Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed.
Parallel translations
- WEB Where there is no counsel, plans fail; but in a multitude of counselors they are established.
- KJV Without counsel purposes are disappointed: but in the multitude of counsellors they are established.
- NKJV Without counsel, plans go awry, But in the multitude of counselors they are established.
- NASB Without consultation, plans are frustrated, But with many counselors they succeed.
- NLT Plans go wrong for lack of advice; many advisers bring success.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Plans made without counsel tend to fail, but seeking many advisors helps them succeed. It matters because humility to seek wise counsel is essential to good decisions.
Overview
This proverb commends the wisdom of consulting others rather than acting in isolated self-confidence. A 'multitude of counselors' guards against blind spots and folly (cf. Proverbs 11:14). It reflects God's design that wisdom grows in community, and it gently rebukes prideful self-reliance.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 3
- Prov 11:14For lack of guidance, a nation falls, but with many counselors comes deliverance.
- Prov 20:18Set plans by consultation, and wage war under sound guidance.
- Eccl 8:6For there is a right time and procedure to every purpose, though a man’s misery weighs heavily upon him.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Wisdom personified, with God before creation and the agent of all things, anticipates Christ 'in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom' — the wisdom of God made flesh.
How Proverbs 15:22 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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