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8:1  Does not wisdom call? Does not understanding raise her voice?
8:2  On the heights beside the way, at the crossroads she takes her stand;
8:3  beside the gates in front of the town, at the entrance of the portals she cries aloud:
8:4  “To you, O men, I call, and my cry is to the children of man.
8:5  O simple ones, learn prudence; O fools, learn sense.
8:6  Hear, for I will speak noble things, and from my lips will come what is right,
8:7  for my mouth will utter truth; wickedness is an abomination to my lips.
8:8  All the words of my mouth are righteous; there is nothing twisted or crooked in them.
8:9  They are all straight to him who understands, and right to those who find knowledge.
8:10  Take my instruction instead of silver, and knowledge rather than choice gold,
8:11  for wisdom is better than jewels, and all that you may desire cannot compare with her.
8:12  “I, wisdom, dwell with prudence, and I find knowledge and discretion.
8:13  The fear of the Lord is hatred of evil. Pride and arrogance and the way of evil and perverted speech I hate.
8:14  I have counsel and sound wisdom; I have insight; I have strength.
8:15  By me kings reign, and rulers decree what is just;
8:16  by me princes rule, and nobles, all who govern justly.
8:17  I love those who love me, and those who seek me diligently find me.
8:18  Riches and honour are with me, enduring wealth and righteousness.
8:19  My fruit is better than gold, even fine gold, and my yield than choice silver.
8:20  I walk in the way of righteousness, in the paths of justice,
8:21  granting an inheritance to those who love me, and filling their treasuries.
8:22  “The Lord possessed me at the beginning of his work, the first of his acts of old.
8:23  Ages ago I was set up, at the first, before the beginning of the earth.
8:24  When there were no depths I was brought forth, when there were no springs abounding with water.
8:25  Before the mountains had been shaped, before the hills, I was brought forth,
8:26  before he had made the earth with its fields, or the first of the dust of the world.
8:27  When he established the heavens, I was there; when he drew a circle on the face of the deep,
8:28  when he made firm the skies above, when he established the fountains of the deep,
8:29  when he assigned to the sea its limit, so that the waters might not transgress his command, when he marked out the foundations of the earth,
8:30  then I was beside him, like a master workman, and I was daily his delight, rejoicing before him always,
8:31  rejoicing in his inhabited world and delighting in the children of man.
8:32  “And now, O sons, listen to me: blessed are those who keep my ways.
8:33  Hear instruction and be wise, and do not neglect it.
8:34  Blessed is the one who listens to me, watching daily at my gates, waiting beside my doors.
8:35  For whoever finds me finds life and obtains favour from the Lord,
8:36  but he who fails to find me injures himself; all who hate me love death.”