Chapter 24

  Wisdom shall praise her own self, and shall be honoured in God, and shall glory in the midst of her people,  

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  And shall open her mouth in the churches of the most High, and shall glorify herself in the sight of his power,  

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  And in the midst of her own people she shall be exalted, and shall be ad- mired in the holy assembly.  

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  And in the multitude of the elect she shall have praise, and among the blessed she shall be blessed, saying:  

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  I came out of the mouth of the most High, the firstborn before all creatures:  

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  I made that in the heavens there should rise light that never faileth, and as a cloud I covered all the earth:  

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  I dwelt in the highest places, and my throne is in a pillar of a cloud.  

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  I alone have compassed the circuit of heaven, and have penetrated into the bottom of the deep, and have walked in the waves of the sea,  

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  And have stood in all the earth: and in every people,  

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  And in every nation I have had the chief rule:  

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  And by my power I have trodden under my feet the hearts of all the high and low: and in all these I sought rest, and I shall abide in the inheritance of the Lord.  

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  Then the creator of all things commanded, and said to me: and he that made me, rested in my tabernacle,  

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  And he said to me: Let thy dwelling be in Jacob, and thy inheritance in Israel, and take root in my elect.  

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  From the beginning, and before the world, was I created, and unto the world to come I shall not cease to be, and in the holy dwelling place I have ministered before him.  

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  And so was I established in Sion, and in the holy city likewise I rested, and my power was in Jerusalem.  

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  And I took root in an honourable people, and in the portion of mg God his inheritance, and my abode is in the full assembly of saints.  

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  I was exalted like a cedar in Libanus, and as a cypress tree on mount Sion.  

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  I was exalted like a palm tree in Cades, and as a rose plant in Jericho:  

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  As a fair olive tree in the plains, and as a plane tree by the water in the streets, was I exalted.  

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  I gave a sweet smell like cinnamon. and aromatical balm: I yielded a sweet odour like the best myrrh:  

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  And I perfumed my dwelling as storax, and galbanum, and onyx, and aloes, and as the frankincense not cut, and my odour is as the purest balm.  

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  I have stretched out my branches as the turpentine tree, and my branches are of honour and grace.  

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  As the vine I have brought forth a pleasant odour: and my flowers are the fruit of honour and riches.  

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  I am the mother of fair love, and of fear, and of knowledge, and of holy hope.  

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  In me is all grace of the way and of the truth, in me is all hope of life and of virtue.  

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  Come over to me, all ye that desire me, and be filled with my fruits.  

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  For my spirit is sweet above honey, and my inheritance above honey and the honeycomb.  

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  My memory is unto everlasting generations.  

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  They that eat me, shall yet hunger: and they that drink me, shall yet thirst.  

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  He that hearkeneth to me, shall not be confounded: and they that work by me, shall not sin.  

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  They that explain me shall have life everlasting.  

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  All these things are the book of life, and the covenant of the most High, and the knowledge of truth.  

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  Moses commanded a law in the precepts of justices, and an inheritance to the house of Jacob, and the promises to Israel.  

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  He appointed to David his servant to raise up of him a most mighty king, and sitting on the throne of glory for ever.  

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  Who filleth up wisdom as the Phison, and as the Tigris in the days of the new fruits.  

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  Who maketh understanding to abound as the Euphrates, who multiplieth it as the Jordan in the time of harvest.  

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  Who sendeth knowledge as the light, and riseth up as Gehon in the time of the vintage.  

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  Who first hath perfect knowledge of her, and a weaker shall not search her out.  

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  For her thoughts are more vast than the sea, and her counsels more deep than the great ocean.  

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  I, wisdom, have poured out rivers.  

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  I, like a brook out of a river of a mighty water; I, like a channel of a river. and like an aqueduct, came out of paradise.  

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  I said: I will water my garden of plants, and I will water abundantly the fruits of my meadow.  

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  And behold my brook became a great river, and my river came near to a sea:  

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  For I make doctrine to shine forth to all as the morning light, and I will declare it afar off.  

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  I will penetrate to all the lower parts of the earth, and will behold all that sleep, and will enlighten all that hope in the Lord.  

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  I will yet pour out doctrine as prophecy, and will leave it to them that seek wisdom, and will not cease to instruct their offspring even to the holy age.  

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  See ye that I have not laboured for myself only, but for all that seek out the truth.  

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