34 Bible Verses about Riddles

Then Samson went down with his father and his mother to Timnath, and when they came to the vineyards of Timnath, behold, a young lion came roaring against him. And the Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon him, and he rent him as he would have rent a kid, and he had nothing in his hand, but he did not make known unto his father or his mother what he had done. And he went down and talked with the woman, and she pleased Samson well.read more.
And after a time he returned to take her, and he turned aside from the way to see the carcase of the lion; and, behold, there was a swarm of bees and honey in the carcase of the lion. And he took of it in his hands and went along the way eating, and when he came to his father and mother, he also gave them some to eat, but he did not tell them that he had taken the honey out of the carcase of the lion. So his father went down unto the woman; and Samson made a banquet there, for the young men used to do so. And when they saw him, they brought thirty companions to be with him, unto whom Samson said, I will now put forth an enigma unto you, which if ye can declare it and discover it to me within the seven days of the banquet, then I will give you thirty sheets and thirty changes of garments. But if ye cannot declare it to me, then ye shall give me thirty sheets and thirty changes of garments. And they said unto him, Put forth thy enigma that we may hear it. And he said unto them, Out of the eater came forth food, and out of the strong came forth sweetness. And they could not declare the enigma in three days.

And it came to pass on the seventh day that they said unto Samson's wife, Entice thy husband that he may declare unto us this enigma lest we burn thee and thy father's house with fire. Have ye called us here to impoverish us? And Samson's wife wept before him and said, Thou dost only hate me and dost not love me, for thou hast not declared unto me the enigma that thou hast put forth unto the sons of my people. And he said unto her, Behold, I have not told it to my father nor my mother, and must I tell it to thee? And she wept before him the seven days while their banquet lasted, but on the seventh day, he told her, because she lay sore upon him, and she declared the enigma to the sons of her people.read more.
And the men of the city said unto him on the seventh day before the sun went down, What is sweeter than honey? And what is stronger than a lion? And he said unto them, If ye had not plowed with my heifer, ye would have never discovered my enigma. And the Spirit of the LORD came upon him, and he went down to Ashkelon and slew thirty men of them and taking their spoil, he gave the changes of garments to those who had explained the enigma. And his anger was kindled, and he went up to his father's house. But Samson's wife was given to his companion, who had fed him before.

And Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told it to his brethren; and they hated him yet the more. And he said unto them, Hear, I pray you, this dream which I have dreamed: For, behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and, behold, my sheaf arose and also stood upright; and, behold, your sheaves stood round about and made obeisance to my sheaf.read more.
And his brethren said to him, Shalt thou indeed reign over us? Or shalt thou indeed have dominion over us? And they hated him yet the more for his dreams and for his words. And he dreamed yet another dream and told it to his brethren, saying, Behold, I have dreamed another dream; and, behold, the sun and the moon and eleven stars made obeisance to me.

And both of them dreamed a dream, each man his dream in the same night, each man according to the interpretation of his dream, the butler and the baker of the king of Egypt, who were bound in the prison. And Joseph came in unto them in the morning and looked upon them, and, behold, they were sad. And he asked Pharaoh's officers that were with him in the prison of his lord's house, saying, Why look ye so sad today?read more.
And they said unto him, We have dreamed a dream, and there is no interpreter of it. And Joseph said unto them, Do not interpretations belong to God? Tell me the dreams, I pray you.

And it came to pass at the end of two full years, that Pharaoh dreamed: and, behold, he stood by the river. And, behold, there came up out of the river seven beautiful cows and very fat, and they fed in a meadow. And, behold, seven other cows came up after them out of the river, ugly and lean-fleshed, and stood by the other cows upon the brink of the river.read more.
And the ugly and lean-fleshed cows ate up the seven beautiful and fat cows. So Pharaoh awoke. And he slept and dreamed the second time; and, behold, seven heads of wheat came up upon one stalk, full and beautiful. And, behold, seven thin heads, blasted with the east wind sprung up after them. And the seven thin heads devoured the seven full and beautiful heads. And Pharaoh awoke, and, behold, it was a dream. And it came to pass in the morning that his spirit was troubled, and he sent and called for all the magicians of Egypt and all the wise men thereof; and Pharaoh told them his dreams, but there was no one that could interpret them unto Pharaoh.

And in the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar dreamed dreams, with which his spirit was troubled, and his sleep fled from him. Then the king commanded to call magicians, astrologers, enchanters, and Chaldeans, that they might show the king his dreams. So they came and presented themselves before the king. And the king said unto them, I have dreamed a dream, and my spirit was troubled to know the dream.

There are three things which are hidden from me, yea, four which I know not: The track of the eagle in the air; the track of the serpent upon the rock; the track of the ship in the midst of the sea; and the track of the man in the maid.

Son of man, propose a figure and compose an enigma unto the house of Israel and say: Thus hath the Lord GOD said, A great eagle with great wings and long members, full of feathers of diverse colours, came unto Lebanon and took the highest branch of the cedar: he cropped off the principal shoot and carried it into a land of markets; he set it in the city of the merchants.read more.
He also took of the seed of the land and planted it in a fruitful field; he placed it by great waters and set it as a willow tree. And it grew and became a vine of many branches, low of stature, whose branches looked at him, and its roots were under him: so it became a vine and brought forth branches and shot forth sprigs. There was also another great eagle with great wings and many feathers; and, behold, this vine joined her roots toward him and extended her branches toward him that he might water it by the furrows of her plantation. It was planted in a good soil by many waters that it might bring forth branches and that it might bear fruit, that it might be a goodly vine.

In that same hour some fingers of a man's hand came forth and wrote in front of the candlestick upon the plaster of the wall of the king's palace: and the king saw the palm of the hand that wrote. Then the king became pale, and his thoughts troubled him, and the girdings of his loins were unloosed, and his knees smote one against another. The king cried in a loud voice that they bring in the magicians, the Chaldeans, and the fortune-tellers. The king spoke and said to the wise men of Babylon, Whoever shall read this writing and show me its interpretation, shall be clothed with purple and have a chain of gold about his neck and shall be the third ruler in the kingdom.read more.
Then all the king's wise men came in, but they could not read the writing, nor make known to the king its interpretation. Then king Belshazzar was greatly troubled, and his colour was changed, and his princes were upset.

I have spoken these things unto you in proverbs, but the hour comes when I shall no longer speak unto you in proverbs, but I shall show you plainly of the Father.

Jesus answered and said unto them, Dissolve this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.

A little while, and ye shall not see me; and again, a little while, and ye shall see me, because I go to the Father. Then some of his disciples said among themselves, What is this that he says unto us, A little while, and ye shall not see me; and again, a little while, and ye shall see me; and, Because I go to the Father? They said therefore, What is this that he says, A little while? we cannot understand what he says.read more.
Now Jesus knew that they were desirous to ask him and said unto them, Do ye enquire among yourselves of what I said, A little while, and ye shall not see me; and again, a little while, and ye shall see me?

Here is wisdom. Let him that has understanding count the number of the beast: for the number of man; and its number is six hundred sixty-six.

And the angel said unto me, Why didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman and of the beast that carries her, which has the seven heads and ten horns. The beast that thou sawest was, and is not, and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and shall go into perdition; and those that dwell on the earth shall wonder (whose names are not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world) when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is. And here is the meaning which has wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sits.

And he said, Hear now my words: If there is a prophet among you, I the LORD will make myself known unto him in a vision and will speak unto him in dreams. My slave Moses is not so, who is faithful in all my house. With him I will speak mouth to mouth and by sight not by enigmas; he shall see the similitude of the LORD. Why then were ye not afraid to speak against my slave Moses?

And there never arose a prophet since in Israel like Moses, who had known the LORD face to face,

For now we see as through a mirror, in darkness, but then we shall see face to face; now I know in part, but then I shall know even as I also am known.

Of which saving health the prophets, (who prophesied of the grace that was to come in you) have enquired and searched diligently; searching when and in what point of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, which announced beforehand the afflictions that were to come upon the Christ, and the glory that should follow them.

Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise; thy hand shall be on the neck of thine enemies; thy father's sons shall bow down before thee. Judah is a lion's whelp; from the prey, my son, thou art gone up; he stooped down, he couched as a lion and as an old lion; who shall rouse him up? The sceptre shall not be taken from Judah, nor the lawgiver from between his feet until Shiloh comes; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.read more.
Binding his foal unto the vine and his ass's colt unto the choice roots; he washed his garments in wine and his covering in the blood of grapes;

And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots:

With all this he shall grow up before him as a tender sprout and as a root out of a dry ground. There is no outward appearance in him, nor beauty. We shall see him, yet nothing attractive about him that we should desire him.

My mouth shall speak wisdom; and the meditation of my heart intelligence. I will incline mine ear to a parable; I will declare my enigma upon the harp.

And Solomon told her all her questions; there was not any thing hid from the king, which he did not tell her.

But Solomon told her all her questions, and nothing remained that Solomon did not declare unto her.

because Daniel, whom the king named Belteshazzar, was found to have a more excellent spirit and greater knowledge and understanding interpreting dreams, unraveling questions, and dissolving doubts. Now let Daniel be called, and he will show thee the interpretation.

The proverbs of Solomon, the son of David, king of Israel; to know wisdom and chastening; to understand prudent words; to receive the chastening of prudence, justice, judgment, and equity;read more.
to give prudence to the simple, and to the young men knowledge and council. If the wise will hear them, doctrine shall increase, and the man of understanding shall acquire wise counsel: To understand a parable and the interpretation; the words of the wise and their enigmas.

Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise, Who having no guide, overseer, or ruler, provides her food in the summer and gathers her food in the harvest.

As snow in summer and as rain in harvest, so honour is not suited for a fool. As the sparrow in its wandering, as the swallow in its flight, so the curse causeless shall never come.

I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter enigmas of old,

And when they told it to Jotham, he went and stood in the top of Mount Gerizim and lifted up his voice and cried and said unto them, Hearken unto me, ye men of Shechem, that God may hearken unto you. The trees went forth to anoint a king over them, and they said unto the olive tree, Reign thou over us. But the olive tree replied, Should I leave my fatness, which because of me, God and man are honoured, to go and sway over the trees?read more.
And the trees said to the fig tree, Come thou and reign over us. But the fig tree said unto them, Should I forsake my sweetness and my good fruit to go and sway over the trees? Then the trees said unto the vine, Come thou and reign over us. And the vine said unto them, Should I leave my wine, which cheers God and man, to go and sway over the trees? Then all the trees said unto the bramble, Come thou and reign over us. And the bramble said unto the trees, If in truth ye anoint me king over you, then come and confide under my shadow; and if not, let fire come out of the bramble and devour the cedars of Lebanon.

And the LORD sent Nathan unto David. And he came unto him and said unto him, There were two men in one city; the one rich and the other poor. The rich man had exceeding many sheep and cows, but the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb, which he had bought and nourished up, and it grew up together with him and with his children; it ate of his own food and drank of his own cup and lay in his bosom and was unto him as a daughter.read more.
And a traveller came unto the rich man, who did not wish to take of his own sheep and of his own cows to dress for the wayfaring man that was come unto him, but took the poor man's lamb and dressed it for the man that had come to him.

Now will I sing to my well-beloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard. My well-beloved had a vineyard in the horn of the sons of oil; and he had fenced it and gathered out the stones thereof and planted it with the choicest vine and built a tower in the midst of it and also made a winepress therein; and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes.

Thus hath the LORD said unto me, Go and buy thee a linen girdle and put it upon thy loins, and thou shalt not put it in water. And I bought the girdle according to the word of the LORD and put it on my loins. And the word of the LORD came unto me the second time, saying,read more.
Take the girdle that thou hast bought, which is upon thy loins, and arise; go to the Euphrates and hide it there in a hole of the rock. So I went and hid it in the Euphrates, as the LORD commanded me. And it came to pass after many days that the LORD said unto me, Arise; go to the Euphrates and take from there the girdle, which I commanded thee to hide there. Then I went to the Euphrates and dug and took the girdle from the place where I had hid it; and, behold, the girdle was rotted, it was good for nothing.

Jesus spoke all these things unto the multitude in parables and said nothing unto them without parables that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world.