6 Hear, for I will speak noble things,
and from my lips will come what is right,
7 for my mouth will utter truth;
wickedness is an abomination to my lips.
8 All the words of my mouth are righteous;
there is nothing twisted or crooked in them.
9 They are all straight to him who understands,
and right to those who find knowledge.
10 Take my instruction instead of silver,
and knowledge rather than choice gold,
11 for wisdom is better than jewels,
and all that you may desire cannot compare with her.
12 “I, wisdom, dwell with prudence,
and I find knowledge and discretion.
13 The fear of the Lord is hatred of evil.
Pride and arrogance and the way of evil
and perverted speech I hate.
There is a sense in which to say that the wisdom of heaven is disclosed and available to us in the Scriptures makes it sound much less exciting and thrilling and mysterious than to say that it comes by direct revelation. But it is a fleshly concern that overemphasises the latter at the expense of the former. This is borne out by what Peter says in his second epistle (2 Peter 1:19ff), where he expressly indicates that the revelation of God in the Scriptures is not only more important but also more sure than any special visionary experience. Nothing could establish more emphatically the primacy of the writ- ten Word as the source of divine revelation. Once again, therefore, we come back to what we have had to say repeatedly over the years, that there is no substitute, in Christian life, for a thorough grounding in the Holy Scriptures. When we are prepared for the discipline involved in true Bible study, wrestling with the divine truth, feeding upon it, we will surely come to wisdom, and wisdom will be found in us. This is the pattern, and this is the prescription unfolded in these verses, and its value (11) is absolutely superlative; there is nothing that can be compared to it. If a man is wise, he will be prudent and he will have discretion (12), for wisdom produces these things, and goes hand in hand with them. Above all, he will be godly: what is repugnant to godliness (13) is also repugnant to wisdom; wisdom and godliness like and dislike the same things.