Proverbs 8–9

Chapter 8

Doth not wisdom cry aloud, and prudence put forth her voice?

²Standing in the top of the highest places by the way, in the midst of the paths,

³Beside the gates of the city, in the very doors she speaketh, saying:

⁴O ye men, to you I call, and my voice is to the sons of men.

⁵O little ones understand subtlety, and ye unwise, take notice.

⁶Hear, for I will speak of great things: and my lips shall be opened to preach right things.

⁷My mouth shall meditate truth, and my lips shall hate wickedness.

⁸All my words are just, there is nothing wicked, nor perverse in them.

⁹They are right to them that understand, and just to them that find knowledge.

¹⁰Receive my instruction, and not money: choose knowledge rather than gold.

¹¹For wisdom is better than all the most precious things: and whatsoever may be desired cannot be compared to it.

¹²I, wisdom, dwell in counsel, and am present in learned thoughts.

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

¹⁴Counsel and equity is mine, prudence is mine, strength is mine.

¹⁵By me kings reign, and lawgivers decree just things.

¹⁶By me princes rule, and the mighty decree justice.

¹⁷I love them that love me: and they that in the morning early watch for me, shall find me.

¹⁸With me are riches and glory, glorious riches and justice.

¹⁹For my fruit is better than gold and the precious stone, and my blossoms than choice silver.

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

²¹That I may enrich them that love me, and may fill their treasures.

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

²³I was set up from eternity, and of old, before the earth was made.

²⁴The depths were not as yet, and I was already conceived, neither had the fountains of waters as yet sprung out.

²⁵The mountains, with their huge bulk, had not as yet been established: before the hills, I was brought forth:

²⁶He had not yet made the earth, nor the rivers, nor the poles of the world.

²⁷When he prepared the heavens, I was present: when with a certain law, and compass, he enclosed the depths:

²⁸When he established the sky above, and poised the fountains of waters:

²⁹When he compassed the sea with its bounds, and set a law to the waters that they should not pass their limits: when he balanced the foundations of the earth;

³⁰I was with him forming all things: and was delighted every day, playing before him at all times;

³¹Playing in the world: and my delights were to be with the children of men.

³²Now, therefore, ye children, hear me: blessed are they that keep my ways.

³³Hear instruction, and be wise, and refuse it not.

³⁴Blessed is the man that heareth me, and that watcheth daily at my gates, and waiteth at the posts of my doors.

³⁵He that shall find me, shall find life, and shall have salvation from the Lord.

³⁶But he that shall sin against me shall hurt his own soul. All that hate me love death.

Chapter 9

Wisdom hath built herself a house, she hath hewn her out seven pillars.

²She hath slain her victims, mingled her wine, and set forth her table.

³She hath sent her maids to invite to the tower, and to the walls of the city:

⁴Whosoever is a little one, let him come to me. And to the unwise she said:

⁵Come, eat my bread, and drink the wine which I have mingled for you.

⁶Forsake childishness, and live, and walk by the ways of prudence.

⁷He that teacheth a scorner, doth an injury to himself; and he that rebuketh a wicked man, getteth himself a blot.

⁸Rebuke not a scorner, lest he hate thee. Rebuke a wise man, and he will love thee.

⁹Give an occasion to a wise man, and wisdom shall be added to him. Teach a just man, and he shall make haste to receive it.

¹⁰The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is prudence.

¹¹For by me shall thy days be multiplied, and years of life shall be added to thee.

¹²If thou be wise, thou shalt be so to thyself: and if a scorner, thou alone shalt bear the evil.

¹³A foolish woman and clamorous, and full of allurements, and knowing nothing at all,

¹⁴Sat at the door of her house, upon a seat, in a high place of the city,

¹⁵To call them that pass by the way, and go on their journey:

¹⁶He that is a little one, let him turn to me. And to the fool she said:

¹⁷Stolen waters are sweeter, and hidden bread is more pleasant.

¹⁸And he did not know that giants are there, and that her guests are in the depths of hell.