Thematic Bible: Riddle


Thematic Bible



The night-spirit has two daughters, Give, give. There are three things which are never full, even four which never say, Enough: The underworld, and the woman without a child; the earth which never has enough water, and the fire which never says, Enough.

There are three things, the wonder of which overcomes me, even four things outside my knowledge: The way of an eagle in the air; the way of a snake on a rock; the way of a ship in the heart of the sea; and the way of a man with a girl. This is the way of a false wife; she takes food, and, cleaning her mouth, says, I have done no wrong. read more.
For three things the earth is moved, and there are four which it will not put up with: A servant when he becomes a king; a man without sense when his wealth is increased; A hated woman when she is married; and a servant-girl who takes the place of her master's wife. There are four things which are little on the earth, but they are very wise: The ants are a people not strong, but they put by a store of food in the summer; The conies are only a feeble people, but they make their houses in the rocks; The locusts have no king, but they all go out in bands; You may take the lizard in your hands, but it is in kings' houses. There are three things whose steps are good to see, even four whose goings are fair: The lion, which is strongest among beasts, not turning from his way for any; The war-horse, and the he-goat, and the king when his army is with him.

And Samson said, Now I have a hard question for you: if you are able to give me the answer before the seven days of the feast are over, I will give you thirty linen robes and thirty changes of clothing; But if you are not able to give me the answer, then you will have to give me thirty linen robes and thirty changes of clothing. And they said to him, Put your hard question and let us see what it is. And he said, Out of the taker of food came food, and out of the strong came the sweet. And at the end of three days they were still not able to give the answer. read more.
So on the fourth day they said to Samson's wife, Get from your husband the answer to his question by some trick or other, or we will have you and your father's house burned with fire; did you get us here to take all we have? Then Samson's wife, weeping over him, said, Truly you have no love for me but only hate; you have put a hard question to the children of my people and have not given me the answer. And he said to her, See, I have not given the answer even to my father or my mother; am I to give it to you? And all the seven days of the feast she went on weeping over him; and on the seventh day he gave her the answer, because she gave him no peace; and she sent word of it to the children of her people. Then on the seventh day, before he went into the bride's room, the men of the town said to him, What is sweeter than honey? and what is stronger than a lion? And he said to them, If you had not been ploughing with my cow you would not have got the answer to my question.

Basic English, produced by Mr C. K. Ogden of the Orthological Institute - public domain