Then one of the young men said, “Behold, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite who is a skillful musician, a mighty man of valor, a warrior, one prudent in speech, and a handsome man; and the Lord is with him.”

Jonadab then said to him, “Lie down on your bed and pretend to be ill; when your father comes to see you, say to him, ‘Please let my sister Tamar come and give me some food to eat, and let her prepare the food in my sight, that I may see it and eat from her hand.’”

So Joab sent to Tekoa and brought a wise woman from there and said to her, “Please pretend to be a mourner, and put on mourning garments now, and do not anoint yourself with oil, but be like a woman who has been mourning for the dead many days;

“Foreigners pretend obedience to me;
As soon as they hear, they obey me.

Now the Lord had said to Ahijah, “Behold, the wife of Jeroboam is coming to inquire of you concerning her son, for he is sick. You shall say thus and thus to her, for it will be when she arrives that she will pretend to be another woman.”

When Ahijah heard the sound of her feet coming in the doorway, he said, “Come in, wife of Jeroboam, why do you pretend to be another woman? For I am sent to you with a harsh message.

“Those who hate the Lord would pretend obedience to Him,
And their time of punishment would be forever.

A fool’s anger is known at once,
But a prudent man conceals dishonor.

A prudent man conceals knowledge,
But the heart of fools proclaims folly.

Every prudent man acts with knowledge,
But a fool displays folly.

Even a fool, when he keeps silent, is considered wise;
When he closes his lips, he is considered prudent.

The mind of the prudent acquires knowledge,
And the ear of the wise seeks knowledge.

House and wealth are an inheritance from fathers,
But a prudent wife is from the Lord.

The prudent sees the evil and hides himself,
But the naive go on, and are punished for it.

A prudent man sees evil and hides himself,
The naive proceed and pay the penalty.

Concerning Edom.
Thus says the Lord of hosts,
“Is there no longer any wisdom in Teman?
Has good counsel been lost to the prudent?
Has their wisdom decayed?

Therefore at such a time the prudent person keeps silent, for it is an evil time.

Five of them were foolish, and five were prudent.

but the prudent took oil in flasks along with their lamps.

The foolish said to the prudent, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’

But the prudent answered, ‘No, there will not be enough for us and you too; go instead to the dealers and buy some for yourselves.’

We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are prudent in Christ; we are weak, but you are strong; you are distinguished, but we are without honor.

An overseer, then, must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, temperate, prudent, respectable, hospitable, able to teach,