'Understand' in the Bible

Come, let's go down and confuse their language so they won't be able to understand each other."

Now I understand that you have gone away because you longed desperately for your father's house. Yet why did you steal my gods?"

(Now they did not know that Joseph could understand them, for he was speaking through an interpreter.)

Understand today that the Lord your God who goes before you is a devouring fire; he will defeat and subdue them before you. You will dispossess and destroy them quickly just as he has told you.

Understand, therefore, that it is not because of your righteousness that the Lord your God is about to give you this good land as a possession, for you are a stubborn people!

The Lord will raise up a distant nation against you, one from the other side of the earth as the eagle flies, a nation whose language you will not understand,

I wish that they were wise and could understand this, and that they could comprehend what will happen to them."

They replied, "If you are going to send the ark of the God of Israel back, don't send it away empty. Be sure to return it with a guilt offering. Then you will be healed, and you will understand why his hand is not removed from you."

(Now the servant did not understand any of this. Only Jonathan and David knew what was going on.)

Look, my father, and see the edge of your robe in my hand! When I cut off the edge of your robe, I didn't kill you. So realize and understand that I am not planning evil or rebellion. Even though I have not sinned against you, you are waiting in ambush to take my life.

In those days the Philistines gathered their troops for war in order to fight Israel. Achish said to David, "You should fully understand that you and your men must go with me into the battle."

Eliakim son of Hilkiah, Shebna, and Joah said to the chief adviser, "Speak to your servants in Aramaic, for we understand it. Don't speak with us in the Judahite dialect in the hearing of the people who are on the wall."

So Ezra the priest brought the law before the assembly which included men and women and all those able to understand what they heard. (This happened on the first day of the seventh month.)

So he read it before the plaza in front of the Water Gate from dawn till noon before the men and women and those children who could understand. All the people were eager to hear the book of the law.

"Now the rest of the people -- the priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers, the temple attendants, and all those who have separated themselves from the neighboring peoples because of the law of God, along with their wives, their sons, and their daughters, all of whom are able to understand --

What do you know that we don't know? What do you understand that we don't understand?

I would know with what words he would answer me, and understand what he would say to me.

Indeed, these are but the outer fringes of his ways! How faint is the whisper we hear of him! But who can understand the thunder of his power?"

But it is a spirit in people, the breath of the Almighty, that makes them understand.

It is not the aged who are wise, nor old men who understand what is right.

Who can understand the spreading of the clouds, the thunderings of his pavilion?

All those who behave wickedly do not understand -- those who devour my people as if they were eating bread, and do not call out to the Lord.

Make me understand your ways, O Lord! Teach me your paths!

For they do not understand the Lord's actions, or the way he carries out justice. The Lord will permanently demolish them.

O Lord, you understand my heart's desire; my groaning is not hidden from you.

"O Lord, help me understand my mortality and the brevity of life! Let me realize how quickly my life will pass!

Wealthy people do not understand; they are like animals that perish.

All those who behave wickedly do not understand -- those who devour my people as if they were eating bread, and do not call out to God.

They neither know nor understand. They stumble around in the dark, while all the foundations of the earth crumble.

The spiritually insensitive do not recognize this; the fool does not understand this.

Take notice of this, you ignorant people! You fools, when will you ever understand?

Help me to understand what your precepts mean! Then I can meditate on your marvelous teachings.

I am your servant. Give me insight, so that I can understand your rules.

You know when I sit down and when I get up; even from far away you understand my motives.

then you will understand how to fear the Lord, and you will discover knowledge about God.

Then you will understand righteousness and justice and equity -- every good way.

You who are naive, discern wisdom! And you fools, understand discernment!

Leave the presence of a foolish person, or you will not understand wise counsel.

Flog a scorner, and as a result the simpleton will learn prudence; correct a discerning person, and as a result he will understand knowledge.

The steps of a person are ordained by the Lord -- so how can anyone understand his own way?

Evil people do not understand justice, but those who seek the Lord understand it all.

The righteous person cares for the legal rights of the poor; the wicked does not understand such knowledge.

There are three things that are too wonderful for me, four that I do not understand:

I tried to understand, examine, and comprehend the role of wisdom in the scheme of things, and to understand the stupidity of wickedness and the insanity of folly.

An ox recognizes its owner, a donkey recognizes where its owner puts its food; but Israel does not recognize me, my people do not understand."

He said, "Go and tell these people: 'Listen continually, but don't understand! Look continually, but don't perceive!'

Make the hearts of these people calloused; make their ears deaf and their eyes blind! Otherwise they might see with their eyes and hear with their ears, their hearts might understand and they might repent and be healed."

Your thinking is perverse! Should the potter be regarded as clay? Should the thing made say about its maker, "He didn't make me"? Or should the pottery say about the potter, "He doesn't understand"?

You will no longer see a defiant people whose language you do not comprehend, whose derisive speech you do not understand.

Eliakim, Shebna, and Joah said to the chief adviser, "Speak to your servants in Aramaic, for we understand it. Don't speak with us in the Judahite dialect in the hearing of the people who are on the wall."

I will do this so people will observe and recognize, so they will pay attention and understand that the Lord's power has accomplished this, and that the Holy One of Israel has brought it into being."

You are my witnesses," says the Lord, "my servant whom I have chosen, so that you may consider and believe in me, and understand that I am he. No god was formed before me, and none will outlive me.

They do not comprehend or understand, for their eyes are blind and cannot see; their minds do not discern.

No one thinks to himself, nor do they comprehend or understand and say to themselves: 'I burned half of it in the fire -- yes, I baked bread over the coals; I roasted meat and ate it. With the rest of it should I make a disgusting idol? Should I bow down to dry wood?'

his form was so marred he no longer looked human -- so now he will startle many nations. Kings will be shocked by his exaltation, for they will witness something unannounced to them, and they will understand something they had not heard about.

The Lord says, "Listen, nation of Israel! I am about to bring a nation from far away to attack you. It will be a nation that was founded long ago and has lasted for a long time. It will be a nation whose language you will not know. Its people will speak words that you will not be able to understand.

I said, "Who is wise enough to understand why this has happened? Who has a word from the Lord that can explain it? Why does the land lie in ruins? Why is it as scorched as a desert through which no one travels?"

If people want to boast, they should boast about this: They should boast that they understand and know me. They should boast that they know and understand that I, the Lord, act out of faithfulness, fairness, and justice in the earth and that I desire people to do these things," says the Lord.

The human mind is more deceitful than anything else. It is incurably bad. Who can understand it?

The anger of the Lord will not turn back until he has fully carried out his intended purposes. In days to come you people will come to understand this clearly.

The anger of the Lord will not turn back until he has fully carried out his intended purposes. In days to come you will come to understand this.

not to many peoples of unintelligible speech and difficult language, whose words you cannot understand -- surely if I had sent you to them, they would listen to you!

"Therefore, son of man, pack up your belongings as if for exile. During the day, while they are watching, pretend to go into exile. Go from where you live to another place. Perhaps they will understand, although they are a rebellious house.

Understand that it is not for your sake I am about to act, declares the sovereign Lord. Be ashamed and embarrassed by your behavior, O house of Israel.

The king told them, "I have had a dream, and I am anxious to understand the dream."

O God of my fathers, I acknowledge and glorify you, for you have bestowed wisdom and power on me. Now you have enabled me to understand what I requested from you. For you have enabled me to understand the king's dilemma."

As for me, this mystery was revealed to me not because I possess more wisdom than any other living person, but so that the king may understand the interpretation and comprehend the thoughts of your mind.

This announcement is by the decree of the sentinels; this decision is by the pronouncement of the holy ones, so that those who are alive may understand that the Most High has authority over human kingdoms, and he bestows them on whomever he wishes. He establishes over them even the lowliest of human beings.'

You will be driven from human society, and you will live with the wild animals. You will be fed grass like oxen, and you will become damp with the dew of the sky. Seven periods of time will pass by for you, before you understand that the Most High is ruler over human kingdoms and gives them to whomever he wishes.

They said to leave the taproot of the tree, for your kingdom will be restored to you when you come to understand that heaven rules.

You will be driven from human society, and you will live with the wild animals. You will be fed grass like oxen, and seven periods of time will pass by for you before you understand that the Most High is ruler over human kingdoms and gives them to whomever he wishes."

He was driven from human society, his mind was changed to that of an animal, he lived with the wild donkeys, he was fed grass like oxen, and his body became damp with the dew of the sky, until he came to understand that the most high God rules over human kingdoms, and he appoints over them whomever he wishes.

While I, Daniel, was watching the vision, I sought to understand it. Now one who appeared to be a man was standing before me.

Then I heard a human voice coming from between the banks of the Ulai. It called out, "Gabriel, enable this person to understand the vision."

So he approached the place where I was standing. As he came, I felt terrified and fell flat on the ground. Then he said to me, "Understand, son of man, that the vision pertains to the time of the end."

in the first year of his reign I, Daniel, came to understand from the sacred books that, according to the word of the LORD disclosed to the prophet Jeremiah, the years for the fulfilling of the desolation of Jerusalem were seventy in number.

At the beginning of your requests a message went out, and I have come to convey it to you, for you are of great value in God's sight. Therefore consider the message and understand the vision:

So know and understand: From the issuing of the command to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until an anointed one, a prince arrives, there will be a period of seven weeks and sixty-two weeks. It will again be built, with plaza and moat, but in distressful times.

He said to me, "Daniel, you are of great value. Understand the words that I am about to speak to you. So stand up, for I have now been sent to you." When he said this to me, I stood up shaking.

Then he said to me, "Don't be afraid, Daniel, for from the very first day you applied your mind to understand and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard. I have come in response to your words.

Now I have come to help you understand what will happen to your people in the latter days, for the vision pertains to future days."

I heard, but I did not understand. So I said, "Sir, what will happen after these things?"

Many will be purified, made clean, and refined, but the wicked will go on being wicked. None of the wicked will understand, though the wise will understand.

Who is wise? Let him discern these things! Who is discerning? Let him understand them! For the ways of the Lord are right; the godly walk in them, but in them the rebellious stumble.

But they do not know what the Lord is planning; they do not understand his strategy. He has gathered them like stalks of grain to be threshed at the threshing floor.

For this reason I speak to them in parables: Although they see they do not see, and although they hear they do not hear nor do they understand.

And concerning them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled that says: 'You will listen carefully yet will never understand, you will look closely yet will never comprehend.

For the heart of this people has become dull; they are hard of hearing, and they have shut their eyes, so that they would not see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.'

When anyone hears the word about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches what was sown in his heart; this is the seed sown along the path.

Then he called the crowd to him and said, "Listen and understand.

Don't you understand that whatever goes into the mouth enters the stomach and then passes out into the sewer?

Do you still not understand? Don't you remember the five loaves for the five thousand, and how many baskets you took up?

How could you not understand that I was not speaking to you about bread? But beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees!"

"So when you see the abomination of desolation -- spoken about by Daniel the prophet -- standing in the holy place (let the reader understand),

But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have been alert and would not have let his house be broken into.

so that although they look they may look but not see, and although they hear they may hear but not understand, so they may not repent and be forgiven."

He said to them, "Don't you understand this parable? Then how will you understand any parable?

because they did not understand about the loaves, but their hearts were hardened.

Then he called the crowd again and said to them, "Listen to me, everyone, and understand.

He said to them, "Are you so foolish? Don't you understand that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him?