Riddle

How Nave’s arranged it

• Used as a test of wit: at Samson' s feastJudges 14:12–18
• By AgurProverbs 30:15Proverbs 30:16Proverbs 30:18–31
• See Parable
• See Proverbs

The passages, in Bible order (4)

The same references, sorted Genesis to Revelation. The first 4 are quoted in full; the rest are one click beneath them, book by book.

1. Judges 14:12–18

   “Let me tell you a riddle,” Samson said to them. “If you can solve it for me within the seven days of the feast, I will give you thirty linen garments and thirty sets of clothes.

   ›Commentary on Judges 14:12–182 voices

   “I will now put forth a riddle--Riddles are a favorite Oriental amusement at festive entertainments of this nature, and rewards are offered to those who give the solution. Samson's riddle related to honey in the lion's carcass. The prize he offered was thirty sindinim, or shirts, and thirty changes of garments, probably woolen.

   “And Samson said unto them,.... His thirty companions, very likely on the first day of the feast: I will now put forth a riddle to you: a secret, hidden, abstruse thing, not easy to be understood; a dark saying, wrapped up in figurative terms; and this he proposed as an amusement to them, to exercise their wits, which it seems was usual to entertain guests with, and might be both pleasing and profitable: if you can certainly declare it unto me within the seven days of the feast; for so long the nuptial feast was usually kept, see Gen 29:

   Everything gathered on Judges 14:12–18→

   Verse page →Original language →

2. Proverbs 30:15

   The leech has two daughters: Give and Give. There are three things that are never satisfied, four that never say, ‘Enough!’:

   ›Commentary on Proverbs 30:152 voices

   Who can hide from himself what is thus enigmatically expressed? "The horseleech had three daughters, dearly loved, but they satisfied her not, and a fourth is not satisfied when you say Enough: the grave, and woman's love, and the earth that is not satisfied with water, and the fire that does not say Enough." The horseleech is the devil, the daughters of the devil are dearly loved, and they cannot be satisfied with the blood of the slain: "the grave, and woman's love, and the earth dry and scorched with heat."

   “The horse leech hath two daughters, crying, Give, give,.... Or "the blood sucker" (l); so it began to be called in the times of Pliny (m), to which the last generation of men may well be compared; blood thirsty creatures, that never have enough, and are not satisfied with the flesh of men, nor with their blood; and such particularly the Papists are: and not only this generation of men, but there are three or four things besides, which resemble the horse leech for its insatiableness; for the horse leech has not two daughters only, but more.

   Everything gathered on Proverbs 30:15→

   Verse page →Original language →

3. Proverbs 30:16

   Sheol, the barren womb, land never satisfied with water, and fire that never says, ‘Enough!’

   ›Commentary on Proverbs 30:162 voices

   “The grave,....

   Who can hide from himself what is thus enigmatically expressed? "The horseleech had three daughters, dearly loved, but they satisfied her not, and a fourth is not satisfied when you say Enough: the grave, and woman's love, and the earth that is not satisfied with water, and the fire that does not say Enough." The horseleech is the devil, the daughters of the devil are dearly loved, and they cannot be satisfied with the blood of the slain: "the grave, and woman's love, and the earth dry and scorched with heat."

   Everything gathered on Proverbs 30:16→

   Verse page →Original language →

4. Proverbs 30:18–31

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

   ›Commentary on Proverbs 30:18–312 voices

   “Hypocrisy is illustrated by four examples of the concealment of all methods or traces of action, and a pertinent example of double dealing in actual vice is added, that is, the adulterous woman.

   “An eagle and a ship and a serpent are not of one family and nature but of a distinguishable and different substance, and yet they are three. On the testimony of Scripture, therefore, [the Arians] learn that their arguments are against themselves.Therefore, in saying that the substance of the Father and of the Son is diverse and their Godhead distinguishable, [the Arians] themselves assert there are two gods. But we, when we confess the Father and the Son, in declaring them still to be of one Godhead, say that there are not two gods but one God.

   Everything gathered on Proverbs 30:18–31→

   Verse page →Original language →