Proverbs 8:10–36

¹⁰Take my teaching and not silver;

may you choose knowledge rather than choice gold.

¹¹For wisdom is better than jewels,

and all desires shall not compare with her.

¹²I, wisdom, live with prudence,

and I find knowledge and discretion.

¹³The fear of Yahweh is hatred of evil,

pride, and arrogance and an evil way.

And I hate a mouth of perversity.

¹⁴Advice and sound judgment^d are mine;

I am understanding, strength is mine.^e

¹⁵By me kings reign,

and rulers decree righteousness.

¹⁶By me rulers rule,

and nobles—all judges of righteousness.

¹⁷I love those who love me,^f

and those who seek me diligently shall find me.

¹⁸Fortune and glory are with me,

enduring wealth and righteousness.

¹⁹My fruit is better than gold,^g even refined gold,

and my yield than choice silver.

²⁰In the way of righteousness I walk,

in the midst of paths of justice,

²¹in order to endow those who love me with wealth,

and I will fill their treasuries.

Wisdom at Creation

²²“Yahweh created^h me, the first of his ways,

before his acts of old.ⁱ

²³From eternity, I was set up from the first,

from the beginning^j of the earth.

²⁴When there were no depths, I was brought forth,

when there were no springs of abounding^k water.

²⁵Before mountains had been shaped,

before hills, I was brought forth.

²⁶When he had not yet made earth and fields,

or the first dust of the world,

²⁷when he established^l the heavens, there I was,

when he drew^m a circle upon the face of the deep,

²⁸when he madeⁿ skies from above,

when he founded fountains of the deep,

²⁹when he assigned^o his limits to the sea,

that waters shall not transgress his command,^p

when he marked^q the foundations of the earth,

³⁰I was beside^r him, a master workman,

and I was delighting day by day,

rejoicing before him always,^s

³¹rejoicing in the world of his earth,

and my delight was with the children of humankind.

Benefits of Following Wisdom

³²“And now, children, listen to me;

happy are those who will keep my ways.

³³Hear teaching and be wise;

do not neglect it.

³⁴Happy is the person who listens to me,

in order to keep watch at my doors day by day,

in order to guard the frames of my entrances.

³⁵For he who finds me is he who finds^t life,

and he obtains favor from Yahweh.

³⁶But he who misses me injures himself.^u

All those who hate me love death.”