- 8:1Does not wisdom call, / And understanding lift up her voice?
- 8:2On the top of the heights, by the way, / Where the paths meet, she takes her stand;
- 8:3Beside the gates, at the entry of the city, / At the entrance of the doors, she cries aloud:
- 8:4To you, O men, I call; / And my voice is to the sons of men.
- 8:5O simple ones, understand prudence; / And, O fools, be of an understanding heart.
- 8:6Hear, for I will speak noble things; / And the opening of my lips will yield right things.
- 8:7For my mouth will utter truth, / And wickedness is an abomination to my lips.
- 8:8All the words of my mouth are in righteousness; / There is nothing twisted or crooked in them.
- 8:9They are all straight to him who understands, / And right to those who find knowledge.
- 8:10Receive my instruction, and not silver; / And knowledge rather than choice gold.
- 8:11For wisdom is better than corals, / And nothing that you desire compares with her.
- 8:12I, wisdom, dwell with prudence, / And I find knowledge and discretion.
- 8:13The fear of Jehovah is to hate evil; / Pride and arrogance and the evil way / And the perverse mouth, I hate.
- 8:14Counsel is mine and sound wisdom; / I am understanding; I have might.
- 8:15By me kings reign, / And rulers decree justice.
- 8:16By me princes rule, / And nobles - all who judge righteously.
- 8:17I love those who love me, / And those who seek me diligently will find me.
- 8:18Riches and honor are with me, / Enduring wealth and righteousness.
- 8:19My fruit is better than gold, even fine gold; / And my yield than choice silver.
- 8:20I walk in the way of righteousness, / In the midst of the paths of justice,
- 8:21That I may cause those who love me to inherit substance / And that I may fill their treasuries.
- 8:22Jehovah possessed me in the beginning of His way, / Before His works of old.
- 8:23I was set up from eternity, / From the beginning, before the earth was.
- 8:24When there were no depths, I was brought forth, / When there were no fountains abounding with water.
- 8:25Before the mountains were settled, / Before the hills, I was brought forth;
- 8:26When He had not yet made the earth and the fields, / Nor the first dust of the world.
- 8:27When He established the heavens, I was there; / When He inscribed a circle upon the surface of the deep,
- 8:28When He made firm the skies above, / When the fountains of the deep became strong,
- 8:29When He set for the sea its boundary, / That the waters should not transgress His commandment, / When He marked out the foundations of the earth;
- 8:30Then I was by Him, as a master workman; / And I was daily His delight, / Rejoicing always before Him,
- 8:31Rejoicing in His habitable earth; / And my delight was in the sons of men.
- 8:32Now therefore, my sons, listen to me; / For blessed are they who keep my ways.
- 8:33Hear instruction, and be wise; / And do not neglect it.
- 8:34Blessed is the man who listens to me, / Watching daily at my doors, / Waiting at my doorposts.
- 8:35For whoever finds me finds life, / And will obtain favor from Jehovah.
- 8:36But he who sins against me wrongs his own soul; / All who hate me love death.