Proverbs 8:5-31

⁵O ye simple ones! learn wisdom, And ye fools, be ye of an understanding heart!

⁶Hear, for I speak excellent things, And my lips utter that which is right.

⁷For my mouth speaketh truth, And wickedness is an abomination to my lips.

⁸All the words of my mouth are in uprightness; There is nothing crooked or deceitful in them;

⁹They are all plain to the man of understanding, And right to those who find knowledge.

¹⁰Receive my instruction, and not silver. And knowledge rather than choice gold!

¹¹For wisdom is better than pearls, And no precious things are to be compared with her.

¹²“I, wisdom, dwell with prudence, And find out the knowledge of sagacious counsels.

¹³The fear of the LORD is to hate evil; Pride, and arrogance, and the evil way, And the deceitful mouth, do I hate.

¹⁴Counsel is mine, and sound reason; I am understanding; I have strength.

¹⁵By me kings reign, And princes decree justice.

¹⁶By me princes rule, And nobles, even all the judges of the earth.

¹⁷I love them that love me, And they who seek me early shall find me.

¹⁸Riches and honor are with me; Yea, durable riches and prosperity.

¹⁹My fruit is better than gold, yea, than fine gold. And my revenue than choice silver.

²⁰I walk in the way of righteousness, In the midst of the paths of equity.

²¹I cause those who love me to possess substance; Yea, I fill their treasuries.

²²“The LORD created me, the firstling of his course, Before his works, of old;

²³I was anointed from everlasting, From the beginning, even before the earth was made.

²⁴When as yet there were no deeps, I was brought forth. When there were no springs, abounding with water.

²⁵Before the mountains were settled, Yea, before the hills, I was brought forth;

²⁶Ere yet he had made the land and the wastes, And the first of the clods of the earth.

²⁷When he framed the heavens, I was there; When he drew a circle upon the face of the deep;

²⁸When he made firm the sky above, And the fountains of the deep rushed forth;

²⁹When he gave to the sea its bounds, that the waters should not pass their border; When he marked out the foundations of the earth,—

³⁰Then was I by him as a master-builder; I was his delight day by day, Exulting before him at all times;

³¹Exulting in the habitable part of his earth, And my delight was with the sons of men.