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Thursday, August 28th, 2025
the Week of Proper 16 / Ordinary 21
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Read the Bible

Complete Jewish Bible

Proverbs 3:20

by his knowledge the deep [springs] burst open and the dew condenses from the sky.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Dew;   God Continued...;   Knowledge;   Strife;   Wisdom;   Young Men;   Thompson Chain Reference - Call, Divine;   Dew;   God's;   Knowledge;   Knowledge-Ignorance;   Meteorology;   Wisdom;   Wisdom-Folly;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Clouds;  

Dictionaries:

- Holman Bible Dictionary - Proverbs, Book of;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Dew;   Proverbs, Book of;   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Dew;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Proverbs book of;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Dew;   Drop, Dropping;   Sky;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Bezalel;   Cosmogony;   Judaism;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
By his knowledge the watery depths broke open,and the clouds dripped with dew.
Hebrew Names Version
By his knowledge, the depths were broken up, And the skies drop down the dew.
King James Version
By his knowledge the depths are broken up, and the clouds drop down the dew.
English Standard Version
by his knowledge the deeps broke open, and the clouds drop down the dew.
New Century Version
With his knowledge, he made springs flow into rivers and the clouds drop rain on the earth.
New English Translation
By his knowledge the primordial sea was broken open, and the clouds drip down dew.
Amplified Bible
By His knowledge the deeps were broken up And the clouds drip with dew.
New American Standard Bible
By His knowledge the ocean depths were burst open, And the clouds drip with dew.
World English Bible
By his knowledge, the depths were broken up, And the skies drop down the dew.
Geneva Bible (1587)
By his knowledge the depthes are broken vp, and the cloudes droppe downe the dewe.
Legacy Standard Bible
By His knowledge the deeps were split upAnd the skies drip with dew.
Berean Standard Bible
By His knowledge the watery depths were broken open, and the clouds dripped with dew.
Contemporary English Version
By his understanding he let the ocean break loose and clouds release the rain.
Darby Translation
By his knowledge the deeps were broken up, and the skies drop down the dew.
Easy-to-Read Version
With his knowledge, he made the oceans and the clouds that produce rain.
George Lamsa Translation
By his knowledge the depths are broken up and the clouds drop down the dew.
Good News Translation
His wisdom caused the rivers to flow and the clouds to give rain to the earth.
Lexham English Bible
With his knowledge, depths broke open, and clouds dropped dew.
Literal Translation
the depths were broken up by His knowledge, and the clouds dropped down the dew.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Thorow his wi?dome ye depthes breake vp, & ye cloudes droppe downe the dew.
American Standard Version
By his knowledge the depths were broken up, And the skies drop down the dew.
Bible in Basic English
By his knowledge the deep was parted, and dew came dropping from the skies.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
By His knowledge the depths were broken up, and the skies drop down the dew.
King James Version (1611)
By his knowledge the depthes are broken vp; and the cloudes droppe downe the dew.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
Thorow his knowledge the deapthes are broken vp, and the cloudes droppe downe the deawe.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
By understanding were the depths broken up, and the clouds dropped water.
English Revised Version
By his knowledge the depths were broken up, and the skies drop down the dew.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
The depthis of watris braken out bi his wisdom; and cloudis wexen togidere bi dewe.
Update Bible Version
By his knowledge the depths were broken up, And the skies drop down the dew.
Webster's Bible Translation
By his knowledge the depths are broken up, and the clouds drop down the dew.
New King James Version
By His knowledge the depths were broken up, And clouds drop down the dew.
New Living Translation
By his knowledge the deep fountains of the earth burst forth, and the dew settles beneath the night sky.
New Life Bible
By what He knows, the seas were broken up and water falls from the sky.
New Revised Standard
by his knowledge the deeps broke open, and the clouds drop down the dew.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
By his knowledge, the resounding deeps were burst open, and, the skies, drop down dew.
Douay-Rheims Bible
By his wisdom the depths have broken out, and the clouds grow thick with dew.
Revised Standard Version
by his knowledge the deeps broke forth, and the clouds drop down the dew.
Young's Literal Translation
By His knowledge depths have been rent, And clouds do drop dew.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
By His knowledge the deeps were broken up And the skies drip with dew.

Contextual Overview

13 Happy the person who finds wisdom, the person who acquires understanding; 14 for her profit exceeds that of silver, gaining her is better than gold, 15 she is more precious than pearls — nothing you want can compare with her. 16 Long life is in her right hand, riches and honor in her left. 17 Her ways are pleasant ways, and all her paths are peace. 18 She is a tree of life to those who grasp her; whoever holds fast to her will be made happy. 19 Adonai by wisdom founded the earth, by understanding he established the heavens, 20 by his knowledge the deep [springs] burst open and the dew condenses from the sky.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

the depths: Genesis 1:9, Genesis 7:11, Job 38:8-11, Psalms 104:8, Psalms 104:9

the clouds: Genesis 27:28, Genesis 27:37-39, Deuteronomy 33:28, Job 36:27, Job 36:28, Job 38:26-28, Psalms 65:9-12, Jeremiah 14:22, Joel 2:23

Reciprocal: Deuteronomy 33:13 - the dew Job 37:16 - perfect Job 38:28 - dew Psalms 104:24 - in wisdom Psalms 136:5 - General

Cross-References

Genesis 2:20
(S: iii) So the person gave names to all the livestock, to the birds in the air and to every wild animal. But for Adam there was not found a companion suitable for helping him.
Genesis 2:23
The man-person said, "At last! This is bone from my bones and flesh from my flesh. She is to be called Woman , because she was taken out of Man ."
Genesis 5:29
whom he called Noach [restful]; for he said, "This one will comfort us in our labor, in the hard work we do with our hands [to get what comes] from the ground that Adonai cursed."
Genesis 16:11
The angel of Adonai said to her, "Look, you are pregnant, and you will give birth to a son. You are to call him Yishma‘el [God pays attention] because Adonai has paid attention to your misery.
Genesis 35:18
But she died in childbirth. As she was dying she named her son Ben-Oni [son of my grief], but his father called him Binyamin [son of the right hand, son of the south].
Exodus 2:10
Then, when the child had grown some, she brought him to Pharaoh's daughter; and she began to raise him as her son. She called him Moshe [pull out], explaining, "Because I pulled him out of the water."
1 Samuel 1:20
She conceived; and in due time she gave birth to a son, whom she named Sh'mu'el, "because I asked Adonai for him."
Matthew 1:21
She will give birth to a son, and you are to name him Yeshua, [which means ‘ Adonai saves,'] because he will save his people from their sins."
Matthew 1:23
"The virgin will conceive and bear a son, and they will call him ‘Immanu El." (The name means, "God is with us.")
Acts 17:26
"From one man he made every nation living on the entire surface of the earth, and he fixed the limits of their territories and the periods when they would flourish.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

By his knowledge the depths are broken up,.... From whence fountains and rivers flow, and whereby that great cavity was made which holds that large confluence of waters called the sea, Genesis 1:9. Some refer this to the breaking up the fountains of the great deep at the flood, Genesis 7:11; and others to the dividing of the waters of the Red sea when Israel came out of Egypt, Psalms 78:13; all wonderful works of divine wisdom, and show the greatness of him, in whom are "hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge", Colossians 2:3, by whom they were done;

and the clouds drop down the dew; which makes the earth fruitful, and is put for all the blessings of nature, Genesis 27:28; the drops of dew are begotten by the Lord, they have no other father but him; the vanities of the Gentiles cannot produce them; he who fills the clouds with them, from whence they descend, is no other than the mighty God; and such is Christ the Wisdom of God. Some understand this in a mystical sense of Gospel ministers, and of the dew of Gospel doctrine, dropped and distilled by them under the influence and direction of Christ; see

Deuteronomy 32:2; but the literal sense is best.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Compare Genesis 1:7; Genesis 7:11; Job 38:0. Looking upon the face of Nature, men see two storehouses of the living water, without which it would be waste and barren. From the “depths” rush forth the surging waves, from the “clouds” falls the gentle rain or “dew;” but both alike are ordered by the Divine Wisdom.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Proverbs 3:20. By his knowledge the depths are broken up — He determined in his wisdom how to break up the fountains of the great deep, so as to bring a flood of waters upon the earth; and by his knowledge those fissures in the earth through which springs of water arise have been appointed and determined; and it is by his skill and influence that vapours are exhaled, suspended in the atmosphere, and afterwards precipitated on the earth in rain, dews, &c. Thus the wisest of men attributes those effects which we suppose to spring from natural causes to the Supreme Being himself.


 
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