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²⁰Wisdom cries out in the street;
in the squares she raises her voice.
²¹At the busiest corner she cries out;
at the entrance of the city gates she speaks:
²²“How long, O simple ones, will you love being simple?
How long will scoffers delight in their scoffing
and fools hate knowledge?
²³Give heed to my reproof;
I will pour out my thoughts to you;
I will make my words known to you.
²⁴Because I have called and you refused,
have stretched out my hand and no one heeded,
²⁵and because you have ignored all my counsel
and would have none of my reproof,
²⁶I also will laugh at your calamity;
I will mock when panic strikes you,
²⁷when panic strikes you like a storm,
and your calamity comes like a whirlwind,
when distress and anguish come upon you.
²⁸Then they will call upon me, but I will not answer;
they will seek me diligently, but will not find me.
²⁹Because they hated knowledge
and did not choose the fear of the Lord,
³⁰would have none of my counsel,
and despised all my reproof,
³¹therefore they shall eat the fruit of their way
and be sated with their own devices.
³²For waywardness kills the simple,
and the complacency of fools destroys them;
³³but those who listen to me will be secure
and will live at ease, without dread of disaster.” 8Does not wisdom call,
and 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 out:
⁴“To you, O people, I call,
and my cry is to all that live.
⁵O simple ones, learn prudence;
acquire intelligence, you who lack it.
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 one 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.
¹²I, wisdom, live with prudence,
and I attain 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 good advice and sound wisdom;
I have insight, I have strength.
¹⁵By me kings reign,
and rulers decree what is just;
¹⁶by me rulers rule,
and nobles, all who govern rightly.
¹⁷I love those who love me,
and those who seek me diligently find me.
¹⁸Riches and honor are with me,
enduring wealth and prosperity.
¹⁹My fruit is better than gold, even fine gold,
and my yield than choice silver.
²⁰I walk in the way of righteousness,
along the paths of justice,
²¹endowing with wealth those who love me,
and filling their treasuries.

²²The Lord created me at the beginning of his work,
the first of his acts of long ago.
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—
²⁶when he had not yet made earth and fields,
or the world’s first bits of soil.
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 established 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 worker;
and I was daily his delight,
rejoicing before him always,
³¹rejoicing in his inhabited world
and delighting in the human race. ³²“And now, my children, listen to me:
happy are those who keep my ways.
³³Hear instruction and be wise,
and do not neglect it.
³⁴Happy 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 those who miss me injure themselves;
all who hate me love death.”