Proverbs 8

1 Proclaim wisdom so that discernment may listen to you.

2 She is on the highest summits and stands in the middle of the roads.

3 She sits beside the gates of rulers and is praised at the entrances:

4 “I appeal to you, people, and release my voice to the children of humanity.

5 You innocent, understand shrewdness; you uninstructed, take it to heart.

6 Listen to me, for I will speak noble things and bring right words from my lips.

7 My throat will meditate on truth, but lying lips are detestable before me.

8 All the words of my mouth are spoken with righteousness. Nothing in them is crooked or twisted.

9 They are all plain to those who understand and right to those who find knowledge.

10 Receive instruction rather than silver, and knowledge rather than tested gold; choose perception instead of pure gold.

11 Wisdom is better than precious stones, and nothing valuable is worth as much as she is.

12 I, Wisdom, have made counsel my home, and I have called upon knowledge and reflection.

13 The fear of the Lord hates injustice, arrogance, pride, and the roads of evil people. I hate the twisted roads of evil people.

14 Counsel and security are mine; discernment and strength are mine.

15 Through me kings reign, and rulers write righteous decrees.

16 Through me prominent people become great, and through me sovereigns rule the earth.

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

18 Wealth and glory belong to me, along with abundant possessions and righteousness.

19 Receiving my fruit is better than receiving gold and precious stone, and my produce is better than choice silver.

20 I walk on roads of righteousness and live among paths of rules,

21 so that I may distribute possessions to those who love me and fill their treasuries with good things. If I tell you what happens each day, I will also remember to recount what has existed from eternity.

22 The Lord created me as the beginning of his ways for his works.

23 He established me before the age, at the beginning,

24 before he made the earth and the depths, before the springs of water came out,

25 before the mountains were set in place. Before all the hills, he begets me.

26 The Lord made regions and uninhabited lands and the inhabited heights beneath heaven.

27 When he prepared heaven, I was beside him, and when he set apart his throne upon the winds.

28 When he made the clouds above strong and secured the springs beneath heaven,

29 and when he strengthened the foundations of the earth,

30 I was beside him, fitting everything together. I was the one in whom he delighted, and each day I rejoiced continually in his presence,

31 when he rejoiced after completing the inhabited world and delighted in the children of humanity.

32 Now then, my son, listen to me.

34 Blessed is the man who listens to me and the person who guards my ways, watching daily at my doors and waiting beside the posts of my entrances.

35 For my exits are the exits of life, and goodwill from the Lord is prepared there.

36 But those who sin against me are ungodly toward their own souls, and those who hate me love death.”