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8:1  Does not wisdom cry out, and understanding lift her voice?
8:2  On the topmost heights along the way, at the crossroads, she takes her stand.
8:3  Beside the gates leading into the city, at the entrances, she cries aloud:
8:4  “To you, O men, I call out! My cry is to all mankind!
8:5  O naïve ones, learn prudence! Fools, gain understanding!
8:6  Listen, for I speak excellent things, and my lips utter right things.
8:7  For my mouth speaks truth, and my lips detest wickedness.
8:8  All the words of my mouth are righteous, Nothing in them is perverse or crooked.
8:9  All of them are straightforward to the discerning, and right to those who find knowledge.
8:10  Receive my instruction instead of silver and knowledge rather than choice gold.
8:11  For wisdom is better than jewels, nothing you desire compares with her.
8:12  “I, wisdom, dwell with prudence, and acquire knowledge with discretion.
8:13  To fear Adonai is to hate evil. I hate pride and arrogance, evil behavior and a perverse mouth.
8:14  Counsel and sound wisdom are mine. I have understanding and power.
8:15  By me kings reign and princes decree justice.
8:16  By me princes govern, and all nobles who judge righteously.
8:17  I love those who love me. Those who earnestly seek me find me.
8:18  With me are wealth and honor, enduring riches and righteousness.
8:19  My fruit is better than refined gold, my harvest better than choice silver.
8:20  I walk in the way of righteousness, along paths of justice.
8:21  I endow substance to those who love me and fill their treasuries.
8:22  “Adonai brought me forth, the first of His way, before His works of old.
8:23  From eternity I was appointed from the beginning, before the world began.
8:24  When there were no depths, I was brought forth, when there were no fountains abounding with water.
8:25  Before the mountains were shaped, before the hills, I was brought forth.
8:26  He had not yet made the land, the fields, or the first dust of the earth.
8:27  When He set the heavens in place, I was there. When He inscribed the horizon on the face of the ocean,
8:28  when He established the skies above, when He securely fixed the fountains of the deep,
8:29  when He set the boundaries for the sea, so that the waters never transgress His command, when He laid out earth’s foundations—
8:30  then I was the craftsman beside Him, I was His daily delight, always rejoicing before Him,
8:31  rejoicing in His whole world, and delighting in mankind.
8:32  “So now, children, listen to me! Blessed are those who keep my ways.
8:33  Heed discipline and be wise, and do not neglect it.
8:34  Blessed is the one who listens to me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at my doorposts.
8:35  For whoever finds me finds life and obtains favor from Adonai.
8:36  But whoever fails to find me harms his life— all who hate me love death.”