Home Master Index
←Prev   Sirach 24 as rendered by/in  Next→ 


24:1  Wisdom will praise herself, and she will boast in the midst of her people.
24:2  In the assembly of the Most High, she will open her mouth, and in the presence of his heavenly forces, she will boast:
24:3  “I came forth from the mouth of the Most High, and I covered the earth like a mist.
24:4  I lived in the heights, and my throne was in a pillar of cloud.
24:5  I alone encircled the vault of heaven and walked in the depths of abysses.
24:6  In the waves of the sea and in every land, and among every people and nation, I led the way.
24:7  I sought a resting place among all of these. In whose allotted territory should I make my home?
24:8  “Then the creator of all things gave me a command; the one who created me pitched my tent and said, ‘Make your dwelling in Jacob, and let Israel receive your inheritance.’
24:9  Before the ages, from the beginning, he created me, and till eternity I will never fail.
24:10  I ministered before him in the holy tent, and so I was established in Zion.
24:11  In the same way, he made the dearly loved city my resting place and established my authority in Jerusalem.
24:12  I took root in a glorified people; among the people the Lord chose for his inheritance.
24:13  ‘I rose high like a cedar in Lebanon, like a cypress on Mount Hermon.
24:14  I rose high like a palm in En-geddi, and like rosebushes in Jericho, like a fair olive tree in a field. I rose high like a plane tree.
24:15  Like cinnamon and camel’s thorn used for spices, I gave off a fine aroma. Like choice myrrh, I spread forth my fragrance, like galbanum, onycha, and stacte, and like the smell of frankincense in the tent.
24:16  Like a terebinth oak I spread out my branches, and my branches were glorious and graceful.
24:17  Gracious favor was the leaf that I put forth like a vine, and honor and wealth were the fruit that my blossoms bore.
24:19  “Come to me, you who desire me, and take your fill of my produce.
24:20  Calling me to mind is sweeter than honey, and possessing me is better than a dripping honeycomb.
24:21  Those who eat of me will hunger for more, and those who drink of me will thirst for more.
24:22  Whoever obeys me won’t be ashamed, and those who work with me won’t sin.”
24:23  All these things are in the covenant scroll of the Most High God, the Law that Moses commanded us, the inheritance of the congregations of Jacob.
24:25  God supplies Wisdom comparable to the fullness of the Pishon River, even like the Tigris River in the springtime.
24:26  God provides understanding as deep as the Euphrates, or like the Jordan at the time of the harvest.
24:27  God pours forth understanding like light, as does the Gihon Spring at the time of the grape harvest.
24:28  The first human didn’t know Wisdom completely, and so the last won’t probe her fully.
24:29  Her thoughts are more plentiful than the sea; her counsel is deeper than the great abyss.
24:30  Like a canal from a river, like an irrigation channel, I went out into a garden.
24:31  I said, “I’ll water my garden, and I’ll drench my flower bed. And look! The canal turned into a river for me, and my river turned into a sea.
24:32  I’ll continue to make instruction shine forth like the dawn, and I’ll make things clear to those who are far off.
24:33  I’ll continue to pour out teaching like prophecy, and I’ll leave it behind for future generations.
24:34  See, I’ve not labored for myself alone, but for all those who seek her.”