XXIV. * Wisdom shall praise herself,

And shall aglory in the midst of her people.

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

And atriumph before his power.

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

And covered the earth as * a cloud.

4  I dwelt in high places,

And bmy throne is in a cloudy pillar.

5  cI alone compassed the circuit of heaven,

And walked in the bottom of the deep.

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

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

7  With all these I sought rest:

And in whose inheritance shall I abide?

8  So 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.

9  eHe created me from the beginning before the world,

And I shall never fail.

10  fIn the holy tabernacle I served before him;

And so gwas I established in Sion.

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

And in Jerusalem was my power.

12  And I took root in an honourable people,

Even in the portion of the Lord’s inheritance.

13  I was exalted like ia cedar in Libanus,

And as ja cypress tree upon the mountains of kHermon.

14  I 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.

15  I 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.

16  As tthe turpentine tree I stretched out my branches,

And my branches are the branches of honour and grace.

17  As uthe vine brought I forth pleasant savour,

And my flowers are the fruit of honour and riches.

18  I 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.

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

And fill yourselves with my fruits.

20  For my memorial is ysweeter than honey,

And mine inheritance than the honeycomb.

21  xzThey that eat me shall yet be hungry,

And they that drink me shall yet be thirsty.

22  He that obeyeth me shall never be confounded,

And they that work by me shall not do amiss.

23  All 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.

24  Faint 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.

25  dHe filleth all things with his wisdom, as ePhison

And as fgTigris in the time of the new fruits.

26  He maketh the understanding to abound like gEuphrates,

And as hJordan in the time of the harvest.

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

And as iGeon in the time of vintage.

28  The first man knew her not perfectly:

No more shall the last find her out.

29  For her thoughts are more than the sea,

And her counsels profounder than the great deep.

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

And jas a conduit into a kgarden.

31  I 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.

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

And will send forth her light afar off.

33  I will yet pour out ldoctrine as lprophecy,

And leave it to all ages for ever.

34  Behold mthat I have not laboured for myself only,

But for all them that seek wisdom.