straitens and shrinks them again], and leads them [away captive]. He takes away understanding from the leaders of the people of the land and of the earth, and causes them to wander in a wilderness where there is no path. They grope in the dark without light, and He makes them to stagger and wander like a drunken man.

For that which is known about God is evident to them and made plain in their inner consciousness, because God [Himself] has shown it to them. For ever since the creation of the world His invisible nature and attributes, that is, His eternal power and divinity, have been made intelligible and clearly discernible in and through the things that have been made (His handiworks). So [men] are without excuse [altogether without any defense or justification],

Then the word of the Lord came to me: O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter does? says the Lord. Behold, as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel. At one time I will suddenly speak concerning a nation or kingdom, that I will pluck up and break down and destroy it; read more.
And if [the people of] that nation concerning which I have spoken turn from their evil, I will relent and reverse My decision concerning the evil that I thought to do to them. At another time I will suddenly speak concerning a nation or kingdom, that I will build up and plant it; And if they do evil in My sight, obeying not My voice, then I will regret and reverse My decision concerning the good with which I said I would benefit them.


“This sentence is by the decree of the angelic watchers
And the decision is a command of the holy ones,
So that the living may know [without any doubt]
That the Most High [God] rules over the kingdom of mankind
And He bestows it on whomever He desires
And sets over it the humblest and lowliest of men.”
Verse ConceptsDivine MessengerCivil authoritiesHuman Authority, Nature OfHuman Authority, Instituted By GodAuthority, of human institutionsGovernmentWhat God GivesSeasons, Of LifeThe Most HighAuthorityGod Saves From Sin And DeathJudicial PunishmentOther Unimportant PeopleSpecific Holy IndividualsKnowing About God's Kingdom

Who [is so blind as] not to recognize in all these [that good and evil are promiscuously scattered throughout nature and human life] that it is God's hand which does it [and God's way]? In His hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of all mankind. Is it not the task of the ear to discriminate between [wise and unwise] words, just as the mouth distinguishes [between desirable and undesirable] food? read more.
With the aged [you say] is wisdom, and with length of days comes understanding. But [only] with [God] are [perfect] wisdom and might; He [alone] has [true] counsel and understanding. Behold, He tears down, and it cannot be built again; He shuts a man in, and none can open. He withholds the waters, and the land dries up; again, He sends forth [rains], and they overwhelm the land or transform it. With Him are might and wisdom; the deceived and the deceiver are His [and in His power]. He leads [great and scheming] counselors away stripped and barefoot and makes the judges fools [in human estimation, by overthrowing their plans]. He looses the fetters [ordered] by kings and has [the] waistcloth [of a slave] bound about their [own] loins. He leads away priests as spoil, and men firmly seated He overturns. He deprives of speech those who are trusted and takes away the discernment and discretion of the aged. He pours contempt on princes and loosens the belt of the strong [disabling them, bringing low the pride of the learned]. He uncovers deep things out of darkness and brings into light black gloom and the shadow of death. He makes nations great, and He destroys them; He enlarges nations [and then straitens and shrinks them again], and leads them [away captive].

It is God Who sits above the circle (the horizon) of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; it is He Who stretches out the heavens like [gauze] curtains and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in, Who brings dignitaries to nothing, Who makes the judges and rulers of the earth as chaos (emptiness, falsity, and futility).

And command them to say to their masters, Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Thus shall you say to your masters: I have made the earth, the men, and the beasts that are upon the face of the earth by My great power and by My outstretched arm, and I give it to whomever it seems right and suitable to Me. And now I have given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, My servant and instrument, and the beasts of the field also I have given him to serve him. read more.
And all nations shall serve him and his son and his grandson until the [God-appointed] time [of punishment] of his own land comes; and then many nations and great kings shall make him their slave. But any nation or kingdom that will not serve this same Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and put its neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, that nation will I punish, says the Lord, with the sword, with famine, and with pestilence, until I have consumed it by [Nebuchadnezzar's] hand.

Daniel answered, Blessed be the name of God forever and ever! For wisdom and might are His! He changes the times and the seasons; He removes kings and sets up kings. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding!

O king, the Most High God gave Nebuchadnezzar your father a kingdom and greatness and glory and majesty; And because of the greatness that He gave him, all peoples, nations, and languages trembled and feared before him. Whom he would he slew, and whom he would he kept alive; whom he would he set up, and whom he would he put down. But when his heart was lifted up and his mind and spirit were hardened so that he dealt proudly, he was deposed from his kingly throne and his glory was taken from him; read more.
He was driven from among men, and his heart or mind was made like the beasts, and his dwelling was with the wild asses. He was fed with grass like oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of the heavens until he learned and knew that the Most High God rules in the kingdom of men and that He appoints and sets over it whomever He will. And you his son, O Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart and mind, though you knew all this [knew it and were defiant]. And you have lifted yourself up against the Lord of heaven, and the vessels of His house have been brought before you, and you and your lords, your wives, and your concubines have drunk wine from them; and you have praised the gods of silver and gold, of bronze, iron, wood, and stone, which do not see or hear or know; but the God in Whose hand your breath is and Whose are all your ways you have not honored and glorified [but have dishonored and disgraced]. Then was the part of the hand sent from the presence of [the Most High God], and this writing was inscribed. And this is the inscription that was written, mene, mene, tekel, upharsin -- "numbered, numbered, weighed, divisions. This is the interpretation of the matter: mene, God has numbered the days of your kingship and brought them to an end; tekel, You are weighed in the balances and are found wanting; peres, Your kingdom and your kingship are divided and given to the Medes and Persians. [Foretold in Isa. 21:2, 5, 9.] Then Belshazzar commanded, and Daniel was clothed with purple and a chain of gold put about his neck, and a proclamation was made concerning him that he should be the third ruler in the kingdom. During that night Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans was slain, And Darius the Mede took the kingdom; he was about sixty-two years old.

Who [is so blind as] not to recognize in all these [that good and evil are promiscuously scattered throughout nature and human life] that it is God's hand which does it [and God's way]? In His hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of all mankind. Is it not the task of the ear to discriminate between [wise and unwise] words, just as the mouth distinguishes [between desirable and undesirable] food? read more.
With the aged [you say] is wisdom, and with length of days comes understanding. But [only] with [God] are [perfect] wisdom and might; He [alone] has [true] counsel and understanding. Behold, He tears down, and it cannot be built again; He shuts a man in, and none can open. He withholds the waters, and the land dries up; again, He sends forth [rains], and they overwhelm the land or transform it. With Him are might and wisdom; the deceived and the deceiver are His [and in His power]. He leads [great and scheming] counselors away stripped and barefoot and makes the judges fools [in human estimation, by overthrowing their plans]. He looses the fetters [ordered] by kings and has [the] waistcloth [of a slave] bound about their [own] loins. He leads away priests as spoil, and men firmly seated He overturns. He deprives of speech those who are trusted and takes away the discernment and discretion of the aged. He pours contempt on princes and loosens the belt of the strong [disabling them, bringing low the pride of the learned]. He uncovers deep things out of darkness and brings into light black gloom and the shadow of death. He makes nations great, and He destroys them; He enlarges nations [and then straitens and shrinks them again], and leads them [away captive].

The Lord at Your right hand will shatter kings in the day of His indignation. He will execute judgment [in overwhelming punishment] upon the nations; He will fill the valleys with the dead bodies, He will crush the [chief] heads over lands many and far extended.

As for me, I would seek God and inquire of and require Him, and to God would I commit my cause -- " Who does great things and unsearchable, marvelous things without number, Who gives rain upon the earth and sends waters upon the fields, read more.
So that He sets on high those who are lowly, and those who mourn He lifts to safety. He frustrates the devices of the crafty, so that their hands cannot perform their enterprise or anything of [lasting] worth. He catches the [so-called] wise in their own trickiness, and the counsel of the schemers is brought to a quick end. In the daytime they meet in darkness, and at noon they grope as in the night. But [God] saves [the fatherless] from the sword of their mouth, and the needy from the hand of the mighty. So the poor have hope, and iniquity shuts her mouth. Happy and fortunate is the man whom God reproves; so do not despise or reject the correction of the Almighty [subjecting you to trial and suffering]. For He wounds, but He binds up; He smites, but His hands heal. He will rescue you in six troubles; in seven nothing that is evil [for you] will touch you. In famine He will redeem you from death, and in war from the power of the sword.

I will say to God, Do not condemn me [do not make me guilty]! Show me why You contend with me. Does it seem good to You that You should oppress, that You should despise and reject the work of Your hands, and favor the schemes of the wicked? Have You eyes of flesh? Do You see as man sees? read more.
Are Your days as the days of man, are Your years as man's [years], That You inquire after my iniquity and search for my sin -- " Although You know that I am not wicked or guilty and that there is none who can deliver me out of Your hand? Your hands have formed me and made me. Would You turn around and destroy me? Remember [earnestly], I beseech You, that You have fashioned me as clay [out of the same earth material, exquisitely and elaborately]. And will You bring me into dust again? Have You not poured me out like milk and curdled me like cheese? You have clothed me with skin and flesh and have knit me together with bones and sinews. You have granted me life and favor, and Your providence has preserved my spirit. Yet these [the present evils] have You hid in Your heart [for me since my creation]; I know that this was with You [in Your purpose and thought]. If I sin, then You observe me, and You will not acquit me from my iniquity and guilt. If I am wicked, woe unto me! And if I am righteous, yet must I not lift up my head, for I am filled with disgrace and the sight of my affliction. If I lift myself up, You hunt me like a lion and again show Yourself [inflicting] marvelous [trials] upon me. You renew Your witnesses against me and increase Your indignation toward me; I am as if attacked by a troop time after time. Why then did You bring me forth out of the womb? Would that I had perished and no eye had seen me! I should have been as though I had not existed; I should have been carried from the womb to the grave. Are not my days few? Cease then and let me alone, that I may take a little comfort and cheer up Before I go whence I shall not return, even to the land of darkness and the shadow of death,

The dwellings of robbers prosper; those who provoke God are [apparently] secure; God supplies them abundantly [who have no god but their own hands and power]. For ask now the animals, and they will teach you [that God does not deal with His creatures according to their character]; ask the birds of the air, and they will tell you; Or speak to the earth [with its other forms of life], and it will teach you; and the fish of the sea will declare [this truth] to you. read more.
Who [is so blind as] not to recognize in all these [that good and evil are promiscuously scattered throughout nature and human life] that it is God's hand which does it [and God's way]? In His hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of all mankind. Is it not the task of the ear to discriminate between [wise and unwise] words, just as the mouth distinguishes [between desirable and undesirable] food? With the aged [you say] is wisdom, and with length of days comes understanding. But [only] with [God] are [perfect] wisdom and might; He [alone] has [true] counsel and understanding. Behold, He tears down, and it cannot be built again; He shuts a man in, and none can open. He withholds the waters, and the land dries up; again, He sends forth [rains], and they overwhelm the land or transform it. With Him are might and wisdom; the deceived and the deceiver are His [and in His power]. He leads [great and scheming] counselors away stripped and barefoot and makes the judges fools [in human estimation, by overthrowing their plans]. He looses the fetters [ordered] by kings and has [the] waistcloth [of a slave] bound about their [own] loins. He leads away priests as spoil, and men firmly seated He overturns. He deprives of speech those who are trusted and takes away the discernment and discretion of the aged. He pours contempt on princes and loosens the belt of the strong [disabling them, bringing low the pride of the learned]. He uncovers deep things out of darkness and brings into light black gloom and the shadow of death. He makes nations great, and He destroys them; He enlarges nations [and then straitens and shrinks them again], and leads them [away captive]. He takes away understanding from the leaders of the people of the land and of the earth, and causes them to wander in a wilderness where there is no path.

I reply to you, Behold, in this you are not just; God is superior to man. Why do you contend against Him? For He does not give account of any of His actions. [Sufficient for us it should be to know that it is He Who does them.] For God [does reveal His will; He] speaks not only once, but more than once, even though men do not regard it [including you, Job]. read more.
[One may hear God's voice] in a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls on men while slumbering upon the bed, Then He opens the ears of men and seals their instruction [terrifying them with warnings], That He may withdraw man from his purpose and cut off pride from him [disgusting him with his own disappointing self-sufficiency]. He holds him back from the pit [of destruction], and his life from perishing by the sword [of God's destructive judgments]. [God's voice may be heard by man when] he is chastened with pain upon his bed and with continual strife in his bones or while all his bones are firmly set, So that his desire makes him loathe food, and even dainty dishes [nauseate him]. His flesh is so wasted away that it cannot be seen, and his bones that were not seen stick out. Yes, his soul draws near to corruption, and his life to the inflicters of death (the destroyers). [God's voice may be heard] if there is for the hearer a messenger or an angel, an interpreter, one among a thousand, to show to man what is right for him [how to be upright and in right standing with God], Then [God] is gracious to him and says, Deliver him from going down into the pit [of destruction]; I have found a ransom (a price of redemption, an atonement)! [Then the man's] flesh shall be restored; it becomes fresher and more tender than a child's; he returns to the days of his youth. He prays to God, and He is favorable to him, so that he sees His face with joy; for [God] restores to him his righteousness (his uprightness and right standing with God -- "with its joys). He looks upon other men or sings out to them, I have sinned and perverted that which was right, and it did not profit me, or He did not requite me [according to my iniquity]! [God] has redeemed my life from going down to the pit [of destruction], and my life shall see the light! [Elihu comments] Behold, God does all these things twice, yes, three times, with a man, To bring back his life from the pit [of destruction], that he may be enlightened with the light of the living.