51. 在聖言中, "公義"與仁愛,"公平"與智慧聯繫在一起。為此, 我提供一些經句來表達上帝以這兩個屬性來治理這個世界。

公義和公平是禰寶座的根基(詩篇89:14)。耶和華在地上創造了公平和公義(耶利米書9:24)。耶和華被尊為崇高, 祂以公平公義充滿了錫安(以賽亞書33:5)。但願公平如大水滾滾, 公義如江河長流(阿摩司書5:24)。禰的公義好像高山, 禰的公平如同大深淵(詩篇36:6)。祂必使禰的公義如光發出, 使禰的公平明如中午(詩篇37:6)。願祂按公義為禰的人民行裁判, 按公平為禰的困苦人伸訴(詩篇72:2)。我學習禰公義的典章要以正直的心稱謝禰。因禰公義的公平, 我一天七次頌贊禰(詩篇119:7, 164)。我必以公義和公平聘禰歸我(何西阿書2:19)。錫安必因公平而蒙贖救; 她那些回轉的人必因公義而得救拔(以賽亞書1:27)。祂將在大衛的寶座上治理祂的國, 以公平公義堅立而支援她(以賽亞書9:7)。我將為大衛興起一個苗裔, 祂將掌王權, 在地上秉公平行公義(耶利米書23:5; 33:15)。在其他地方, 我們也會讀到當行公義和公平(以賽亞書1:21; 5:16; 58:2;耶利米書4:2; 22:3, 13, 15;以西結書18:5; 33:14, 16, 19;阿摩司書6:12 ;彌迦書7:9;申命記33:21;約翰福音16:8, 10-11)。

Like so many common verbs, the meaning of "know" in the Bible is varied and dependent on context. And in some cases -- when it is connected to ideas or objects -- its spiritual meaning and natural meaning are essentially the same. When the Bible talks about people knowing each other and especially when it talks about the Lord knowing people, the meaning has more to do with the states of love within people than it does with any factual knowledge. This makes sense if you think about it. When we really "know" somebody, what we mean is that we know what kind of person they are, what their motivations are, what they love, what they hate, what makes them tick. Those things are far more important than knowing their parents' names, where they were born or what year they graduated from school. Most often then, especially applied to people, "knowing" has to do with the perceptions we have about other people's loves and the conjunction that can exist between those with similar loves, not just a collection of facts.