Sirach 24:23-32

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.

25 God supplies Wisdom comparable to the fullness of the Pishon River, even like the Tigris River in the springtime.

26 God provides understanding as deep as the Euphrates, or like the Jordan at the time of the harvest.

27 God pours forth understanding like light, as does the Gihon Spring at the time of the grape harvest.

28 The first human didn't know Wisdom completely, and so the last won't probe her fully.

29 Her thoughts are more plentiful than the sea; her counsel is deeper than the great abyss.

30 Like a canal from a river, like an irrigation channel, I went out into a garden.

31 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.

32 I'll continue to make instruction shine forth like the dawn, and I'll make things clear to those who are far off.

Footnotes

• [a] LXXb adds 24:24 Don’t stop being strong in the Lord, but cling to him so that he might strengthen you. The Lord Almighty alone is God, and there’s no savior except for him.
• [b] Or Her thoughts grow from the sea, and her plan grows from the deep abyss.