Proverbs 8

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

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

³beside 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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

¹⁵Through me, kings reign and legislators decree just conditions

¹⁶Through me, princes rule and the powerful decree justice

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

²⁹when 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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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