Proverbs [Sayings] 8:16-33

¹⁶By me princes rule; nobles, and all the upright rulers of the earth.

¹⁷I 'ahav ·affectionately love· those who 'ahav ·affectionately love· me. Those who seek me diligently will find me.

¹⁸With me are riches, kavod ·weighty glory·, enduring wealth, and prosperity.

¹⁹My fruit is better than gold, yes, than fine gold; my yield than choice silver.

²⁰I walk in the way of righteousness, in the middle of the paths of mishpat ·justice·;

²¹That I may give wealth to those who 'ahav ·affectionately love· me. I fill their treasuries.

²²“ Adonai possessed me in the beginning of his work, before his deeds of old.

²³I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, before the earth existed.

²⁴When there were no depths, I was born, when there were no springs abounding with water.

²⁵Before the mountains were settled in place, before the hills, I was born;

²⁶while as yet he had not made the earth, nor the fields, nor the beginning of the dust of the world.

²⁷When he established the heavens, I was there; when he set a circle on the surface of the deep,

²⁸when he established the clouds above, when the springs of the deep became strong,

²⁹when he gave to the sea its boundary by his statute, that the waters should not violate the word of his mouth, when he marked out the foundations of the earth;

³⁰then I was the craftsman by his side. I was a delight day by day, always rejoicing before him,

³¹Rejoicing in his whole world. My delight was with the sons of men.

³²“Now therefore, my sons, sh'ma ·hear obey· unto me, for blessed are those who keep my ways.

³³Sh'ma ·Hear obey· instruction, and be wise. Don’t refuse it.