Proverbs 8:1-36
8 Is not wisdom calling out?
Is not discernment raising its voice?+
2 On the heights+ along the road,It takes its position at the crossroads.
3 Next to the gates leading into the city,At the entrances of the doorways,It keeps crying out loudly:+
4 “To you, O people, I am calling;I raise my voice to everyone.*
5 You inexperienced ones, learn shrewdness;+You stupid ones, acquire an understanding heart.*
6 Listen, for what I say is important,My lips speak what is right;
7 For my mouth softly utters truth,And my lips detest what is wicked.
8 All the sayings of my mouth are righteous.
None of them are twisted or crooked.
9 They are all straightforward to the discerningAnd right to those who have found knowledge.
10 Take my discipline instead of silver,And knowledge rather than the finest gold,+
11 For wisdom is better than corals;*All other desirable things cannot compare to it.
12 I, wisdom, dwell together with shrewdness;I have found knowledge and thinking ability.+
13 The fear of Jehovah means the hating of bad.+
I hate self-exaltation and pride+ and the evil way and perverse speech.+
14 I possess good advice and practical wisdom;+Understanding+ and power+ are mine.
15 By me kings keep reigning,And high officials decree righteousness.+
16 By me princes keep ruling,And nobles judge in righteousness.
17 I love those loving me,And those seeking me will find me.+
18 Riches and glory are with me,Lasting wealth* and righteousness.
19 My fruitage is better than gold, even refined gold,And what I produce is better than the finest silver.+
20 I walk in the path of righteousness,In the middle of the pathways of justice;
21 I give a rich inheritance to those who love me,And I fill up their storehouses.
22 Jehovah produced me as the beginning of his way,+The earliest of his achievements of long ago.+
23 From ancient times* I was installed,+From the start, from times earlier than the earth.+
24 When there were no deep waters,+ I was brought forth,*When there were no springs overflowing with water.
25 Before the mountains were set in place,Before the hills, I was brought forth,
26 When he had not yet made the earth and its fieldsOr the first clods of earth’s soil.
27 When he prepared the heavens,+ I was there;When he marked out the horizon* on the surface of the waters,+
28 When he established* the clouds above,When he founded the fountains of the deep,
29 When he set a decree for the seaThat its waters should not pass beyond his order,+When he established* the foundations of the earth,
30 Then I was beside him as a master worker.+
I was the one he was especially fond of+ day by day;I rejoiced before him all the time;+
31 I rejoiced over his habitable earth,And I was especially fond of the sons of men.*
32 And now, my sons, listen to me;Yes, happy are those who keep my ways.
33 Listen to discipline+ and become wise,And never neglect it.
34 Happy is the man who listens to meBy coming early to* my doors day by day,By waiting next to my doorposts;
35 For the one finding me will find life,+And he receives approval from Jehovah.
36 But the one who ignores me harms himself,*And those who hate me love death.”+
Footnotes
^ Lit., “to the sons of men.”
^ Lit., “understand heart.”
^ Or “Hereditary values.”
^ Or “From time immemorial.”
^ Or “brought forth as with labor pains.”
^ Lit., “a circle.”
^ Lit., “made strong.”
^ Or “decreed.”
^ Or “mankind.”
^ Or “By keeping awake at.”
^ Or “his soul.”