Wisdom and folly contrasted
   6   Listen! For I will speak clearly,
  you will have plain speech from me;
   7   for I speak nothing but truth
  and my lips detest wicked talk.
   8   All that I say is right,
  not a word is twisted or crooked.
   9   All is straightforward to him who can understand,
  all is plain to the man who has knowledge.
   10   Accept instruction ^note and not silver,
  knowledge rather than pure gold;
   11   for wisdom is better than red coral,
  no jewels can match her.
   12   I am Wisdom, I bestow shrewdness
  and show the way to knowledge and prudence.
   13    ^note Pride, presumption, evil courses,
  subversive talk, all these I hate.
   14   I have force, I also have ability;
  understanding and power are mine.
   15   Through me kings are sovereign
  and governors make just laws.
   16   Through me princes act like princes,
  from me all rulers on earth ^note derive their nobility. ^note
   17   Those who love me I love,
  those who search for me find me.
   18   In my hands are riches and honour,
  boundless wealth and the rewards of virtue.
   19   My harvest is better than gold, fine gold,
  and my revenue better than pure silver.
   20   I follow the course of virtue,
  my path is the path of justice;
   21   I endow with riches those who love me
    and I will fill their treasuries.


   22   ‘The Lord created me the beginning of his works,
  before all else that he made, long ago.
   23   Alone, ^note I was fashioned in times long past,
  at the beginning, long before earth itself.
   24   When there was yet no ocean I was born,
  no springs brimming with water.
   25   Before the mountains were settled in their place,

Wisdom and folly contrasted
  long before the hills I was born,
   26   when as yet he had made neither land nor lake
  nor the first clod ^note of earth.
   27   When he set the heavens in their place I was there,
  when he girdled the ocean with the horizon,
   28   when he fixed the canopy of clouds overhead
  and set the springs of ocean firm in their place,
   29   when he prescribed its limits for the sea ^note
  and knit together earth's foundations.
   30   Then I was at his side each day,
  his darling ^note and delight,
  playing in his presence continually,
   31   playing on the earth, when he had finished it, ^note
  while my delight was in mankind.


   32    33   ‘Now, my sons, listen to me,
  listen to instruction and grow wise, do not reject it.
  Happy is the man who keeps to my ways,
   34   happy the man who listens to me,
  watching daily at my threshold
  with his eyes on the doorway;
   35   for he who finds me finds life
  and wins favour with the Lord,
   36   while he who finds me not, hurts himself,
  and all who hate me are in love with death.’

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