Praise of Wisdom
1 Wisdom will praise herself, and she will boast in the midst of her people.
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In the assembly of the Most High, she will open her mouth, and in the presence of his heavenly forces, she will boast:
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“I came forth from the mouth of the Most High, and I covered the earth like a mist.
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I lived in the heights, and my throne was in a pillar of cloud.
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I alone encircled the vault of heaven and walked in the depths of abysses.
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In the waves of the sea and in every land, and among every people and nation, I led the way.
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I sought a resting place among all of these. In whose allotted territory should I make my home?
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“Then the creator of all things gave me a command; the one who created me pitched my tent and said, ‘Make your dwelling in Jacob, and let Israel receive your inheritance.'
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Before the ages, from the beginning, he created me, and till eternity I will never fail.
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I ministered before him in the holy tent, and so I was established in Zion.
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In the same way, he made the dearly loved city my resting place and established my authority in Jerusalem.
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I took root in a glorified people; among the people the Lord chose for his inheritance.
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‘I rose high like a cedar in Lebanon, like a cypress on Mount Hermon.
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I rose high like a palm in En-geddi, and like rosebushes in Jericho, like a fair olive tree in a field. I rose high like a plane tree.
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Like cinnamon and camel's thorn used for spices, I gave off a fine aroma. Like choice myrrh, I spread forth my fragrance, like galbanum, onycha, and stacte, and like the smell of frankincense in the tent.
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Like a terebinth oak I spread out my branches, and my branches were glorious and graceful.
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Gracious favor was the leaf that I put forth like a vine, and honor and wealth were the fruit that my blossoms bore.
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"Come to me, you who desire me, and take your fill of my produce.
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Calling me to mind is sweeter than honey, and possessing me is better than a dripping honeycomb.
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Those who eat of me will hunger for more, and those who drink of me will thirst for more.
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Whoever obeys me won't be ashamed, and those who work with me won't sin."
Wisdom and the Law
23 All these things are in the covenant scroll of the Most High God, the Law that Moses commanded us, the inheritance of the congregations of Jacob.
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God supplies Wisdom comparable to the fullness of the Pishon River, even like the Tigris River in the springtime.
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God provides understanding as deep as the Euphrates, or like the Jordan at the time of the harvest.
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God pours forth understanding like light, as does the Gihon Spring at the time of the grape harvest.
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The first human didn't know Wisdom completely, and so the last won't probe her fully.
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Her thoughts are more plentiful than the sea; her counsel is deeper than the great abyss.
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Like a canal from a river, like an irrigation channel, I went out into a garden.
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I said, “I'll water my garden, and I'll drench my flower bed. And look! The canal turned into a river for me, and my river turned into a sea.
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I'll continue to make instruction shine forth like the dawn, and I'll make things clear to those who are far off.
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I'll continue to pour out teaching like prophecy, and I'll leave it behind for future generations.
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See, I've not labored for myself alone, but for all those who seek her.”