Sirach 24

Wisdom shall praise herself,

And shall ^aglory in the midst of her people.

²In the congregation of the most High shall she open her mouth,

And ^atriumph before his power.

³I came out of the mouth of the most High,

And covered the earth as a cloud.

⁴I dwelt in high places,

And ^bmy throne is in a cloudy pillar.

^5cI alone compassed the circuit of heaven,

And walked in the bottom of the deep.

⁶In the waves of the sea, and in all the earth,

And in every people and nation, I got a possession.

⁷With all these I sought rest:

And in whose inheritance shall I abide?

⁸So the Creator of all things gave me a commandment,

And he that made me caused my ^dtabernacle to rest,

And said, Let thy dwelling be in Jacob,

And thine inheritance in Israel.

^9eHe created me from the beginning before the world,

And I shall never fail.

^10fIn the holy tabernacle I served before him;

And so ^gwas I established in Sion.

¹¹Likewise ^hin the beloved city he gave me rest,

And in Jerusalem was my power.

¹²And I took root in an honourable people,

Even in the portion of the Lord’s inheritance.

¹³I was exalted like ⁱa cedar in Libanus,

And as ^ja cypress tree upon the mountains of ^kHermon.

¹⁴I was exalted like ^la palm tree in ^mEngaddi,

And as a ⁿrose plant in Jericho,

As a fair ^jolive tree in a pleasant field,

And grew up as a plane tree by the water.

¹⁵I gave a sweet smell like ^ocinnamon and aspalathus,

And I yielded a pleasant odour like the best ^pmyrrh,

As ^qgalbanum, and onyx, and sweet storax,

And as the fume of ^qrfrankincense ^sin the tabernacle.

¹⁶As ^tthe turpentine tree I stretched out my branches,

And my branches are the branches of honour and grace.

¹⁷As ^uthe vine brought I forth pleasant savour,

And my flowers are the fruit of honour and riches.

¹⁸I am the mother of fair love,

And fear, and knowledge, and holy hope:

I therefore, being eternal, am given to all my children

Which are named of him.

^19xCome unto me, all ye that be desirous of me,

And fill yourselves with my fruits.

²⁰For my memorial is ^ysweeter than honey,

And mine inheritance than the honeycomb.

^21xzThey that eat me shall yet be hungry,

And they that drink me shall yet be thirsty.

²²He that obeyeth me shall never be confounded,

And they that work by me shall not do amiss.

²³All these things are the book of the covenant of the most high God,

Even ^athe law which Moses commanded

For an heritage unto the congregations of Jacob.

²⁴Faint not to be strong in the Lord;

That he may confirm you, ^bcleave unto him:

For ^cthe Lord ^ccAlmighty is God alone,

And beside him there is no other Saviour.

^25dHe filleth all things with his wisdom, as ^ePhison

And as ^fgTigris in the time of the new fruits.

²⁶He maketh the understanding to abound like ^gEuphrates,

And as ^hJordan in the time of the harvest.

²⁷He maketh the doctrine of knowledge appear as the light,

And as ⁱGeon in the time of vintage.

²⁸The first man knew her not perfectly:

No more shall the last find her out.

²⁹For her thoughts are more than the sea,

And her counsels profounder than the great deep.

³⁰I also came out as a brook from a river,

And ^jas a conduit into a ^kgarden.

³¹I said, I will water my best garden,

And will water abundantly my garden bed:

And lo, my brook became a river,

And my river became a sea.

³²I will yet make doctrine to shine as the morning,

And will send forth her light afar off.

³³I will yet pour out ^ldoctrine as ^lprophecy,

And leave it to all ages for ever.

³⁴Behold ^mthat I have not laboured for myself only,

But for all them that seek wisdom.

XXV.