In Praise of Wisdom

⁹Hear the commandments of life, O Israel;
   give ear, and learn wisdom!
¹⁰Why is it, O Israel, why is it that you are in the land of your enemies,
   that you are growing old in a foreign country,
that you are defiled with the dead,
¹¹   that you are counted among those in Hades?
¹²You have forsaken the fountain of wisdom.
¹³If you had walked in the way of God,
   you would be living in peace for ever.
¹⁴Learn where there is wisdom,
   where there is strength,
   where there is understanding,
so that you may at the same time discern
   where there is length of days, and life,
   where there is light for the eyes, and peace.

¹⁵Who has found her place?
   And who has entered her storehouses?
³²But the one who knows all things knows her,
   he found her by his understanding.
The one who prepared the earth for all time
   filled it with four-footed creatures;
³³the one who sends forth the light, and it goes;
   he called it, and it obeyed him, trembling;
³⁴the stars shone in their watches, and were glad;
   he called them, and they said, ‘Here we are!’
   They shone with gladness for him who made them.
³⁵This is our God;
   no other can be compared to him.
³⁶He found the whole way to knowledge,
   and gave her to his servant Jacob
   and to Israel, whom he loved.
³⁷Afterwards she appeared on earth
   and lived with humankind.

4She is the book of the commandments of God,
   the law that endures for ever.
All who hold her fast will live,
   and those who forsake her will die.
²Turn, O Jacob, and take her;
   walk towards the shining of her light.
³Do not give your glory to another,
   or your advantages to an alien people.
⁴Happy are we, O Israel,
   for we know what is pleasing to God.