Praise of Wisdom

¹ Wisdom will praise herself and will boast in the midst of her people.

² In the assembly of the Most High she will open her mouth, and in the presence of his forces she will boast:

³ “I came forth from the mouth of the Most High and covered the earth like a mist.

⁴ I dwelt in high places, and my throne was in a pillar of cloud.

⁵ Alone I have made the circuit of the vault of heaven and have walked in the depths of the Abyss.

⁶ In the waves of the sea, in the whole earth, and in every people and nation I have obtained a possession.

⁷ Among all these I sought a resting place; I sought in whose territory I might lodge.

⁸ Then the Creator of all things commanded me, and the one who created me gave my tent a resting place. And he said, ‘Make your dwelling in Jacob and in Israel receive your inheritance.’

⁹ From eternity, in the beginning, he created me, and for eternity I shall not cease to exist.

¹⁰ In the holy tabernacle I ministered before him, and so I was established in Zion.

¹¹ In the beloved city likewise he gave me a resting place, and in Jerusalem was my dominion. ¹² So I took root in an honoured people, in the portion of the Lord, his inheritance.

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 Engedi and like rose plants in Jericho; like a beautiful olive tree in the field and like a plane tree I grew tall.

¹⁵ Like cassia and camel’s thorn I gave forth the aroma of spices, and like choice myrrh I spread a pleasant odour, like galbanum, onycha, and stacte and like the fragrance of frankincense in a tent.

¹⁶ Like a terebinth I spread out my branches, and my branches are branches of glory and favour.

¹⁷ Like a vine I caused favour to bud, and my blossoms became fruits of glory and of wealth.

¹⁹ Come to me, you who desire me, and eat your fill of my produce.

²⁰ For the remembrance of me is sweeter than honey, and my inheritance sweeter than the honeycomb.

²¹ Those who eat me will hunger for more, and those who drink me will thirst for more.

²² The one who obeys me will not be put to shame, and those who work with me will not sin.”

Wisdom and 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 fills up wisdom like the Pishon and like the Tigris at the time of the firstfruits.

²⁶ It supplies understanding like the Euphrates and like the Jordan at harvest time.

²⁷ It makes instruction shine forth like light, like the Gihon at the time of vintage.

²⁸ Just as the first man did not know her perfectly, the last one has not fathomed her;

²⁹ for her thought was filled from the sea, and her counsel from the great Abyss.

³⁰ I went forth like a canal from a river and like a water channel into a garden.

³¹ I said, “I will water my orchard and drench my garden plot”; and lo, my canal became a river, and my river became a sea.

³² I will again make instruction shine forth like the dawn, and I will make it shine afar;

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.