'Know' in the Bible

“Your own wickedness will discipline you,And your desertion of the faith will punish you.Know therefore that it is an evil and bitter thingFor you to abandon (reject) the Lord your God,And for you to be indifferent to Me and dismiss the [reverent] fear of Me,” says the Lord God of hosts.

“How can you say, ‘I am not defiled,I have not gone after [man-made gods like] the Baals’?Look at your way in the valley;Know [without any doubt] what you have done!You are a swift and restless young [female] camel [in the heat of her passion] running here and there,

‘Only understand fully and acknowledge your wickedness and guilt,That you have rebelled (transgressed) against the Lord your GodAnd have scattered your favors among strangers under every green tree,And you have not obeyed My voice,’ says the Lord.

“For My people are stupid and foolish,” [says the Lord to Jeremiah];“They do not know Me;They are foolish childrenAnd have no understanding.They are shrewd [enough] to do evil,But they do not know [how] to do good.”

Then I said, “[Surely] these are only the poor (uneducated);They are [sinfully] foolish and have no [spiritual] understanding,For they do not know the way of the LordOr the ordinance of their God [and the requirements of His just and righteous law].

“I will go to the great [men]And speak to them,For they [must] know the way of the Lord,The ordinance of their God.”But [I found the reverse to be true, that] they too had all alike broken the yoke [of God’s law]And had burst the bonds [of obedience to Him].

“Behold, I am bringing a nation against you from far away, O house of Israel,” says the Lord.“It is a mighty and enduring nation,It is an ancient nation,A nation whose language you do not know,Whose words you do not comprehend.

“Therefore hear, O [Gentile] nations,And see, O congregation, what [vengeful act] is to be done to them.

“I [the Lord] have set you as an assayer [O Jeremiah] and as a tester [of the ore] of My people,That you may know and analyze their acts.”

“Even the stork in the skyKnows her seasons [of migration],And the turtledove, the swallow and the craneObserve the time of their return.But My people do not knowThe law of the Lord.

“They bend their tongue like their bow;[Their] lies and not truth prevail and grow strong in the land;For they proceed from evil to evil,And they do not know and understand and acknowledge Me,” says the Lord.

“Your dwelling is in the midst of deceit [oppression upon oppression and deceit upon deceit];Through deceit they refuse to know (understand) Me,” says the Lord.

O Lord, I know that the path of [life of] a man is not in himself;It is not within [the limited ability of] man [even one at his best] to choose and direct his steps [in life].

Pour out Your wrath on the nations that do not know nor recognize YouAnd on the families that do not call Your name.For they have devoured Jacob;They have devoured him and consumed himAnd made his land a desolate waste.

But I was like a gentle and tame lamb brought to the slaughter;And I did not know that they had devised plots and schemes against me, saying,“Let us destroy the tree with its fruit;Let us cut him off from the land of the living,That his name be remembered no longer.”

But You, O Lord, know me [and understand my devotion to You];You see me;And You examine the attitude of my heart toward You.Drag out the faithless like sheep for the slaughter [O Lord]And set them apart for the day of slaughter.

“Therefore you are to speak this word to them, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, “Every jar should be filled with wine.”’ The people will say to you, ‘Do we not already know that every jar should be filled with wine?’

‘If I go out into the field,Then I gaze on those slaughtered with the sword!And if I enter the city,Then I gaze on [those tormented with] the diseases of famine!For both prophet and priest [who should have guided the people]Go about [bewildered and exiled] in a land (Babylon) that they do not know or understand.’”

We know and acknowledge, O Lord,Our wickedness and the iniquity of our fathers; for we have sinned against You.

“Then I will make your enemies bring [you along with] your possessionsInto a land which you do not know [for there you will serve your conquerors];For a fire has been kindled in My anger,Which will burn upon you.”

O Lord, You know and understand;Remember me [thoughtfully], take notice of me,take vengeance for me on my persecutors.Do not, in view of Your patience, take me away;Know that for Your sake I endure [continual] rebuke and dishonor.

“Therefore,” [says the Lord] “behold, I will make them know—This time I will make them knowMy power and My might;And they will know and recognize [without any doubt] that My Name is the Lord.”

And you will, through your own fault, let go of your [grip on your] inheritanceThat I gave you;And I will make you serve your enemiesIn a land which you do not know;For you have kindled a fire in My angerWhich will burn forever.

“The heart is deceitful above all thingsAnd it is extremely sick;Who can understand it fully and know its secret motives?

But as for me, I have not tried to escape from being a shepherd [walking] after You,Nor have I longed for the woeful day [of judgment];You know that, whatever I saidWas [spoken] in Your presence and was from You.

Yet You, O Lord, knowAll their deadly plotting against me;Do not forgive their wickednessOr blot out their sin from Your sight.But let them be overthrown before You;Deal with them in the time of Your anger.

“He defended the cause of the afflicted and needy;Then all was well.Is that not what it means to know Me?”Says the Lord.

“Is this man [King] Coniah a despised, broken jar?Is he a vessel in which no one takes pleasure?Why are he and his [royal] descendants hurled outAnd cast into a land which they do not know or understand?

I will give them a heart to know Me, [understanding fully] that I am the Lord; and they will be My people, and I will be their God, for they will return to Me with their whole heart.

But know for certain that if you put me to death, you will bring innocent blood on yourselves and on this city and on its inhabitants, for in truth the Lord has sent me to you to speak all these words in your hearing.”

For I know the plans and thoughts that I have for you,’ says the Lord, ‘plans for peace and well-being and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.

And each man will no longer teach his neighbor and his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they will all know Me [through personal experience], from the least of them to the greatest,” says the Lord. “For I will forgive their wickedness, and I will no longer remember their sin.”

‘Call to Me and I will answer you, and tell you [and even show you] great and mighty things, [things which have been confined and hidden], which you do not know and understand and cannot distinguish.’

Then the princes said to Baruch, “Go and hide, you and Jeremiah, and do not let anyone know where you are.”

Then Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “Let no man know about this conversation and you will not die.

and said to him, “Do you know that Baalis the king of the Ammonites has sent Ishmael the son of Nethaniah to take your life?” But Gedaliah the son of Ahikam did not believe them.

Then Johanan the son of Kareah spoke secretly to Gedaliah in Mizpah, saying, “Let me go and kill Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and not a man will know [who is responsible]. Why should he kill you and cause all the Jews who are gathered near you to be scattered and the remnant of Judah to perish?”

The Lord has spoken to you, O remnant of Judah, “Do not go into Egypt!” Know with certainty that I [Jeremiah] have warned you and testified to you this day

Now therefore know for certain that you will die by the sword, by famine, and by virulent disease in the land [of Egypt] where you wish to reside [temporarily].

because of the wickedness which they committed, provoking Me to anger by continuing to burn sacrifices and incense to serve other gods that they had not known, neither they, nor you, nor your fathers.

Yet a small number [of My choosing] who escape the sword will return from the land of Egypt to the land of Judah; and all the remnant of Judah who have gone to the land of Egypt to reside there will know whose words will stand, Mine or theirs.

And this will be the sign to you,’ says the Lord, ‘that I am going to punish you in this place, so that you may know that My words will surely stand against you for harm.’

“Show sympathy for him, all you [nations] who are around him,And all you [distant nations] who know his name;Say, ‘How has the mighty scepter [of national power] been broken,And the splendid staff [of glory]!’

“I know his [insolent] wrath,” says the Lord,“But it is futile;His idle boasts [in his deeds] have accomplished nothing.

“I set a trap for you and you also were caught, O Babylon,And you did not know it;You have been found and also seizedBecause you have struggled against the Lord.”