| 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 everyday, and who observes at the posts of my doors. |
| 35 He who finds me, finds life, and he will draw salvation from the Lord. |
| 36 But he who sins against me will wound his own soul. All who hate me love death.” |
