PROVERBS 24:3-10
3 Through wisdom a house is built, and by understanding it is established;
4 By knowledge the rooms are filled with all precious and pleasant riches.
5 A wise man is strong, yes, a man of knowledge increases strength;
6 For by wise counsel you will wage your own war, and in a multitude of counselors there is safety.
7 Wisdom is too lofty for a fool; he does not open his mouth in the gate.
8 He who plots to do evil will be called a schemer.
9 The devising of foolishness is sin, and the scoffer is an abomination to men.
10 If you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small.
ECCLESIASTES 7:8-29
8 The end of a thing is better than its beginning; the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit.
9 Do not hasten in your spirit to be angry, for anger rests in the bosom of fools.
10 Do not say, “Why were the former days better than these?” For you do not inquire wisely concerning this.
11 Wisdom is good with an inheritance, and profitable to those who see the sun.
12 For wisdom is a defense as money is a defense, but the excellence of knowledge is that wisdom gives life to those who have it.
13 Consider the work of God; for who can make straight what He has made crooked?
14 In the day of prosperity be joyful, but in the day of adversity consider: surely God has appointed the one as well as the other, so that man can find out nothing that will come after him.
15 I have seen everything in my days of vanity: there is a just man who perishes in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man who prolongs life in his wickedness.
16 Do not be overly righteous, nor be overly wise: why should you destroy yourself?
17 Do not be overly wicked, nor be foolish: why should you die before your time?
18 It is good that you grasp this, and also not remove your hand from the other; for he who fears God will escape them all.
19 Wisdom strengthens the wise more than ten rulers of the city.
20 For there is not a just man on earth who does good and does not sin.
21 Also do not take to heart everything people say, lest you hear your servant cursing you.
22 For many times, also, your own heart has known that even you have cursed others.
23 All this I have proved by wisdom. I said, “I will be wise”; but it was far from me.
24 As for that which is far off and exceedingly deep, who can find it out?
25 I applied my heart to know, to search and seek out wisdom and the reason of things, to know the wickedness of folly, even of foolishness and madness.
26 And I find more bitter than death the woman whose heart is snares and nets, whose hands are fetters. He who pleases God shall escape from her, but the sinner shall be trapped by her.
27 “Here is what I have found,” says the Preacher, “Adding one thing to the other to find out the reason,
28 Which my soul still seeks but I cannot find: one man among a thousand I have found, but a woman among all these I have not found.
29 Truly, this only I have found: that God made man upright, but they have sought out many schemes.”
PROVERBS 23:1-8
1 When you sit down to eat with a ruler, consider carefully what is before you;
2 And put a knife to your throat if you are a man given to appetite.
3 Do not desire his delicacies, for they are deceptive food.
4 Do not overwork to be rich; because of your own understanding, cease!
5 Will you set your eyes on that which is not? For riches certainly make themselves wings; they fly away like an eagle toward heaven.
6 Do not eat the bread of a miser, nor desire his delicacies;
7 For as he thinks in his heart, so is he. “Eat and drink!” he says to you, but his heart is not with you.
8 The morsel you have eaten, you will vomit up, and waste your pleasant words.
ISAIAH 50:4-5
4 “The Lord GOD has given Me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him who is weary. He awakens Me morning by morning, he awakens My ear to hear as the learned.
5 The Lord GOD has opened My ear; and I was not rebellious, nor did I turn away.
JOHN 3:30
30 “He must increase, but I must decrease.
PSALM 92:5-6
5 O LORD, how great are Your works! Your thoughts are very deep.
6 A senseless man does not know, nor does a fool understand this.
PROVERBS 19:6
6 Many entreat the favor of the nobility, and every man is a friend to one who gives gifts.
PSALM 33:10
10 The LORD brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; he makes the plans of the peoples of no effect.
PROVERBS 22:17-21
17 Incline your ear and hear the words of the wise, and apply your heart to my knowledge;
18 For it is a pleasant thing if you keep them within you; let them all be fixed upon your lips,
19 So that your trust may be in the LORD; I have instructed you today, even you.
20 Have I not written to you excellent things of counsels and knowledge,
21 That I may make you know the certainty of the words of truth, that you may answer words of truth to those who send to you?
PROVERBS 23:12
12 Apply your heart to instruction, and your ears to words of knowledge.
ECCLESIASTES 9:16-18
16 …”Wisdom is better than strength. Nevertheless the poor man’s wisdom is despised, and his words are not heard.
17 Words of the wise, spoken quietly, should be heard rather than the shout of a ruler of fools.
18 Wisdom is better than weapons of war; but one sinner destroys much good.”
ECCLESIASTES 10:1
1 Dead flies putrefy the perfumer’s ointment, and cause it to give off a foul odor; so does a little folly to one respected for wisdom and honor.
PROVERBS 29:11
11 A fool vents all his feelings, but a wise man holds them back.
ECCLESIASTES 1:12-18
12 I, the Preacher, was king over Israel in Jerusalem.
13 And I set my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all that is done under heaven; this burdensome task God has given to the sons of man, by which they may be exercised.
14 I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and indeed, all is vanity and grasping for the wind.
15 What is crooked cannot be made straight, and what is lacking cannot be numbered.
16 I communed with my heart, saying, “Look, I have attained greatness, and have gained more wisdom than all who were before me in Jerusalem. My heart has understood great wisdom and knowledge.”
17 And I set my heart to know wisdom and to know madness and folly. I perceived that this also is grasping for the wind.
18 For in much wisdom is much grief, and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.
ECCLESIASTES 8:1, 16-17
1 Who is like a wise man? And who knows the interpretation of a thing? A man’s wisdom makes his face shine, and the sternness of his face is changed.
16 When I applied my heart to know wisdom and to see the business that is done on earth, even though one sees no sleep day or night,
17 then I saw all the work of God, that a man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun. For though a man labors to discover it, yet he will not find it; moreover, though a wise man attempts to know it, he will not be able to find it.
PSALM 119:15-28
15 I will meditate on Your precepts, and contemplate Your ways.
16 I will delight myself in Your statutes; I will not forget Your word.
17 Deal bountifully with Your servant, that I may live and keep Your word.
18 Open my eyes, that I may see wondrous things from Your law.
19 I am a stranger in the earth; do not hide Your commandments from me.
20 My soul breaks with longing for Your judgments at all times.
21 You rebuke the proud– the cursed, who stray from Your commandments.
22 Remove from me reproach and contempt, for I have kept Your testimonies.
23 Princes also sit and speak against me, but Your servant meditates on Your statutes.
24 Your testimonies also are my delight and my counselors.
25 My soul clings to the dust; revive me according to Your word.
26 I have declared my ways, and You answered me; teach me Your statutes.
27 Make me understand the way of Your precepts; so shall I meditate on Your wondrous works.
28 My soul melts from heaviness; strengthen me according to Your word.
PROVERBS 4:1-27
1 Hear, my children, the instruction of a father, and give attention to know understanding;
2 For I give you good doctrine: do not forsake my law.
3 When I was my father’s son, tender and the only one in the sight of my mother,
4 He also taught me, and said to me: “Let your heart retain my words; keep my commands, and live.
5 Get wisdom! Get understanding! Do not forget, nor turn away from the words of my mouth.
6 Do not forsake her, and she will preserve you; love her, and she will keep you.
7 Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom. And in all your getting, get understanding.
8 Exalt her, and she will promote you; she will bring you honor, when you embrace her.
9 She will place on your head an ornament of grace; a crown of glory she will deliver to you.”
10 Hear, my son, and receive my sayings, and the years of your life will be many.
11 I have taught you in the way of wisdom; I have led you in right paths.
12 When you walk, your steps will not be hindered, and when you run, you will not stumble.
13 Take firm hold of instruction, do not let go; keep her, for she is your life.
14 Do not enter the path of the wicked, and do not walk in the way of evil.
15 Avoid it, do not travel on it; turn away from it and pass on.
16 For they do not sleep unless they have done evil; and their sleep is taken away unless they make someone fall.
17 For they eat the bread of wickedness, and drink the wine of violence.
18 But the path of the just is like the shining sun, that shines ever brighter unto the perfect day.
19 The way of the wicked is like darkness; they do not know what makes them stumble.
20 My son, give attention to my words; incline your ear to my sayings.
21 Do not let them depart from your eyes; keep them in the midst of your heart;
22 For they are life to those who find them, and health to all their flesh.
23 Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life.
24 Put away from you a deceitful mouth, and put perverse lips far from you.
25 Let your eyes look straight ahead, and your eyelids look right before you.
26 Ponder the path of your feet, and let all your ways be established.
27 Do not turn to the right or the left; remove your foot from evil.
1 CORINTHIANS 1:18-31
18 …the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
19 For it is written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.”
20 Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?
21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe.
22 For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom;
23 but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block and to the Greeks foolishness,
24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.
25 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
26 For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called.
27 But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty;
28 and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are,
29 that no flesh should glory in His presence.
30 But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God– and righteousness and sanctification and redemption–
31 that, as it is written, “He who glories, let him glory in the Lord.”
EPHESIANS 5:13-17
13 …all things that are exposed are made manifest by the light, for whatever makes manifest is light.
14 Therefore He says: “Awake, you who sleep, arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light.”
15 See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise,
16 redeeming the time, because the days are evil.
17 Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is.
COLOSSIANS 2:1-3
1 …I want you to know what a great conflict I have for you …and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh,
2 that …hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, and attaining to all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the knowledge of the mystery of God, both of the Father and of Christ,
3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
COLOSSIANS 4:5
5 Walk in wisdom toward those who are outside, redeeming the time.
TITUS 1:15
15 To the pure all things are pure
JAMES 4:13-15
13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”;
14 whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.
15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.”
JAMES 3:14-18
14 …if you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth.
15 This wisdom does not descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, demonic.
16 For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there.
17 But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy.
18 Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.
HOSEA 14:9
9 Who is wise? Let him understand these things. Who is prudent? Let him know them. For the ways of the LORD are right; the righteous walk in them, but transgressors stumble in them.
JUDE 1:25
25 To God our Savior, who alone is wise, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever. Amen.