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8:1  Does Wisdom not call? Does Understanding not lift up her voice?
8:2  On the heights, by the wayside, at the crossroads—she takes her stand;
8:3  by the gates leading into the city, at the roads of access she cries out:
8:4  “I call out to you, O men; my appeal is to the sons of men.
8:5  You who are simple, acquire prudence; you who are foolish, acquire understanding.
8:6  Listen, for I speak of important matters; what I proclaim is honest and right.
8:7  For my mouth proclaims the truth; wickedness is abhorrent to my lips.
8:8  “All the words of my mouth are upright; not a single word is false or crooked.
8:9  All of them are clear to those who are intelligent and right to those who have acquired knowledge.
8:10  Choose my instruction rather than silver and knowledge instead of pure gold.
8:11  For Wisdom is better than pearls, and no object of desire can compare with her.
8:12  “I, Wisdom, dwell with prudence, and I possess knowledge and discretion.
8:13  The fear of the Lord implies hatred of evil; I hate pride and arrogance, evil ways and perverse speech.
8:14  From me issue forth counsel and prudence; insight and strength are mine.
8:15  Through me kings reign, and rulers decree what is just.
8:16  By me princes and nobles rule, all those who govern rightly.
8:17  “I love those who love me, and those who diligently seek me will find me.
8:18  With me are riches and honor, enduring wealth and prosperity.
8:19  My fruit is better than the finest gold, and what I yield surpasses pure silver.
8:20  I walk on the way of righteousness, along the paths of justice,
8:21  bestowing wealth on those who love me and heaping up their treasuries.
8:22  “The Lord created me as the firstborn of his ways, before the oldest of his works.
8:23  I was established in the earliest times, at the beginning, before the earth.
8:24  I was brought forth when there were no ocean depths, when there were no springs overflowing with water.
8:25  Before the mountains had been shaped, before the hills, I was brought forth,
8:26  when he had not yet made the earth and the fields or the mass of the world’s soil.
8:27  “When he set the heavens in place, I was there, when he designated where the ocean and the horizon meet,
8:28  when he fixed the canopy of the clouds above and limited the fountains of the deep,
8:29  when he assigned the boundaries of the sea so that the waters would not transgress his command, and when he established the foundations of the earth,
8:30  then I was beside him as a master craftsman, and I was his delight day after day, exulting in his presence continually,
8:31  rejoicing in his inhabited world and delighting in the children of men.
8:32  “So now, my sons, listen to me; blessed are those who keep my ways.
8:33  Listen to instruction and gain wisdom; do not reject it.
8:34  Blessed is the one who listens to me, who keeps watch daily at my gates, waiting at my doorway.
8:35  For whoever finds me finds life and receives favor from the Lord.
8:36  But whoever sins against me harms himself, and all who hate me love death.”