Proverbs 8:4-28

⁴“I am calling to everyone! I am shouting loudly to all people!

⁵You people who do not know how to do things that are smart to do, get sound judgment; you foolish people, get good understanding!

⁶Listen to me, because I have some excellent/important things to say. What I say is what is fair/right.

⁷I speak what is true; I detest speaking MTY what is false/deceptive.

⁸Everything that I say is honest; there is nothing that I say that deceives people.

⁹My words are clear to those who have good sense; those who are wise know that what I say is right.

¹⁰If someone offers you the kind of teaching I give or offers you silver, choose my teaching. If he offers to show you how to be wise or offers you gold, choose to know how to be wise,

¹¹because wisdom is more valuable than jewels. Nothing that you desire is as valuable as being wise.

¹²I, wisdom, and understanding of what is smart to do, cannot be separated. We are like two people who live in the same house. I know how to be wise and how to make smart decisions.

¹³All the people who revere Yahweh hate evil. I, wisdom, hate people who are proud and people who think they are more important than others. I hate people who behave in an evil way and those who say things to deceive others.

¹⁴I give people good advice and I enable them to do things that are wise. I understand how things really are, and I am strong.

¹⁵When kings are wise, they rule well; and when rulers are wise, they make laws that are just/fair.

¹⁶Rulers govern their people with the help of me, wisdom, and those who have authority decide things fairly/just with my help.

¹⁷I, wisdom, love all those who love me, and all those who truly seek me will find me.

¹⁸I enable people to become rich and to be honored; I enable them to have wealth that will last and to be successful.

¹⁹What I can give people is more valuable than fine/pure gold and the best silver.

²⁰I always do what is righteous and just/fair.

²¹I give wealth to those who love me; I fill their houses with valuable things.

²²Yahweh created me, wisdom, when he began to create the world; he created me to do my work before he created anything else.

²³He appointed me long ago, before he created the earth.

²⁴I was born before the oceans were created, when there were no springs from which water flowed.

²⁵I was born before the hills and mountains were formed;

²⁶I, wisdom, was born before Yahweh made the earth, before he made the fields and the soil on the earth.

²⁷I was there when Yahweh put the sky in place, when he marked the place in the distance where the sky and the oceans seem to come together.

²⁸I was there when Yahweh put the clouds above the earth and when he caused the water that is inside the earth to be secure.