'Counsels' in the Bible

Hold them guilty, O God;Let them fall by their own designs and councils!Cast them out because of the abundance of their transgressions,For they are mutinous and have rebelled against You.

“So I gave them up to the stubbornness of their heart,To walk in [the path of] their own counsel.

The thoughts and purposes of the [consistently] righteous are just (honest, reliable),But the counsels and schemes of the wicked are deceitful.

Have I not written to you excellent thingsIn counsels and knowledge,

“You are wearied by your many counsels.Just let the astrologers,The stargazers,Those who predict by the new moons [each month]Stand up and save you from the things that will come upon you [Babylon].

But they did not obey Me or bend their ear [to hear Me], but followed the counsels and the stubbornness of their [own] evil heart (mind), and [they turned and] went backward instead of forward.

Look at their sitting and their rising [their actions and secret counsels];I am their mocking song [the subject of their ridicule].

The sword will whirl against and fall on their cities,And will demolish the bars of their gates and fortificationsAnd will consume them because of their counsels.

“For [you have kept] the statutes of Omri [the idolatrous king],And all the works of the [wicked] house (dynasty) of Ahab;And you walk in their counsels and policies.Therefore, I shall hand you over for destruction and horrorAnd your [city’s] inhabitants for ridicule,And you shall bear the rebuke and scorn of My people.”

From you [O Nineveh],One has gone forth who plotted evil against the Lord,A malevolent counselor [the king of Assyria].

He said to them, “The mystery of the kingdom of God has been given to you [who have teachable hearts], but those who are outside [the unbelievers, the spiritually blind] get everything in parables,

‘And it shall be in the last days,’ says God,‘That I will pour out My Spirit upon all mankind;And your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,And your young men shall see [divinely prompted] visions,And your old men shall dream [divinely prompted] dreams;

Even on My bond-servants, both men and women,I will in those days pour out My SpiritAnd they shall prophesy.

And now I commend you to God [placing you in His protective, loving care] and [I commend you] to the word of His grace [the counsel and promises of His unmerited favor]. His grace is able to build you up and to give you the [rightful] inheritance among all those who are sanctified [that is, among those who are set apart for God’s purpose—all believers].

For God has unveiled them and revealed them to us through the [Holy] Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things [diligently], even [sounding and measuring] the [profound] depths of God [the divine counsels and things far beyond human understanding].

For who has known the mind and purposes of the Lord, so as to instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ [to be guided by His thoughts and purposes].