25 Bible Verses About Wise Counsel (NIV)

¹⁵ The way of a fool seems right to him, but a wise man listens to advice.

¹⁴ For lack of guidance a nation falls, but many advisers make victory sure.

²² Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed.

²⁰ Listen to advice and accept instruction, and in the end you will be wise. ²¹ Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the LORD's purpose that prevails.

⁶ for waging war you need guidance, and for victory many advisers.

¹ Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. ² But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. ³ He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers. ⁴ Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away. ⁵ Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. ⁶ For the LORD watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.

¹⁰ Pride only breeds quarrels, but wisdom is found in those who take advice.

²⁶ He who trusts in himself is a fool, but he who walks in wisdom is kept safe.

⁷ The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline.

¹⁸ Make plans by seeking advice; if you wage war, obtain guidance.

²⁰ Listen to advice and accept instruction, and in the end you will be wise.

¹⁶ All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness,

¹⁰⁵ Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.

¹⁷ But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.

³³ Do not be misled: "Bad company corrupts good character."

¹ My son, do not forget my teaching, but keep my commands in your heart, ² for they will prolong your life many years and bring you prosperity. ³ Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. ⁴ Then you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man. ⁵ Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; ⁶ in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. ⁷ Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD and shun evil. ⁸ This will bring health to your body and nourishment to your bones. ⁹ Honor the LORD with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops; ¹⁰ then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine. ¹¹ My son, do not despise the LORD's discipline and do not resent his rebuke, ¹² because the LORD disciplines those he loves, as a father the son he delights in. ¹³ Blessed is the man who finds wisdom, the man who gains understanding, ¹⁴ for she is more profitable than silver and yields better returns than gold. ¹⁵ She is more precious than rubies; nothing you desire can compare with her. ¹⁶ Long life is in her right hand; in her left hand are riches and honor. ¹⁷ Her ways are pleasant ways, and all her paths are peace. ¹⁸ She is a tree of life to those who embrace her; those who lay hold of her will be blessed. ¹⁹ By wisdom the LORD laid the earth's foundations, by understanding he set the heavens in place; ²⁰ by his knowledge the deeps were divided, and the clouds let drop the dew. ²¹ My son, preserve sound judgment and discernment, do not let them out of your sight; ²² they will be life for you, an ornament to grace your neck. ²³ Then you will go on your way in safety, and your foot will not stumble; ²⁴ when you lie down, you will not be afraid; when you lie down, your sleep will be sweet. ²⁵ Have no fear of sudden disaster or of the ruin that overtakes the wicked, ²⁶ for the LORD will be your confidence and will keep your foot from being snared. ²⁷ Do not withhold good from those who deserve it, when it is in your power to act. ²⁸ Do not say to your neighbor, "Come back later; I'll give it tomorrow"- when you now have it with you. ²⁹ Do not plot harm against your neighbor, who lives trustfully near you. ³⁰ Do not accuse a man for no reason- when he has done you no harm. ³¹ Do not envy a violent man or choose any of his ways, ³² for the LORD detests a perverse man but takes the upright into his confidence. ³³ The LORD's curse is on the house of the wicked, but he blesses the home of the righteous. ³⁴ He mocks proud mockers but gives grace to the humble. ³⁵ The wise inherit honor, but fools he holds up to shame.

¹³ Hold on to instruction, do not let it go; guard it well, for it is your life.

⁶ Then King Rehoboam consulted the elders who had served his father Solomon during his lifetime. "How would you advise me to answer these people?" he asked. ⁷ They replied, "If today you will be a servant to these people and serve them and give them a favorable answer, they will always be your servants." ⁸ But Rehoboam rejected the advice the elders gave him and consulted the young men who had grown up with him and were serving him. ⁹ He asked them, "What is your advice? How should we answer these people who say to me, 'Lighten the yoke your father put on us'?" ¹⁰ The young men who had grown up with him replied, "Tell these people who have said to you, 'Your father put a heavy yoke on us, but make our yoke lighter'-tell them, 'My little finger is thicker than my father's waist. ¹¹ My father laid on you a heavy yoke; I will make it even heavier. My father scourged you with whips; I will scourge you with scorpions.'" ¹² Three days later Jeroboam and all the people returned to Rehoboam, as the king had said, "Come back to me in three days." ¹³ The king answered the people harshly. Rejecting the advice given him by the elders, ¹⁴ he followed the advice of the young men and said, "My father made your yoke heavy; I will make it even heavier. My father scourged you with whips; I will scourge you with scorpions." ¹⁵ So the king did not listen to the people, for this turn of events was from the LORD, to fulfill the word the LORD had spoken to Jeroboam son of Nebat through Ahijah the Shilonite. ¹⁶ When all Israel saw that the king refused to listen to them, they answered the king: "What share do we have in David, what part in Jesse's son? To your tents, O Israel! Look after your own house, O David!" So the Israelites went home. ¹⁷ But as for the Israelites who were living in the towns of Judah, Rehoboam still ruled over them. ¹⁸ King Rehoboam sent out Adoniram, who was in charge of forced labor, but all Israel stoned him to death. King Rehoboam, however, managed to get into his chariot and escape to Jerusalem. ¹⁹ So Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day.

⁵ If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.

⁵ let the wise listen and add to their learning, and let the discerning get guidance-

¹² For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double--edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

¹ Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

⁶ Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses.

¹⁷ But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. ¹⁸ Peacemakers who sow in peace raise a harvest of righteousness.

¹ The proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel: ² for attaining wisdom and discipline; for understanding words of insight; ³ for acquiring a disciplined and prudent life, doing what is right and just and fair; ⁴ for giving prudence to the simple, knowledge and discretion to the young- ⁵ let the wise listen and add to their learning, and let the discerning get guidance- ⁶ for understanding proverbs and parables, the sayings and riddles of the wise. ⁷ The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline. ⁸ Listen, my son, to your father's instruction and do not forsake your mother's teaching. ⁹ They will be a garland to grace your head and a chain to adorn your neck. ¹⁰ My son, if sinners entice you, do not give in to them. ¹¹ If they say, "Come along with us; let's lie in wait for someone's blood, let's waylay some harmless soul; ¹² let's swallow them alive, like the grave, and whole, like those who go down to the pit; ¹³ we will get all sorts of valuable things and fill our houses with plunder; ¹⁴ throw in your lot with us, and we will share a common purse"- ¹⁵ my son, do not go along with them, do not set foot on their paths; ¹⁶ for their feet rush into sin, they are swift to shed blood. ¹⁷ How useless to spread a net in full view of all the birds! ¹⁸ These men lie in wait for their own blood; they waylay only themselves! ¹⁹ Such is the end of all who go after ill-gotten gain; it takes away the lives of those who get it. ²⁰ Wisdom calls aloud in the street, she raises her voice in the public squares; ²¹ at the head of the noisy streets she cries out, in the gateways of the city she makes her speech: ²² "How long will you simple ones love your simple ways? How long will mockers delight in mockery and fools hate knowledge? ²³ If you had responded to my rebuke, I would have poured out my heart to you and made my thoughts known to you. ²⁴ But since you rejected me when I called and no one gave heed when I stretched out my hand, ²⁵ since you ignored all my advice and would not accept my rebuke, ²⁶ I in turn will laugh at your disaster; I will mock when calamity overtakes you- ²⁷ when calamity overtakes you like a storm, when disaster sweeps over you like a whirlwind, when distress and trouble overwhelm you. ²⁸ "Then they will call to me but I will not answer; they will look for me but will not find me. ²⁹ Since they hated knowledge and did not choose to fear the LORD, ³⁰ since they would not accept my advice and spurned my rebuke, ³¹ they will eat the fruit of their ways and be filled with the fruit of their schemes. ³² For the waywardness of the simple will kill them, and the complacency of fools will destroy them; ³³ but whoever listens to me will live in safety and be at ease, without fear of harm."