8
Wisdom calls to us
1 It is as if wisdom, with great understanding of many things, is calling [PRS] out to people.
2 Wisdom stands on hilltops and at crossroads.
3 Wisdom also stands at the city gates and shouts loudly,
4 “I am calling to everyone!
I am shouting loudly to all people!
5 You people who do not know how to do things that are smart to do, get sound judgment;
you foolish people, get good understanding!
6 Listen to me, because I have some excellent/important things to say.
What I say is what is fair/right.
7 I speak what is true;
I detest speaking [MTY] what is false/deceptive.
8 Everything that I say is honest;
there is nothing that I say that deceives people.
9 My words are clear to those who have good sense;
those who are wise know that what I say is right.
10 If someone offers you the kind of teaching I give or offers you silver,
choose my teaching.
If he offers to show you how to be wise or offers you gold,
choose to know how to be wise,
11 because wisdom is more valuable than jewels.
Nothing that you desire is as valuable as being wise.
12 I, wisdom, and understanding of what is smart to do, cannot be separated.
We are like two people who live in the same house.
I know how to be wise and how to make smart decisions.
13 All the people who revere Yahweh hate evil.
I, wisdom, hate people who are proud and people who think they are more important than others.
I hate people who behave in an evil way and those who say things to deceive others.
14 I give people good advice and I enable them to do things that are wise.
I understand how things really are, and I am strong.
15 When kings are wise, they rule well;
and when rulers are wise, they make laws that are just/fair.
16 Rulers govern their people with the help of me, wisdom,
and those who have authority decide things fairly/just with my help.
17 I, wisdom, love all those who love me,
and all those who truly seek me will find me.
18 I enable people to become rich and to be honored;
I enable them to have wealth that will last and to be successful.
19 What I can give people is more valuable than fine/pure gold and the best silver.
20 I always do what is righteous and just/fair.
21 I give wealth to those who love me;
I fill their houses with valuable things.
22 Yahweh created me, wisdom, when he began to create the world;
he created me to do my work before he created anything else.
23 He appointed me long ago, before he created the earth.
24 I was born before the oceans were created,
when there were no springs from which water flowed.
25 I was born before the hills and mountains were formed;
26 I, wisdom, was born before Yahweh made the earth,
before he made the fields and the soil on the earth.
27 I was there when Yahweh put the sky in place,
when he marked the place in the distance where the sky and the oceans seem to come together.
28 I was there when Yahweh put the clouds above the earth
and when he caused the water that is inside the earth to be secure.
29 I was there when he fixed a boundary for the seas,
so that the water in the seas would not go past those boundaries,
and when he put down the foundations which support the earth.
30 I was at the side of Yahweh, the master worker (OR, as though I was his child).
I caused him to be happy every day, and I was always rejoicing when I was with him.
31 I was delighted with the world that he created;
I was happy with the people whom he created, too.
32 So, you people who are like my sons, listen to me.
I am pleased with all those who obey my teachings.
33 Listen carefully to what I teach you and become wise.
Do not reject my teaching!
34 I am pleased with those who listen to me,
those who are outside my house every day, waiting for me to come out.
35 Those who find me will have a long life,
and Yahweh will be pleased with them.
36 But those who stray away from me just harm themselves.
All those who hate me, it is as though [IRO] they are loving death.”