Advice ; by implication, plan ; also prudence
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H6098, ʿēṣāh, names counsel, advice, a plan, purpose, strategy, or prudent direction. It may describe counsel offered by people, a political strategy, a wicked scheme, wisdom's instruction, or the settled purpose of the LORD.
Reader summary
Full entry for עֵצָה (H6098) · Open the biblical lexicon
H6098, ʿēṣāh, names counsel, advice, a plan, purpose, strategy, or prudent direction. It may describe counsel offered by people, a political strategy, a wicked scheme, wisdom's instruction, or the settled purpose of the LORD.
The BSB source-word alignment has 89 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include counsel (8), the advice (7), the plans (6), my counsel (4), the counsel (4).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at Deuteronomy 32:28. Its strongest book concentrations include Isaiah (19), Psalms (11), 2 Samuel (10), Proverbs (10).
H6098, ʿēṣāh, names counsel, advice, a plan, purpose, strategy, or prudent direction. It may describe counsel offered by people, a political strategy, a wicked scheme, wisdom's instruction, or the settled purpose of the Lord. The noun does not certify advice as wise merely because it is called counsel. Rehoboam rejects seasoned advice for the voices that flatter his power, while Proverbs contrasts self-certainty with listening. The source, moral character, knowledge, community, and outcome of counsel must all be tested.
Divine counsel differs from human planning without making deliberation useless. Job is confronted for obscuring God's counsel with words without knowledge. Isaiah says the Lord's purpose will stand and portrays the Spirit resting on the promised ruler as the Spirit of counsel and strength. Psalms declares that the Lord's counsel endures through all generations. These claims establish God's freedom, knowledge, and fidelity; they do not give leaders permission to label their own decisions “God's plan” or to resist correction. Human counselors remain finite, morally accountable, and capable of manipulation.
The narrative uses also resist fatalism. Absalom chooses Hushai's advice because the Lord purposes to defeat Ahithophel's counsel and judge Absalom, yet the story still presents real agents, persuasion, betrayal, and consequence. Proverbs says many plans fill a human heart while the Lord's purpose prevails. That assurance should produce humility and prayer, not passivity or careless planning. Faithful counsel listens to wisdom, welcomes multiple trustworthy voices, names uncertainty, refuses flattery, and submits outcomes to God. Christian application ultimately receives Jesus as the Spirit-anointed ruler whose wisdom and strength are perfectly joined, while ordinary counselors serve best when they do not confuse their perspective with His sovereign purpose.
H6098 ranges across rejected advice, political counsel, Spirit-given wisdom, divine purpose, uninformed speech, teachability, competing human plans, and the enduring counsel of the Lord.
But Rehoboam rejected the advice of the elders; instead, he consulted the young men who had grown up with him and served him.
Rehoboam rejects counsel shaped by experience and seeks peers aligned with his instincts. The resulting answer intensifies domination and fractures the kingdom.
Then Absalom and all the men of Israel said, “The advice of Hushai the Archite is better than that of Ahithophel.” For the Lord had purposed to thwart the good counsel of Ahithophel in order to bring disaster on Absalom.
Hushai's counsel prevails within divine judgment on Absalom. The narrative holds God's purpose and accountable human strategy together rather than making either unreal.
The Spirit of the Lord will rest on Him—the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and strength, the Spirit of knowledge and fear of the Lord.
The promised ruler receives counsel joined to wisdom, strength, knowledge, and fear of the Lord. Messianic government is neither impulsive nor merely tactical.
I declare the end from the beginning, and from ancient times what is still to come. I say, ‘My purpose will stand, and all My good pleasure I will accomplish.’
The Lord contrasts His effective purpose with powerless idols. His counsel rests on sovereign knowledge and action, not on uncertain prediction.
“Who is this who obscures My counsel by words without knowledge?
God challenges speech that darkens counsel without adequate knowledge. The question requires epistemic humility without declaring every human question illegitimate.
The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man listens to counsel.
Wisdom appears as teachability rather than automatic self-trust. Listening does not mean accepting every voice; Proverbs supplies moral criteria for discernment.
Many plans are in a man’s heart, but the purpose of the Lord will prevail.
Human plurality and divine constancy are set together. The saying humbles planning while affirming that the Lord's purpose, not chaos, has the final word.
The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the purposes of His heart to all generations.
The psalm contrasts frustrated national strategies with God's enduring counsel. Confidence rests in His covenant character and rule across generations.
BSB source-word alignment connects this entry to exact verse rows, English rendering, source form, transliteration, and parsing.
How English Renders ItA compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
Hebrew word. Counsel as both human advice and God's sovereign plan; carries weight of deliberative wisdom and intention
Counsel as both human advice and God's sovereign plan; carries weight of deliberative wisdom and intention
advice; by implication, plan; also prudence BDB: counsel Usage: advice, advisement, counsel([-lor]), purpose.
How the stem changes the meaning of this verb across the biblical text.
This verb appears through different tense, voice, mood, or stem patterns. Those forms help readers see how the action is presented in context.
Selected passage-level study witnesses for this word. This section is not the full occurrence list.
Showing 4 selected witnesses from 90 lexical occurrence verses.
עֵצָה is built from this root:
Wisdom provides the counsel necessary for righteous decision-making.Isaiah 28:23-29
God’s judgments arise from deliberate and wise planning.Isaiah 46:8-11
Expresses the deliberate intent of God’s sovereign will.Proverbs 8:12-21
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
H6098 holds human counsel beneath the enduring purpose of God. Rehoboam shows how leaders can seek confirmation instead of wisdom and harm a people through advice that magnifies power. Absalom's council shows political strategy operating inside divine judgment. Proverbs commends listening and warns that self-certainty is foolish, yet Scripture never treats every adviser as safe.
Job exposes words without knowledge. Isaiah announces a ruler on whom the Spirit of counsel and strength rests, and the Lord declares that His own purpose will stand. Psalm 33 extends that confidence across generations. The result is neither managerial confidence nor fatalistic withdrawal. People should plan, listen, compare witnesses, examine motives, name limits, and remain willing to change.
They should also confess that no committee, expert, ruler, or pastor possesses the Lord's exhaustive knowledge. Counsel becomes faithful when it seeks truth and neighbor good under God's word rather than using “wisdom” to protect status. The church's hope finally rests in the Spirit-anointed Christ, not in flawless human advice. Human counselors are servants whose best work includes humility, transparency, and submission to correction.
Prov.19.21
H6098 is a feminine noun used for advice, counsel, plan, purpose, strategy, and prudence. Its citation form עֵצָה is reviewed as ʿēṣāh; construct forms such as עֲצַת have a reduced first vowel and final t. The governed word table contains 89 tokens across 85 verses and 18 books, one fewer than the selected artifact count.
The New Testament presents Christ as God's wisdom and speaks of God's purpose accomplished through His will, while also commending communal discernment and teachability. Greek boulē overlaps counsel and purpose in several passages, but its usage should be traced directly rather than treated as a fixed translation of H6098.