Chapter 8

¹Does not wisdom call out, and understanding raise her voice?

²At the heights along the way, where paths meet, she stands.

³By the gates, at the city’s entrance, at the doorways, she cries aloud:

⁴“To you, O people, I call, and my cry is to all humankind.

⁵Learn prudence, you simple ones; gain understanding, you foolish.

⁶Listen, for I speak noble things, and my lips utter what is right.

⁷My mouth declares truth; wickedness is an abomination to my lips.

⁸All my words are just; none are crooked or perverse.

⁹They are clear to the discerning and right to those who find knowledge.

¹⁰Choose my instruction over silver, and knowledge over choice gold.

¹¹For wisdom is better than jewels; no treasure compares with her.

¹²I, wisdom, dwell with prudence; I possess knowledge and discretion.

¹³The fear of the Lord is hatred of evil; pride, arrogance, the evil way, and perverse speech I despise.

¹⁴Counsel and sound judgment are mine; I have insight and strength.

¹⁵By me kings reign, and rulers decree what is just.

¹⁶By me princes govern, and nobles, all who judge rightly.

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

¹⁸With me are riches and honor, enduring wealth and righteousness.

¹⁹My fruit is better than gold, even fine gold, and my yield surpasses choice silver.

²⁰I walk in the way of righteousness, along the paths of justice,

²¹granting wealth to those who love me, and filling their treasuries.

²²The Lord created me at the beginning of His work, before His deeds of old.

²³I was formed in ages past, from the first, before the earth began.

²⁴When there were no depths, I was brought forth, when no springs abounded with water.

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

²⁶before He made earth or fields, or the first dust of the world.

²⁷When He set the heavens in place, I was there; when He marked out the horizon on the deep,

²⁸when He fixed the skies above, when the fountains of the deep grew strong,

²⁹when He set the sea its bound, so the waters would not pass His command, when He laid out the earth’s foundations,

³⁰I was beside Him, a master worker, His daily delight, rejoicing before Him always,

³¹delighting in His inhabited world, and finding joy in humankind.

³²Now, O children, listen to me; blessed are those who keep my ways.

³³Hear instruction and be wise; do not neglect it.

³⁴Blessed is the one who listens to me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at my doorposts.

³⁵For whoever finds me finds life and obtains favor from the Lord.

³⁶But whoever misses me harms themselves; all who hate me love death. Proverbs 9 The Book of Proverbs, Chapter 9 – VKJV