In Praise of Wisdom
1 Listen to Wisdom! She proudly sings her own praises among the Israelites, her own people, 2 in the assembly of the Most High, in the presence of his power.
3 “I am the word spoken by the Most High.
I covered the earth like a mist.
4 I made my home in highest heaven,
my throne on a pillar of cloud.
5 Alone I walked around the circle of the sky
and walked through the ocean beneath the earth.
6 I ruled over all the earth and the ocean waves,
over every nation, over every people.
7 I looked everywhere for a place to settle,
some part of the world to make my home.
8 Then my Creator, who created the universe,
told me where I was to live.
‘Make your home in Israel,’ he said.
‘The descendants of Jacob will be your people.’
9 He created me in eternity, before time began,
and I will exist for all eternity to come.
10 I served him in the Sacred Tent
and then made my home on Mount Zion.
11 He settled me in the Beloved City
and gave me authority over Jerusalem.
12 I put down roots among an honored people
whom the Lord had chosen as his own.
13 I grew tall, like the cedars in Lebanon,
like the cypresses on Mount Hermon,
14 like the palm trees of Engedi,
like the roses of Jericho,
like beautiful olive trees in the fields,
like plane trees growing by the water.
15 My breath was the spicy smell of cinnamon,
of sweet perfume and finest myrrh,
of stacte, onycha, and galbanum,
the fragrant incense in the Sacred Tent.
16 Like an oak I spread out my branches,
magnificent and graceful.
17 Like a grapevine I put out lovely shoots;
my blossoms gave way to rich and glorious fruit.
19 Come to me, all you that want me,
and eat your fill of my fruit.
20 You will remember me as sweeter than honey,
better than honey from the comb.
21 Eat me, and you will hunger for more;
drink me, and you will thirst for more.
22 Obey me, and you will never have cause for embarrassment;
do as I say, and you will be safe from sin.”
Wisdom and the Law
23 Wisdom is the Law, the Law which Moses commanded us to keep, the covenant of God Most High, the inheritance of the synagogues of Israel. 25 The Law overflows with Wisdom like the Pishon River, like the Tigris at fruit-picking time. 26 The Law brims over with understanding like the Euphrates, like the Jordan at harvest time. 27 It sparkles with teachings like the Nile, like the Gihon at grape-picking time.
28 The first human being ever created never knew Wisdom completely, and the last person on earth will be no more successful. 29 The possibilities of Wisdom are vaster than the ocean; her resources are more profound than the deepest waters beneath the earth.
30 As for me, I thought of myself as an irrigation canal bringing water from a river into a garden. 31 I only intended to water my orchard and flower beds, but the canal soon became a river, and the river became a sea. 32 And so I present you with my learning; I hold it high, so that its light can be seen everywhere, like that of the rising sun. 33 Like an inspired prophet, I pour out my teachings, so that future generations can benefit from them. 34 Please realize that I have not done all this hard work for myself alone, but to help anyone who wants to be wise.
1 Wisdom shall praise herself, and shall glory in the midst of her people.
2 In the congregation of the most High shall she open her mouth, and triumph before his power.
3 I came out of the mouth of the most High, and covered the earth as a cloud.
4 I dwelt in high places, and my throne is in a cloudy pillar.
5 I alone compassed the circuit of heaven, and walked in the bottom of the deep.
6 In the waves of the sea and in all the earth, and in every people and nation, I got a possession.
7 With all these I sought rest: and in whose inheritance shall I abide?
8 So the Creator of all things gave me a commandment, and he that made me caused my tabernacle to rest, and said, Let thy dwelling be in Jacob, and thine inheritance in Israel.
9 He created me from the beginning before the world, and I shall never fail.
10 In the holy tabernacle I served before him; and so was I established in Sion.
11 Likewise in the beloved city he gave me rest, and in Jerusalem was my power.
12 And I took root in an honourable people, even in the portion of the Lord’s inheritance.
13 I was exalted like a cedar in Libanus, and as a cypress tree upon the mountains of Hermon.
14 I was exalted like a palm tree in En-gaddi, and as a rose plant in Jericho, as a fair olive tree in a pleasant field, and grew up as a plane tree by the water.
15 I gave a sweet smell like cinnamon and aspalathus, and I yielded a pleasant odour like the best myrrh, as galbanum, and onyx, and sweet storax, and as the fume of frankincense in the tabernacle.
16 As the turpentine tree I stretched out my branches, and my branches are the branches of honour and grace.
17 As the vine brought I forth pleasant savour, and my flowers are the fruit of honour and riches.
18 I am the mother of fair love, and fear, and knowledge, and holy hope: I therefore, being eternal, am given to all my children which are named of him.
19 Come unto me, all ye that be desirous of me, and fill yourselves with my fruits.
20 For my memorial is sweeter than honey, and mine inheritance than the honeycomb.
21 They that eat me shall yet be hungry, and they that drink me shall yet be thirsty.
22 He that obeyeth me shall never be confounded, and they that work by me shall not do amiss.
23 All these things are the book of the covenant of the most high God, even the law which Moses commanded for an heritage unto the congregations of Jacob.
24 Faint not to be strong in the Lord; that he may confirm you, cleave unto him: for the Lord Almighty is God alone, and beside him there is no other Saviour.
25 He filleth all things with his wisdom, as Phison and as Tigris in the time of the new fruits.
26 He maketh the understanding to abound like Euphrates, and as Jordan in the time of the harvest.
27 He maketh the doctrine of knowledge appear as the light, and as Geon in the time of vintage.
28 The first man knew her not perfectly: no more shall the last find her out.
29 For her thoughts are more than the sea, and her counsels profounder than the great deep.
30 I also came out as a brook from a river, and as a conduit into a garden.
31 I said, I will water my best garden, and will water abundantly my garden bed: and, lo, my brook became a river, and my river became a sea.
32 I will yet make doctrine to shine as the morning, and will send forth her light afar off.
33 I will yet pour out doctrine as prophecy, and leave it to all ages for ever.
34 Behold that I have not laboured for myself only, but for all them that seek wisdom.