Proverbs 8:22–36

²²“The Lord possessed me ^aat the beginning of His way,

Before His works ¹of old.

²³“From everlasting I was ^1aestablished,

From the beginning, ^bfrom the earliest times of the earth.

²⁴“When there were no ^adepths I was ¹brought forth,

When there were no springs abounding with water.

²⁵“^aBefore the mountains were settled,

Before the hills I was ¹brought forth;

²⁶While He had not yet made the earth and the ¹fields,

Nor the first dust of the world.

²⁷“When He ^aestablished the heavens, I was there,

When ^bHe inscribed a circle on the face of the deep,

²⁸When He made firm the skies above,

When the springs of the deep became ¹fixed,

²⁹When ^aHe set for the sea its boundary

So that the water would not transgress His ¹command,

When He marked out ^bthe foundations of the earth;

³⁰Then ^aI was beside Him, as a master workman;

And I was daily His delight,

¹Rejoicing always before Him,

³¹¹Rejoicing in the world, His earth,

And having ^amy delight in the sons of men.

³²“Now therefore, O sons, ^alisten to me,

For ^bblessed are they who keep my ways.

³³“^aHeed instruction and be wise,

And do not neglect it.

³⁴“^aBlessed is the man who listens to me,

Watching daily at my gates,

Waiting at my doorposts.

³⁵“For ^ahe who finds me finds life

And ^bobtains favor from the Lord.

³⁶“But he who ¹sins against me ^ainjures himself;

All those who ^bhate me ^clove death.”