20 Bible Verses About Wisdom

Proverbs 9:10

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.”

Reflection: Proverbs 9 sets two women side by side. Wisdom has built her house and calls the simple to her table, and Folly sits at her own door calling to the same passers-by in the same words: “Let all who are simple come to my house!” (9:4, 9:16). Between the two invitations comes this saying, followed by a promise: “through wisdom your days will be many.”

Psalm 111:10

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow his precepts have good understanding. To him belongs eternal praise.”

Reflection: For nine verses Psalm 111 praises what God has done: food for those who fear him, a covenant remembered forever, redemption for his people. The closing verse turns to the fear of the Lord as the beginning of wisdom and ties good understanding to following his precepts, the same precepts verse 7 calls trustworthy.

Job 28:28

“And he said to the human race, ‘The fear of the Lord—that is wisdom, and to shun evil is understanding.’”

Reflection: Job 28 is a poem that asks twice where wisdom can be found (verses 12 and 20). The deep and the sea say it is not with them, gold and jewels cannot buy it, and only God “understands the way to it.” The poem ends with what God said to the human race: wisdom is the fear of the Lord, and understanding is to shun evil.

Proverbs 3:5-6

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.”

Reflection: In Proverbs 3 a father is teaching his son, and the next verse reads: “Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and shun evil” (3:7), the same pairing of fearing the Lord and shunning evil that Job 28:28 makes. Leaning on one’s own understanding is set against trusting the Lord with the whole heart, and the promise attached is a straight path.

Proverbs 2:6

“For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.”

Reflection: A father tells his son to look for wisdom “as for silver” and to search for it “as for hidden treasure” (2:4). He says the search will end in understanding the fear of the Lord and finding the knowledge of God, and this verse gives the reason: the Lord is the one who gives wisdom.

James 1:5

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

Reflection: James opens his letter with trials that test faith and produce perseverance (1:2-4), and the request for wisdom comes straight after. God gives it “generously to all without finding fault.” The next verses add a condition: the one who asks must believe and not doubt, or be “like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.”

Psalm 90:12

“Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.”

Reflection: Psalm 90 carries the heading “A prayer of Moses the man of God.” Before this request it sets God’s eternity beside human brevity: a thousand years are like a day to him, while people are like grass that springs up in the morning and is withered by evening, and their days come to seventy or eighty years. The prayer asks God to teach them to count those days and so gain a heart of wisdom.

Proverbs 3:13

“Blessed are those who find wisdom, those who gain understanding,”

Reflection: The verse opens a short poem on wisdom’s value, which speaks of wisdom as a woman. Verses 14 and 15 say she is more profitable than silver, yields better returns than gold and is more precious than rubies, and verse 18 calls her “a tree of life to those who take hold of her.”

Proverbs 4:7

“The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get understanding.”

Reflection: A father passes on what his own father taught him when he was young (4:3-4), so the advice comes down through three generations. It puts getting wisdom first and counts no price too high for understanding. The verses that follow speak of wisdom as a woman who will exalt and honor those who embrace her.

Proverbs 16:16

“How much better to get wisdom than gold, to get insight rather than silver!”

Reflection: This saying stands among the collection headed “The proverbs of Solomon” (10:1). It makes the comparison Job 28:15 and Proverbs 3:14 also make, with wisdom worth more than gold and insight more than silver.

1 Corinthians 1:25

“For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.”

Reflection: Paul writes to the church in Corinth about the message of the cross, which he says is foolishness to those who are perishing (1:18). Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but he preaches Christ crucified, “Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God” (1:24). In this verse, what looks foolish or weak in God outdoes human wisdom and human strength. The argument runs on: God chose “the foolish things of the world to shame the wise” (1:27), and Paul came to Corinth without “eloquence or human wisdom” so that their faith “might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power” (2:1-5).

1 Corinthians 3:19

“For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God’s sight. As it is written: ‘He catches the wise in their craftiness.’”

Reflection: The verse before tells anyone who thinks himself wise by the standards of this age to become a “fool” in order to become wise. Paul backs the point with Scripture. “He catches the wise in their craftiness” comes from Eliphaz’s speech in Job 5:13, and the next verse draws on Psalm 94:11: “The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile.”

Colossians 2:2-3

“My goal is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.”

Reflection: Paul writes of how hard he is contending for the believers at Colossae and Laodicea and for all who have not met him in person. He wants them to know the mystery of God, which he names as Christ, in whom every treasure of wisdom and knowledge is hidden. Verse 4 gives his reason for saying so: “so that no one may deceive you by fine-sounding arguments.”

James 3:17

“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.”

Reflection: James asks, “Who is wise and understanding among you?” and says the answer shows in a good life and in deeds done in humility (3:13). He then sets two kinds of wisdom against each other: one marked by bitter envy and selfish ambition, which he calls “earthly, unspiritual, demonic,” and the wisdom from heaven described in this verse. The next verse adds that peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness.

Proverbs 12:15

“The way of fools seems right to them, but the wise listen to advice.”

Reflection: Listening to advice is what separates the wise from the fool here, and the fool’s mistake is trusting a way because it seems right to him. The next verse makes a similar contrast about temper: “Fools show their annoyance at once, but the prudent overlook an insult.”

Proverbs 11:14

“For lack of guidance a nation falls, but victory is won through many advisers.”

Reflection: Here the value of taking advice is applied to a nation: without guidance it falls, and many advisers bring victory. Proverbs 15:22 says much the same about ordinary plans: “Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed.”

Proverbs 17:27-28

“The one who has knowledge uses words with restraint, and whoever has understanding is even-tempered. Even fools are thought wise if they keep silent, and discerning if they hold their tongues.”

Reflection: Two proverbs stand together. The first links knowledge with restrained speech and understanding with an even temper. The second adds, with some irony, that even a fool is taken for wise while he keeps quiet.

Proverbs 14:29

“Whoever is patient has great understanding, but one who is quick-tempered displays folly.”

Reflection: Patience and understanding go together in this proverb, and a quick temper puts folly on show. Ecclesiastes 7:9 makes the same link: “anger resides in the lap of fools.”

Ecclesiastes 7:10

“Do not say, ‘Why were the old days better than these?’ For it is not wise to ask such questions.”

Reflection: The Teacher places this among sayings about patience and anger (7:8-9). Longing for earlier times is called unwise, and the next verses turn to what wisdom does for those who have it: it is “like an inheritance” and it “preserves those who have it” (7:11-12).

Ephesians 5:15-16

“Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.”

Reflection: Paul tells his readers to live “not as unwise but as wise,” and the next verse spells out what that means: “do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.” He goes on to set getting drunk on wine against being filled with the Spirit (5:18).