Solomon Like Other Mortals

7I also am mortal, like everyone else,
a descendant of the first-formed child of earth;
and in the womb of a mother I was moulded into flesh,
²within the period of ten months, compacted with blood,
from the seed of a man and the pleasure of marriage.
³And when I was born, I began to breathe the common air,
and fell upon the kindred earth;
my first sound was a cry, as is true of all.
⁴I was nursed with care in swaddling cloths.
⁵For no king has had a different beginning of existence;
⁶there is for all one entrance into life, and one way out.

Solomon’s Respect for Wisdom

⁷Therefore I prayed, and understanding was given me;
I called on God, and the spirit of wisdom came to me.
⁸I preferred her to sceptres and thrones,
and I accounted wealth as nothing in comparison with her.
⁹Neither did I liken to her any priceless gem,
because all gold is but a little sand in her sight,
and silver will be accounted as clay before her.
¹⁰I loved her more than health and beauty,
and I chose to have her rather than light,
because her radiance never ceases.
¹¹All good things came to me along with her,
and in her hands uncounted wealth.
¹²I rejoiced in them all, because wisdom leads them;
but I did not know that she was their mother.
¹³I learned without guile and I impart without grudging;
I do not hide her wealth,
¹⁴for it is an unfailing treasure for mortals;
those who get it obtain friendship with God,
commended for the gifts that come from instruction.