Proverbs 3:20
in Proverbs 3By His knowledge the watery depths were broken open, and the clouds dripped with dew.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
By his knowledge the depths were broken up, And the skies drop down the dew.
KJV
By his knowledge the depths are broken up, and the clouds drop down the dew.
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This verse in Proverbs 3
Commentary
8 notes on this verseBy 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, Gen 1:
This site's exposition
The Lord by wisdom hath founded the earth
on Proverbs 3:19-20
The Lord by wisdom hath founded the earth, by understanding hath he established the heavens moves wisdom from a quality a man may gain to the very instrument of creation, and the language anticipates chapter 8's much longer picture of wisdom present when the Lord prepared the heavens and set a compass upon the deep. By his knowledge the depths are broken up, and the clouds drop down the dew keeps the same creation vocabulary, depths and clouds, that chapter 8 will use again. The bench reads the two passages as one poem in two settings, a short statement here and its full expansion later in the book.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
A commentator
Philoxenus of Mabbug13 Ascetic Discourses, Discourse 3 -- On Faith · Written before 523.
proposed
For in the beginning when He created the world and all that therein is, and when He was establishing things, wisdom worked with Him, even as Solomon saith, "The Lord by His wisdom laid the foundations of the earth, and He constructed the heavens by …
The Medieval Church2 voices
And the clouds condense with dew. It is clear according to the letter, but allegorically the clouds are the teachers of the Church, elevated by contemplation and life, watering the hearts of listeners, like the land subjected to them by doctrine. Which condense with dew, …
By His wisdom the depths burst forth. When in the days of Noah all the fountains of the great abyss were broken up, or when through the daily course the fountains and rivers emanate from the abyss through the veins of the earth. Otherwise, by …
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
Christ is that Wisdom, by whom the worlds were made and still consist; happy therefore are those to whom he is made of God wisdom, for he has wherewithal to make good all the foregoing promises of long life, riches, and honour; for all the wealth of heaven, earth, and seas, is his.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
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, etc. Thus the wisest of men attributes those effects which we suppose to spring from natural causes to the Supreme Being himself.
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Compare Gen 1:7; Gen 7:11; Job 38. 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.
The words behind it
6 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| בְּ֭דַעְתּוֹ | beda'to | by knowledge his | H1847 → | 92 times |
| תְּהוֹמ֣וֹת | tehomot | [the] depths | H8415 → | 36 times |
| נִבְקָ֑עוּ | nivkau | they were split open | H1234 → | |
| וּ֝שְׁחָקִ֗ים | ushechakim | and clouds | H7834 → | |
| יִרְעֲפוּ־ | yirafu- | they dripped | H7491 → | |
| טָֽל׃ | tal | dew | H2919 → |
בְּ֭דַעְתּוֹby knowledge his
beda'toH1847 →92 times
תְּהוֹמ֣וֹת[the] depths
tehomotH8415 →36 times
נִבְקָ֑עוּthey were split open
nivkauH1234 →
וּ֝שְׁחָקִ֗יםand clouds
ushechakimH7834 →
יִרְעֲפוּ־they dripped
yirafu-H7491 →
טָֽל׃dew
talH2919 →
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Genesis 1:9And God said, “Let the waters under the sky be gathered into one place, so that the dry land may appear.” And it was so.
it leads to
- 2 Peter 3:5
But they deliberately overlook the fact that long ago by God’s word the heavens existed and the earth was formed out of water and by water,
- Proverbs 8:28–29
when He established the clouds above, when the fountains of the deep gushed forth,
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Jonah 1:9
“I am a Hebrew,” replied Jonah. “I worship the LORD, the God of the heavens, who made the sea and the dry land.”
- Psalms 95:5
The sea is His, for He made it, and His hands formed the dry land.
- Jeremiah 5:22
Do you not fear Me?” declares the LORD. “Do you not tremble before Me, the One who set the sand as the boundary for the sea, an enduring barrier it cannot cross? The waves…
- 2 Peter 3:5
Through
Genesis 7:11In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, on the seventeenth day of the second month, all the fountains of the great deep burst forth, and the floodgates of the heavens were opened.
it leads to
- Genesis 8:2
The springs of the deep and the floodgates of the heavens were closed, and the rain from the sky was restrained.
- Malachi 3:10
Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house. Test Me in this,” says the LORD of Hosts. “See if I will not open the windows of…
- Amos 9:5–6
The Lord GOD of Hosts, He who touches the earth and it melts, and all its dwellers mourn—all the land rises like the Nile, then sinks like the river of Egypt—
- Genesis 8:2
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Proverbs
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Bede, Commentary on Proverbs; Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Proverbs of Solomon; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Philoxenus of Mabbug, 13 Ascetic Discourses, Discourse 3 -- On Faith.