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9:1  God of my ancestors, merciful Lord, by your word you created everything.
9:2  By your Wisdom you made us humans to rule all creation,
9:3  to govern the world with holiness and righteousness, to administer justice with integrity.
9:4  Give me the Wisdom that sits beside your throne; give me a place among your children.
9:5  I am your slave, as was my mother before me. I am only human. I am not strong, and my life will be short. I have little understanding of the Law or of how to apply it.
9:6  Even if someone is perfect, he will be thought of as nothing without the Wisdom that comes from you.
9:7  You chose me over everyone else to be the king of your own people, to judge your sons and daughters.
9:8  You told me to build a temple on your sacred mountain, an altar in Jerusalem, the city you chose as your home. It is a copy of that temple in heaven, which you prepared at the beginning.
9:9  Wisdom is with you and knows your actions; she was present when you made the world. She knows what pleases you, what is right and in accordance with your commands.
9:10  Send her from the holy heavens, down from your glorious throne, so that she may work at my side, and I may learn what pleases you.
9:11  She knows and understands everything, and will guide me intelligently in what I do. Her glory will protect me.
9:12  Then I will judge your people fairly, and be worthy of my father's throne. My actions will be acceptable.
9:13  Who can ever learn the will of God?
9:14  Human reason is not adequate for the task, and our philosophies tend to mislead us,
9:15  because our mortal bodies weigh our souls down. The body is a temporary structure made of earth, a burden to the active mind.
9:16  All we can do is make guesses about things on earth; we must struggle to learn about things that are close to us. Who, then, can ever hope to understand heavenly things?
9:17  No one has ever learned your will, unless you first gave him Wisdom, and sent your holy spirit down to him.
9:18  In this way people on earth have been set on the right path, have learned what pleases you, and have been kept safe by Wisdom.