And they say, “How does God know? And is there knowledge in the Most High?”
Parallel translations
- WEB They say, “How does God know? Is there knowledge in the Most High?”
- KJV And they say, How doth God know? and is there knowledge in the most High?
- BSB The wicked say, “How can God know? Does the Most High have knowledge?”
- ESV And they say, “How can God know? Is there knowledge in the Most High?”
- NASB They say, “How does God know? And is there knowledge with the Most High?”
- NLT “What does God know?” they ask. “Does the Most High even know what’s happening?”
Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The wicked say, 'How does God know? Is there knowledge in the Most High?'
Overview
Emboldened by prosperity, they deny that God sees or knows their deeds. This practical atheism is the heart of their wickedness. Yet Scripture insists that nothing is hidden from God, who knows all and will judge righteously, exposing the folly of their boast (Psalm 94:7-11).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Hos 7:2They don’t consider in their hearts that I remember all their wickedness. Now their own deeds have engulfed them. They are before my face.
- Zeph 1:12It will happen at that time, that I will search Jerusalem with lamps, and I will punish the men who are settled on their dregs, who say in their heart, “Yahweh will not do good, neither will he do evil.”
- Ps 73:9They have set their mouth in the heavens. Their tongue walks through the earth.
- Ps 94:7They say, “Yah will not see, neither will Jacob’s God consider.”
- Ezek 8:12Then he said to me, “Son of man, have you seen what the elders of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in his rooms of imagery? For they say, ‘Yahweh doesn’t see us. Yahweh has forsaken the land.’”
- Job 22:13–14You say, ‘What does God know? Can he judge through the thick darkness?
- Ps 10:11He says in his heart, “God has forgotten. He hides his face. He will never see it.”
- Ps 44:21won’t God search this out? For he knows the secrets of the heart.
- Ps 139:1–6For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by David. Yahweh, you have searched me, and you know me.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
The Psalms are Christ's own prayer book and a gallery of his portraits — the suffering one of Psalm 22, the risen Lord of Psalm 16, the priest-king of Psalm 110, the Son to whom the nations are given.
How Psalms 73:11 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.