Quotes About Wisdom

When I went out to the city gate and took my seat in the public square,

the young men saw me and withdrew, and the old men rose to their feet.

The princes refrained from speaking and covered their mouths with their hands.

The voices of the nobles were hushed, and their tongues stuck to the roofs of their mouths.

For those who heard me called me blessed, and those who saw me commended me,

I put on righteousness, and it clothed me; justice was my robe and my turban.

So I thought: ëI will die in my nest and multiply my days as the sand.

Men listened to me with expectation, waiting silently for my counsel.

After my words, they spoke no more; my speech settled on them like dew.

They waited for me as for rain and drank in my words like spring showers.

I chose their course and presided as chief. So I dwelt as a king among his troops, as a comforter of the mourners.

“But now they mock me, men younger than I am, whose fathers I would have refused to entrust with my sheep dogs.

though from my youth I reared him as would a father, and from my motherís womb I guided the widow—

I would give account of all my steps; I would approach Him like a prince.)—

So these three men stopped answering Job, because he was righteous in his own eyes.

This kindled the anger of Elihu son of Barachel the Buzite, of the family of Ram. He burned with anger against Job for justifying himself rather than God,

and he burned with anger against Jobís three friends because they had failed to refute Job, and yet had condemned him.

Now Elihu had waited to speak to Job because the others were older than he.

But when he saw that the three men had no further reply, his anger was kindled.

So Elihu son of Barachel the Buzite declared: “I am young in years, while you are old; that is why I was timid and afraid to tell you what I know.

I thought that age should speak, and many years should teach wisdom.

But there is a spirit in a man, the breath of the Almighty, that gives him understanding.

It is not only the old who are wise, or the elderly who understand justice.

Therefore I say, ëListen to me; I too will declare what I know.í