There are an untold number of wise sayings recorded in the Bible for those who abide with it for their righteous living. The books of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes highlight the importance of living a life driven by true wisdom. Recorded in the book of Proverbs are many words of wisdom that can help us to live righteously. King Solomon contributed much of the wise sayings recorded in the book of Proverbs. He knew the power, benefits, and the importance of having wisdom and knowledge. After God established Solomon as the king of Israel, the Lord God appeared to him in a dream and said, “Ask for whatever you want me to give you” (1 Chronicles 1:7 [also refer to 1 Kings 3:5]). King Solomon answered God, “You have shown great kindness to David my father and have made me king in his place. Now, Lord God, let your promise to my father David be confirmed, for you have made me king over a people who are as numerous as the dust of the earth. Give me wisdom and knowledge, that I may lead this people, for who is able to govern this great people of yours?” (1 Chronicles 1:8-10 [also refer to 1 Kings 3:6-9]). God was pleased with King Solomon’s heart’s desire and granted his request. God not only blessed King Solomon with wisdom and knowledge, but also with wealth, possessions and honor.
God said to Solomon, “Since this is your heart’s desire and you have not asked for wealth, possessions or honor, nor for the death of your enemies, and since you have not asked for a long life but for wisdom and knowledge to govern my people over whom I have made you king, therefore wisdom and knowledge will be given you. And I will also give you wealth, possessions and honor, such as no king who was before you ever had and none after you will have.”
God blessed king Solomon with the wisdom that comes from heaven. Everyone who heard Solomon’s wisdom praised God. One of the best example of such wisdom narrated is in 1 Kings 10:1-13 (also in 2 Chronicles 9:1-12) – during the visit of Queen of Sheba, who came to hear and experience King Solomon’s wisdom first-hand.
God gave Solomon wisdom and very great insight, and a breadth of understanding as measureless as the sand on the seashore. Solomon’s wisdom was greater than the wisdom of all the people of the East, and greater than all the wisdom of Egypt. He was wiser than anyone else, including Ethan the Ezrahite—wiser than Heman, Kalkol and Darda, the sons of Mahol. And his fame spread to all the surrounding nations. He spoke three thousand proverbs and his songs numbered a thousand and five. He spoke about plant life, from the cedar of Lebanon to the hyssop that grows out of walls. He also spoke about animals and birds, reptiles and fish. From all nations people came to listen to Solomon’s wisdom, sent by all the kings of the world, who had heard of his wisdom.
King Solomon answered all the questions that the Queen of Sheba had for him. She praised him and his God for all the wisdom that God blessed him with. King Solomon’s fame spread around the world because his wisdom was immense.
When the queen of Sheba heard about the fame of Solomon and his relationship to the Lord, she came to test Solomon with hard questions. Arriving at Jerusalem with a very great caravan—with camels carrying spices, large quantities of gold, and precious stones—she came to Solomon and talked with him about all that she had on her mind. Solomon answered all her questions; nothing was too hard for the king to explain to her. When the queen of Sheba saw all the wisdom of Solomon and the palace he had built, the food on his table, the seating of his officials, the attending servants in their robes, his cupbearers, and the burnt offerings he made at[a] the temple of the Lord, she was overwhelmed. She said to the king, “The report I heard in my own country about your achievements and your wisdom is true. But I did not believe these things until I came and saw with my own eyes. Indeed, not even half was told me; in wisdom and wealth you have far exceeded the report I heard. How happy your people must be! How happy your officials, who continually stand before you and hear your wisdom! Praise be to the Lord your God, who has delighted in you and placed you on the throne of Israel. Because of the Lord’s eternal love for Israel, he has made you king to maintain justice and righteousness.
There is worldly wisdom, and there is the wisdom from God. Worldly wisdom is derived from the human mind, and is gained from life experiences on earth and regarding earthly things. Godly wisdom is given from heaven, and contributes towards righteous living here on earth and gives us a ticket to everlasting life – an eternal life with God at the end of our earthly life. The wisdom from God enables us to have divine knowledge, divine discernment, and divine insights. Such wisdom enables us to put God first in our lives. According to Proverbs 2:6 and James 1:5, true wisdom is given to man by God and such wisdom will teach the practical guidelines for righteous living and will answer questions regarding life and death. A few sayings of the wise are noted below from the book of Proverbs chapters 22-24.
A Good Name is Better than Riches
Proverbs 22:1-16
A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches, loving favor rather than silver and gold.
The rich and the poor have this in common, the Lord is the maker of them all.
A prudent man foresees evil and hides himself, but the simple pass on and are punished.
By humility and the fear of the Lord are riches and honor and life.
Thorns and snares are in the way of the perverse; he who guards his soul will be far from them.
Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.
The rich rules over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender.
He who sows iniquity will reap sorrow, and the rod of his anger will fail.
He who has a generous eye will be blessed, for he gives of his bread to the poor.
Cast out the scoffer, and contention will leave; yes, strife and reproach will cease.
He who loves purity of heart and has grace on his lips, the king will be his friend.
The eyes of the Lord preserve knowledge, but He overthrows the words of the faithless.
The lazy man says, “There is a lion outside! I shall be slain in the streets!”
The mouth of an immoral woman is a deep pit; he who is abhorred by the Lord will fall there.
Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child; the rod of correction will drive it far from him.
He who oppresses the poor to increase his riches, and he who gives to the rich, will surely come to poverty.
Thirty Sayings of the Wise
Proverbs 22:17-24:22
Chapter 22:17-29
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?
22 Do not rob the poor because he is poor, nor oppress the afflicted at the gate;
23 For the Lord will plead their cause, and plunder the soul of those who plunder them.
24 Make no friendship with an angry man, and with a furious man do not go,
25 Lest you learn his ways and set a snare for your soul.
26 Do not be one of those who shakes hands in a pledge one of those who is surety for debts;
27 If you have nothing with which to pay, why should he take away your bed from under you?
28 Do not remove the ancient landmark which your fathers have set.
29 Do you see a man who excels in his work? He will stand before kings; He will not stand before unknown men.
Chapter 23:1-35
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.
9 Do not speak in the hearing of a fool, for he will despise the wisdom of your words.
10 Do not remove the ancient landmark, nor enter the fields of the fatherless;
11 For their Redeemer is mighty; he will plead their cause against you.
12 Apply your heart to instruction, and your ears to words of knowledge.
13 Do not withhold correction from a child, for if you beat him with a rod, he will not die.
14 You shall beat him with a rod, and deliver his soul from hell.
15 My son, if your heart is wise, my heart will rejoice—indeed, I myself;
16 Yes, my inmost being will rejoice when your lips speak right things.
17 Do not let your heart envy sinners, but be zealous for the fear of the Lord all the day;
18 For surely there is a hereafter, and your hope will not be cut off.
19 Hear, my son, and be wise; and guide your heart in the way.
20 Do not mix with winebibbers, or with gluttonous eaters of meat;
21 For the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty, and drowsiness will clothe a man with rags.
22 Listen to your father who begot you, and do not despise your mother when she is old.
23 Buy the truth, and do not sell it, also wisdom and instruction and understanding.
24 The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice, and he who begets a wise child will delight in him.
25 Let your father and your mother be glad, and let her who bore you rejoice.
26 My son, give me your heart, and let your eyes observe my ways.
27 For a harlot is a deep pit, and a seductress is a narrow well.
28 She also lies in wait as for a victim, and increases the unfaithful among men.
29 Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has contentions? Who has complaints? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes?
30 Those who linger long at the wine, those who go in search of mixed wine.
31 Do not look on the wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup, When it swirls around smoothly;
32 At the last it bites like a serpent, and stings like a viper.
33 Your eyes will see strange things, and your heart will utter perverse things.
34 Yes, you will be like one who lies down in the midst of the sea, Or like one who lies at the top of the mast, saying:
35 “They have struck me, but I was not hurt; They have beaten me, but I did not feel it. When shall I awake, that I may seek another drink?”
Chapter 24:1-22
1 Do not be envious of evil men, nor desire to be with them;
2 For their heart devises violence, and their lips talk of troublemaking.
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.
11 Deliver those who are drawn toward death, and hold back those stumbling to the slaughter.
12 If you say, “Surely we did not know this,” Does not He who weighs the hearts consider it? He who keeps your soul, does He not know it? And will He not render to each man according to his deeds?
13 My son, eat honey because it is good, and the honeycomb which is sweet to your taste;
14 So shall the knowledge of wisdom be to your soul; If you have found it, there is a prospect, and your hope will not be cut off.
15 Do not lie in wait, O wicked man, against the dwelling of the righteous; Do not plunder his resting place;
16 For a righteous man may fall seven times and rise again, But the wicked shall fall by calamity.
17 Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, and do not let your heart be glad when he stumbles;
18 Lest the Lord see it, and it displease Him, and He turn away His wrath from him.
19 Do not fret because of evildoers, nor be envious of the wicked;
20 For there will be no prospect for the evil man; the lamp of the wicked will be put out.
21 My son, fear the Lord and the king; do not associate with those given to change;
22 For their calamity will rise suddenly, and who knows the ruin those two can bring?
Additional Sayings of the Wise
Proverbs 24:23-34
These also are sayings of the wise:
23(b) To show partiality in judging is not good:
24 Whoever says to the guilty, “You are innocent,” will be cursed by peoples and denounced by nations.
25 But it will go well with those who convict the guilty, and rich blessing will come on them.
26 An honest answer is like a kiss on the lips.
27 Put your outdoor work in order and get your fields ready; after that, build your house.
28 Do not testify against your neighbor without cause—would you use your lips to mislead?
29 Do not say, “I’ll do to them as they have done to me; I’ll pay them back for what they did.”
30 I went past the field of a sluggard, past the vineyard of someone who has no sense;
31 thorns had come up everywhere, the ground was covered with weeds, and the stone wall was in ruins.
32 I applied my heart to what I observed and learned a lesson from what I saw:
33 A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest—
34 and poverty will come on you like a thief and scarcity like an armed man.
