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

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

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

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.

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

Have I not written thirty sayings ¹  for you, sayings ²  of counsel and knowledge,

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

Then Absalom and all the men of Israel said, “The advice of Hushai the Arkite sounds better than the advice of Ahithophel.” Now the Lord had decided ¹  to frustrate the sound advice of Ahithophel, so that the Lord could bring disaster on Absalom.

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

The plans ¹  of the righteous are just; the counsels of the wicked are deceitful. ² 

I will praise ¹  the Lord who ²  guides ³  me; yes, during the night I reflect and learn. ⁴ 

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

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

The king responded to the people harshly. He ¹  rejected the advice of the older men

In those days Ahithophel’s advice was considered as valuable as a prophetic revelation. ¹  Both David and Absalom highly regarded the advice of Ahithophel. ² 

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

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