The Blessings of Wisdom

¹Does not wisdom call?

Does not understanding raise her voice?

²On the heights beside the way,

at the crossroads she takes her stand;

³beside the gates in front of the town,

at the entrance of the portals she cries aloud:

⁴“To you, O men, I call,

and my cry is to the children of man.

⁵O simple ones, learn prudence;

O fools, learn sense.

⁶Hear, for I will speak noble things,

and from my lips will come what is right,

⁷for my mouth will utter truth;

wickedness is an abomination to my lips.

⁸All the words of my mouth are righteous;

there is nothing twisted or crooked in them.

⁹They are all straight to him who understands,

and right to those who find knowledge.

¹⁰Take my instruction instead of silver,

and knowledge rather than choice gold,

¹¹for wisdom is better than jewels,

and all that you may desire cannot compare with her.

¹²“I, wisdom, dwell with prudence,

and I find knowledge and discretion.

¹³The fear of the Lord is hatred of evil.

Pride and arrogance and the way of evil

and perverted speech I hate.

¹⁴I have counsel and sound wisdom;

I have insight; I have strength.

¹⁵By me kings reign,

and rulers decree what is just;

¹⁶by me princes rule,

and nobles, all who govern justly.1

¹⁷I love those who love me,

and those who seek me diligently find me.

¹⁸Riches and honor are with me,

enduring wealth and righteousness.

¹⁹My fruit is better than gold, even fine gold,

and my yield than choice silver.

²⁰I walk in the way of righteousness,

in the paths of justice,

²¹granting an inheritance to those who love me,

and filling their treasuries.

²²“The Lord possessed2 me at the beginning of his work,3

the first of his acts of old.

²³Ages ago I was set up,

at the first, before the beginning of the earth.

²⁴When there were no depths I was brought forth,

when there were no springs abounding with water.

²⁵Before the mountains had been shaped,

before the hills, I was brought forth,

²⁶before he had made the earth with its fields,

or the first of the dust of the world.

²⁷When he established the heavens, I was there;

when he drew a circle on the face of the deep,

²⁸when he made firm the skies above,

when he established4 the fountains of the deep,

²⁹when he assigned to the sea its limit,

so that the waters might not transgress his command,

when he marked out the foundations of the earth,

³⁰then I was beside him, like a master workman,

and I was daily his5 delight,

rejoicing before him always,

³¹rejoicing in his inhabited world

and delighting in the children of man.

³²“And now, O sons, listen to me:

blessed are those who keep my ways.

³³Hear instruction and be wise,

and do not neglect it.

³⁴Blessed is the one who listens to me,

watching daily at my gates,

waiting beside my doors.

³⁵For whoever finds me finds life

and obtains favor from the Lord,

³⁶but he who fails to find me injures himself;

all who hate me love death.”