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The Praise of Wisdom ^*

24Wisdom praises herself,
   and tells of her glory in the midst of her people.
² In the assembly of the Most High she opens her mouth,
   and in the presence of his hosts she tells of her glory:
³ ‘I came forth from the mouth of the Most High,
   and covered the earth like a mist.
⁴ I dwelt in the highest heavens,
   and my throne was in a pillar of cloud.
⁵ Alone I compassed the vault of heaven
   and traversed the depths of the abyss.
⁶ Over waves of the sea, over all the earth,
   and over every people and nation I have held sway.^*
7 Among all these I sought a resting-place;
   in whose territory should I abide?

⁸ ‘Then the Creator of all things gave me a command,
   and my Creator chose the place for my tent.
He said, “Make your dwelling in Jacob,
   and in Israel receive your inheritance.”
⁹ Before the ages, in the beginning, he created me,
   and for all the ages I shall not cease to be.
¹⁰ In the holy tent I ministered before him,
   and so I was established in Zion.
¹¹ Thus in the beloved city he gave me a resting-place,
   and in Jerusalem was my domain.
¹² I took root in an honoured people,
   in the portion of the Lord, his heritage.

¹³ ‘I grew tall like a cedar in Lebanon,
   and like a cypress on the heights of Hermon.
¹⁴ I grew tall like a palm tree in En-gedi,^*
   and like rose-bushes in Jericho;
like a fair olive tree in the field,
   and like a plane tree beside water^* I grew tall.
¹⁵ Like cassia and camel’s thorn I gave forth perfume,
   and like choice myrrh I spread my fragrance,
like galbanum, onycha, and stacte,
   and like the odour of incense in the tent.
¹⁶ Like a terebinth I spread out my branches,
   and my branches are glorious and graceful.
¹⁷ Like the vine I bud forth delights,
   and my blossoms become glorious and abundant fruit.^*

¹⁹ ‘Come to me, you who desire me,
   and eat your fill of my fruits.
²⁰ For the memory of me is sweeter than honey,
   and the possession of me sweeter than the honeycomb.
²¹ Those who eat of me will hunger for more,
   and those who drink of me will thirst for more.
²² Whoever obeys me will not be put to shame,
   and those who work with me will not sin.’

Wisdom and the Law

²³ All this is the book of the covenant of the Most High God,
   the law that Moses commanded us
   as an inheritance for the congregations of Jacob.^*
25 It overflows, like the Pishon, with wisdom,
   and like the Tigris at the time of the first fruits.
²⁶ It runs over, like the Euphrates, with understanding,
   and like the Jordan at harvest time.
²⁷ It pours forth instruction like the Nile,^*
   like the Gihon at the time of vintage.
²⁸ The first man did not know wisdom^* fully,
   nor will the last one fathom her.
²⁹ For her thoughts are more abundant than the sea,
   and her counsel deeper than the great abyss.

³⁰ As for me, I was like a canal from a river,
   like a water channel into a garden.
³¹ I said, ‘I will water my garden
   and drench my flower-beds.’
And lo, my canal became a river,
   and my river a sea.
³² I will again make instruction shine forth like the dawn,
   and I will make it clear from far away.
³³ I will again pour out teaching like prophecy,
   and leave it to all future generations.
³⁴ Observe that I have not laboured for myself alone,
   but for all who seek wisdom.^*