An incarnation of wisdom. An invocation of wisdom
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Does not wisdom call out, and prudence bestow her voice?
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At the summits and the tops of exalted places, standing above the ways, in the midst of the paths,
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beside the gates of the city, at the very doors, she speaks, saying:
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“O men, to you I call out, and my voice is to the sons of men.
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O little ones, understand discernment. And you who are unwise, turn your souls.
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Listen, for I will speak about great things, and my lips will be opened, so as to foretell what is right.
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My throat shall practice truth, and my lips shall detest the impious.
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All my words are just. There is no depravity in them, and no perversity.
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They are upright to those who understand, and equitable to those who discover knowledge.
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Accept my discipline, and not money. Choose the doctrine that is greater than gold.
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For wisdom is better than all that is most precious, and everything that is desirable cannot compare to her.
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I, wisdom, dwell in counsel, and I am inside learned thoughts.
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The fear of the Lord hates evil. I detest arrogance, and pride, and every wicked way, and a mouth with a double tongue.
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Counsel is mine, and equity. Prudence is mine. Strength is mine.
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Through me, kings reign and legislators decree just conditions.
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Through me, princes rule and the powerful decree justice.
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I love those who love me. And those who stand watch for me until morning shall discover me.
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With me, are wealth and glory, superb riches and justice.
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For my fruit is better than gold and precious stones, and my progeny better than choice silver.
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I walk in the way of justice, in the midst of the paths of judgment,
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so that I may enrich those who love me, and thus complete their treasures.
Anticipation of wisdom
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The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his ways, before he made anything, from the beginning.
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I was ordained from eternity, and out of antiquity, before the earth was formed.
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The abyss did not yet exist, and I was already conceived; neither had the fountains of waters yet erupted.
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The mountains, with their great mass, had not yet been established. Before the hills, I was brought forth.
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Still he had not made the earth, and the rivers, and the poles of the globe of the earth.
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I was already present: when he prepared the heavens; when, with a certain law and a circuit, he fortified the abyss;
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when he made firm the sky above, and set free the fountains of waters;
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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.
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I was with him in composing all things. And I was delighted, throughout every day, by playing in his sight at all times,
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playing in globe of the earth. And my delight was to be with the sons of men.
Call to wisdom
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Therefore, sons, hear me now. Blessed are those who preserve my ways.
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Listen to discipline, and become wise, and do not be willing to cast it aside.
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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.
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He who finds me, finds life, and he will draw salvation from the Lord.(a)
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But he who sins against me will wound his own soul. All who hate me love death.”
Footnotes