Chapter Eight

Does not wisdom call out?  Does not understanding raise her voice?  At the top of a hill where the roads meet, she takes her stand.  Beside the gate that is the entrance to the city, she cries aloud.  “To you, the common man, I call.  My voice is for all mankind. You who are simple and naive, learn prudence.  You who are fools, cultivate an understanding mind.”

Listen, for I speak noble words and what passes my lips is right and true.  My mouth speaks the truth, and wickedness is an anathema to my lips.  All the words of my mouth are upright; there is nothing devious or duplicitous in them.  They are clear to anyone of comprehension and correct to those who have acquired knowledge.  Choose instruction over silver, knowledge over gold, for wisdom is better than rubies.  Nothing you desire can compare to it.

“I, wisdom, live with prudence and possess a knowledge of creativity.  A reverence for Jehovah is hatred of evil.  I detest arrogance and pride, wicked ways and defiant words.  Counsel and good judgment are mine.  Understanding and strength belong to me.  By me kings reign and rulers issue just decrees.  By me princes rule, as well as nobles and those who rule justly upon the earth.  I love those who love me, and those who seek for me will find me.  Riches and honor are with me, as are enduring prosperity and righteousness.  My fruit is superior to gold, even the purest gold, and my harvest, better than the choicest silver.  I trod the way of righteousness and upon the paths of justice, enriching those who love me and filling their treasuries.  

"Jehovah brought me into being as the first of his creations, before he made anything else.  I was formed in times long ago, at the beginning, when the world came into being.  When there were yet no oceans depths, when there were no springs flowing forth with water, I was conceived.  Before the mountains were put in their place, before the hills, I was born, this before he created the earth with its fields or the merest dust of the world.  I was there when he crafted the heavenly bodies, when he set the horizons upon the surface of the oceans, when he fashioned the clouds in the sky above and established the fountains of the deep, when he set up the shores of the seas so they would not spread beyond their bounds, when he laid out the foundations of the earth.  I was at his side as his collaborator.  Every day I was his delight, always rejoicing in his presence, celebrating the inhabited world, and taking delight in the human race.

“And so, my children, listen to me, blessed are they who keep my ways.  Heed my instruction and be wise.  Do not ignore it.  Blessed are those that listen to me, watching daily at my gate, waiting at my doorway, for whoever find me, finds life and will obtain the favor of Jehovah. — But anyone who fails to find me, injures himself.  All who hate me, love death.”