wise decisions

⁵Have confidence in the Lord with all your heart, and do not depend upon your own prudence. ⁶In all your ways, consider him, and he himself will direct your steps.

¹⁵The way of the foolish is right in his own eyes. But whoever is wise listens to counsels.

⁵But if anyone among you is in need of wisdom, let him petition God, who gives abundantly to all without reproach, and it shall be given to him.

⁵By listening, the wise shall become wiser and the intelligent shall possess governments.

⁹The heart of man disposes his way. But it is for Lord to direct his steps.

⁶Be anxious about nothing. But in all things, with prayer and supplication, with acts of thanksgiving, let your petitions be made known to God.

²²Intentions dissipate where there is no counsel. Yet truly, they are confirmed where there are many counselors.

¹³For this reason, gird the waist of your mind, be sober, and hope perfectly in the grace that is offered to you in the revelation of Jesus Christ. ¹⁴Be like sons of obedience, not conforming to the desires of your former ignorance, ¹⁵but in accord with him who has called you: the Holy One. And in every behavior, you yourself must be holy,

⁸Be sober and vigilant. For your adversary, the devil, is like a roaring lion, traveling around and seeking those whom he might devour.

¹My son, if you would accept my words, and conceal my commandments within you, ²so that your ears may listen to wisdom, then bend your heart in order to know prudence. ³For if you would call upon wisdom and bend your heart to prudence, ⁴if you will seek her like money, and dig for her as if for treasure, ⁵then you will understand the fear of the Lord, and you will discover the knowledge of God.

⁹Behold, I am instructing you. Be strengthened, and be steadfast. Do not dread, and do not fear. For the Lord your God is with you in all things, wherever you may go.”

⁵Let your behavior be without avarice; be content with what you are offered. For he himself has said, “I will not abandon you, and I will not neglect you.”

¹Now, faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not apparent.

⁶But he should ask with faith, doubting nothing. For he who doubts is like a wave on the ocean, which is moved about by the wind and carried away; ⁷then a man should not consider that he would receive anything from the Lord. ⁸For a man who is of two minds is inconstant in all his ways.

²⁴No one is able to serve two masters. For either he will have hatred for the one, and love the other, or he will persevere with the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.

¹⁴Where there is no governor, the people shall fall. But where there is much counsel, well-being shall be.