3 My child, do not forget my teaching,
    but let your heart keep my commandments,^(A)
2 for length of days and years of life
    and abundant welfare they will give you.^(B)

¹³ Happy are those who find wisdom
    and those who get understanding,
¹⁴ for her income is better than silver
    and her revenue better than gold.^(L)
15 She is more precious than jewels,
    and nothing you desire can compare with her.^(M)
16 Long life is in her right hand;
    in her left hand are riches and honor.^(N)
17 Her ways are ways of pleasantness,
    and all her paths are peace.^(O)
18 She is a tree of life to those who lay hold of her;
    those who hold her fast are called happy.^(P)

¹⁹ The Lord by wisdom founded the earth;
    by understanding he established the heavens;^(Q)
20 by his knowledge the deeps broke open,
    and the clouds drop down the dew.^(R)

²¹ My child, do not let these escape from your sight:
    keep sound wisdom and prudence,
²² and they will be life for your soul
    and adornment for your neck.^(S)
23 Then you will walk on your way securely,
    and your foot will not stumble.^(T)
24 If you sit down,^[a] you will not be afraid;
    when you lie down, your sleep will be sweet.
²⁵ Then you will not be afraid of sudden panic
    or of the storm that strikes the wicked,^(U)
26 for the Lord will be your confidence
    and will keep your foot from being caught.

8 Does not wisdom call
    and understanding raise her voice?^(A)
2 On the heights, beside the way,
    at the crossroads she takes her stand;
³ beside the gates in front of the town,
    at the entrance of the portals she cries out:^(B)
4 “To you, O people, I call,
    and my cry is to all who live.
⁵ O simple ones, learn prudence;
    acquire intelligence, you who lack it.^(C)
6 Hear, for I will speak noble things,
    and from my lips will come what is right,^(D)
7 for my mouth will utter truth;
    wickedness is an abomination to my lips.^(E)
8 All the words of my mouth are righteous;
    there is nothing twisted or crooked in them.
⁹ They are all straight to one who understands
    and right to those who find knowledge.^(F)
10 Take my instruction instead of silver
    and knowledge rather than choice gold,^(G)
11 for wisdom is better than jewels,
    and all that you may desire cannot compare with her.^(H)
12 I, wisdom, live with prudence,
    and I attain knowledge and discretion.^(I)
13 The fear of the Lord is hatred of evil.
Pride and arrogance and the way of evil
    and perverted speech I hate.^(J)
14 I have good advice and sound wisdom;
    I have insight; I have strength.^(K)
15 By me kings reign,
    and rulers decree what is just;^(L)
16 by me rulers rule,
    and nobles, all who govern rightly.
¹⁷ I love those who love me,
    and those who seek me diligently find me.^(M)
18 Riches and honor are with me,
    enduring wealth and prosperity.^(N)
19 My fruit is better than gold, even fine gold,
    and my yield than choice silver.^(O)
20 I walk in the way of righteousness,
    along the paths of justice,
²¹ endowing with wealth those who love me
    and filling their treasuries.

²² “The Lord created me at the beginning^[a] of his work,^[b]
    the first of his acts of long ago.^(P)
23 Ages ago I was set up,
    at the first, before the beginning of the earth.^(Q)
24 When there were no depths I was brought forth,
    when there were no springs abounding with water.
²⁵ Before the mountains had been shaped,
    before the hills, I was brought forth,^(R)
26 when he had not yet made earth and fields^[c]
    or the world’s first bits of soil.
²⁷ When he established the heavens, I was there;
    when he drew a circle on the face of the deep,^(S)
28 when he made firm the skies above,
    when he established the fountains of the deep,
²⁹ when he assigned to the sea its limit,
    so that the waters might not transgress his command,
when he marked out the foundations of the earth,^(T)
30     then I was beside him, like a master worker,^[d]
and I was daily his^[e] delight,
    playing before him always,^(U)
31 playing in his inhabited world
    and delighting in the human race.^(V)

7 I also am mortal like everyone else,
a descendant of the first-formed child of earth,
and in the womb of a mother I was molded into flesh,^(A)
2 within the period of ten months, compacted with blood,
from the seed of a man and the pleasure of marriage.
³ And when I was born, I began to breathe the common air
and fell upon the kindred earth;
my first sound was a cry, as is true of all.^(B)
4 I was nursed with care in swaddling cloths.^(C)
5 For no king has had a different beginning of existence;
⁶ there is for all one entrance into life and one way out.^(D)

⁷ Therefore I prayed, and understanding was given me;
I called on God, and the spirit of wisdom came to me.^(E)
8 I preferred her to scepters and thrones,
and I accounted wealth as nothing in comparison with her.^(F)
9 Neither did I liken to her any priceless gem,
because all gold is but a little sand in her sight,
and silver will be accounted as clay before her.^(G)
10 I loved her more than health and beauty,
and I chose to have her rather than light
because her radiance never ceases.^(H)
11 All good things came to me along with her,
and in her hands uncounted wealth.^(I)
12 I rejoiced in them all because wisdom leads them,
but I did not know that she was their mother.
¹³ I learned without guile, and I impart without grudging;
I do not hide her wealth,^(J)
14 for it is an unfailing treasure for mortals;
those who get it obtain friendship with God,
commended for the gifts that come from instruction.^(K)

¹⁵ May God grant me to speak with judgment
and to have thoughts worthy of what I have received,
for he is the guide even of wisdom
and the corrector of the wise.^(L)
16 For both we and our words are in his hand,
as are all understanding and skill in crafts.^(M)
17 For it is he who gave me unerring knowledge of what exists,
to know the structure of the world and the activity of the elements,^(N)
18 the beginning and end and middle of times,
the alternations of the solstices and the changes of the seasons,
¹⁹ the cycles of the year and the constellations of the stars,^(O)
20 the natures of animals and the tempers of wild animals,
the powers of spirits^[a] and the thoughts of human beings,
the varieties of plants and the virtues of roots;^(P)
21 I learned both what is secret and what is manifest,
²² for wisdom, the fashioner of all things, taught me.

There is in her a spirit that is intelligent, holy,
unique, manifold, subtle,
agile, clear, unpolluted,
distinct, invulnerable, loving the good, keen,
²³ irresistible, beneficent, humane,
steadfast, sure, free from anxiety,
all-powerful, overseeing all,
and penetrating through all spirits
that are intelligent, pure, and altogether subtle.^(Q)
24 For wisdom is more mobile than any motion;
because of her pureness she pervades and penetrates all things.^(R)
25 For she is a breath of the power of God
and a pure emanation of the glory of the Almighty;
therefore nothing defiled gains entrance into her.^(S)
26 For she is a reflection of eternal light,
a spotless mirror of the working of God,
and an image of his goodness.^(T)
27 Although she is but one, she can do all things,
and while remaining in herself, she renews all things;
in every generation she passes into holy souls
and makes them friends of God and prophets,^(U)
28 for God loves nothing so much as the person who lives with wisdom.
²⁹ She is more beautiful than the sun
and excels every constellation of the stars.
Compared with the light she is found to be more radiant,^(V)
30 for it is succeeded by the night,
but against wisdom evil does not prevail.

² I loved her and sought her from my youth;
I desired to take her for my bride
and became enamored of her beauty.^(X)
3 She glorifies her noble birth by living with God,
and the Lord of all loves her.^(Y)
4 For she is an initiate in the knowledge of God
and an associate in his works.
⁵ If riches are a desirable possession in life,
what is richer than wisdom, the active cause of all things?^(Z)
6 And if understanding is effective,
who more than she is fashioner of what exists?^(AA)
7 And if anyone loves righteousness,
her labors are virtues,
for she teaches self-control and prudence,
justice and courage;
nothing in life is more profitable for mortals than these.
⁸ And if anyone longs for wide experience,
she knows the things of old and infers the things to come;
she understands turns of speech and the solutions of riddles;
she has foreknowledge of signs and wonders
and of the outcome of seasons and times.^(AB)

⁹ Therefore I determined to take her to live with me,
knowing that she would give me good counsel
and encouragement in cares and grief.^(AC)
10 Because of her I shall have glory among the multitudes
and honor in the presence of the elders, though I am young.^(AD)
11 I shall be found keen in judgment,
and in the sight of rulers I shall be admired.^(AE)
12 When I am silent they will wait for me,
and when I speak they will give heed;
if I speak at greater length,
they will put their hands on their mouths.^(AF)
13 Because of her I shall have immortality
and leave an everlasting remembrance to those who come after me.^(AG)
14 I shall govern peoples,
and nations will be subject to me;^(AH)
15 dread monarchs will be afraid of me when they hear of me;
among the people I shall show myself capable and courageous in war.
¹⁶ When I enter my house, I shall find rest with her,
for companionship with her has no bitterness,
and life with her has no pain but gladness and joy.^(AI)
17 When I considered these things inwardly
and pondered in my heart
that in kinship with wisdom there is immortality,^(AJ)
18 and in friendship with her, pure delight,
and in the labors of her hands, unfailing wealth,
and in the experience of her company, understanding,
and renown in sharing her words,
I went about seeking how to get her for myself.^(AK)
19 As a child I was naturally gifted,
and a good soul fell to my lot,
²⁰ or rather, being good, I entered an undefiled body.
²¹ But I perceived that I would not possess wisdom unless God gave her to me—
and it was a mark of insight to know whose gift she was—
so I appealed to the Lord and implored him,
and with my whole heart I said,^(AL)