SENSIBLE, prudent — practical shrewdness about how things actually work, not intelligence and not cleverness; from phrēn, the mind (and the diaphragm, taken as the seat of thought). ⚠ It is one of Matthew's quiet keywords and the pattern rewards following: the man who built on rock (7:24), the serpents the disciples are told to imitate — 'shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves' (10:16) — the faithful and phronimos slave put in charge of a household (24:45), and the five girls who brought oil (25:2). Every one of them is somebody who thought ahead about a thing that could not be fixed later. Its opposite in Matthew is mōros, the fool who built on sand (7:26) and the five who brought no oil. KJV reads 'wise' throughout, which pulls the word toward wisdom in general; ASV, NIV and NWT use 'wise' or 'prudent'. This translation keeps SENSIBLE everywhere so the family stays visible. → first discussed at Matt 7:24