“With God ¹  are wisdom and power; counsel and understanding are his. ² 

“Who is this ¹  who darkens counsel ²  with words without knowledge?

You guide ¹  me by your wise advice, and then you will lead me to a position of honor. ² 

Counsel and sound wisdom belong to me; ¹  I possess understanding and might.

Plans fail ¹  when there is no counsel, but with abundant advisers they are established. ² 

Plans ¹  are established by counsel, so ²  make war ³  with guidance.

“People ¹  listened to me and waited silently; ²  they kept silent for my advice.

They quickly forgot what he had done; ¹  they did not wait for his instructions. ² 

because ¹  you neglected ²  all my advice, and did not comply ³  with my rebuke,

There is no wisdom and there is no understanding, and there is no counsel against ¹  the Lord. ² 

because they had rebelled against God’s commands, ¹  and rejected the instructions of the sovereign king. ² 

Ointment and incense make the heart rejoice, ¹  likewise the sweetness of one’s friend from sincere counsel. ² 

All you Israelites, ¹  make a decision here!” ² 

Then Absalom said to Ahithophel, “Give us your advice. What should we do?”

they did not comply with my advice, they spurned ¹  all my rebuke.

But it was he ¹  who filled their houses with good things – yet the counsel of the wicked ²  was far from me. ³ 

This also comes from the Lord who commands armies, who gives supernatural guidance and imparts great wisdom. ¹ 

They are a nation devoid of wisdom, and there is no understanding among them.

Listen to advice ¹  and receive discipline, that ²  you may become wise ³  by the end of your life. ⁴ 

But their prosperity is not their own doing. ¹  The counsel of the wicked is far from me! ²