The preaching of wisdom. Her excellence.

¹ Does not wisdom call out, and prudence bestow her voice?

² At the summits and the tops of exalted places, standing above the ways, in the midst of the paths,

³ beside the gates of the city, at the very doors, she speaks, saying:

⁴ “O men, to you I call out, and my voice is to the sons of men.

⁵ O little ones, understand discernment. And you who are unwise, turn your souls.

⁶ Listen, for I will speak about great things, and my lips will be opened, so as to foretell what is right.

⁷ My throat shall practice truth, and my lips shall detest the impious.

⁸ All my words are just. There is no depravity in them, and no perversity.

⁹ They are upright to those who understand, and equitable to those who discover knowledge.

¹⁰ Accept my discipline, and not money. Choose the doctrine that is greater than gold.

¹¹ For wisdom is better than all that is most precious, and everything that is desirable cannot compare to her.

¹² I, wisdom, dwell in counsel, and I am inside learned thoughts.

¹³ The fear of the Lord hates evil. I detest arrogance, and pride, and every wicked way, and a mouth with a double tongue.

¹⁴ Counsel is mine, and equity. Prudence is mine. Strength is mine.

¹⁵ Through me, kings reign and legislators decree just conditions.

¹⁶ Through me, princes rule and the powerful decree justice.

¹⁷ I love those who love me. And those who stand watch for me until morning shall discover me.

¹⁸ With me, are wealth and glory, superb riches and justice.

¹⁹ For my fruit is better than gold and precious stones, and my progeny better than choice silver.

²⁰ I walk in the way of justice, in the midst of the paths of judgment,

²¹ so that I may enrich those who love me, and thus complete their treasures.

²² The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his ways, before he made anything, from the beginning.

²³ I was ordained from eternity, and out of antiquity, before the earth was formed.

²⁴ The abyss did not yet exist, and I was already conceived; neither had the fountains of waters yet erupted.

²⁵ The mountains, with their great mass, had not yet been established. Before the hills, I was brought forth.

²⁶ Still he had not made the earth, and the rivers, and the poles of the globe of the earth.

²⁷ I was already present: when he prepared the heavens; when, with a certain law and a circuit, he fortified the abyss;

²⁸ when he made firm the sky above, and set free the fountains of waters;

²⁹ when he encompassed the sea within its limits, and laid down a law for the waters, lest they transgress their limits; when he weighed the foundations of the earth.

³⁰ I was with him in composing all things. And I was delighted, throughout every day, by playing in his sight at all times,

³¹ playing in globe of the earth. And my delight was to be with the sons of men.

³² Therefore, sons, hear me now. Blessed are those who preserve my ways.

³³ Listen to discipline, and become wise, and do not be willing to cast it aside.

³⁴ Blessed is the man who listens to me, and who stands watch at my gates every day, and who observes at the posts of my doors.

³⁵ He who finds me, finds life, and he will draw salvation from the Lord.¹

1. 8:35Or health, or prosperity from the Lord.(Conte)

³⁶ But he who sins against me will wound his own soul. All who hate me love death.”