Sirach
24:1 Wisdom shall praise herself, and shall glory in the midst of her people.
24:2 In the congregation of the most High shall she open her mouth, and
triumph before his power.
24:3 I came out of the mouth of the most High, and covered the earth as a
cloud.
24:4 I dwelt in high places, and my throne is in a cloudy pillar.
24:5 I alone compassed the circuit of heaven, and walked in the bottom of the
deep.
24:6 In the waves of the sea and in all the earth, and in every people and
nation, I got a possession.
24:7 With all these I sought rest: and in whose inheritance shall I abide?
24:8 So the Creator of all things gave me a commandment, and he that made me
caused my tabernacle to rest, and said, Let thy dwelling be in Jacob,
and thine inheritance in Israel.
24:9 He created me from the beginning before the world, and I shall never
fail.
24:10 In the holy tabernacle I served before him; and so was I established in
Sion.
24:11 Likewise in the beloved city he gave me rest, and in Jerusalem was my
power.
24:12 And I took root in an honourable people, even in the portion of the
Lord's inheritance.
24:13 I was exalted like a cedar in Libanus, and as a cypress tree upon the
mountains of Hermon.
24:14 I was exalted like a palm tree in En-gaddi, and as a rose plant in
Jericho, as a fair olive tree in a pleasant field, and grew up as a
plane tree by the water.
24:15 I gave a sweet smell like cinnamon and aspalathus, and I yielded a
pleasant odour like the best myrrh, as galbanum, and onyx, and sweet
storax, and as the fume of frankincense in the tabernacle.
24:16 As the turpentine tree I stretched out my branches, and my branches are
the branches of honour and grace.
24:17 As the vine brought I forth pleasant savour, and my flowers are the
fruit of honour and riches.
24:18 I am the mother of fair love, and fear, and knowledge, and holy hope: I
therefore, being eternal, am given to all my children which are named of
him.
24:19 Come unto me, all ye that be desirous of me, and fill yourselves with my
fruits.
24:20 For my memorial is sweeter than honey, and mine inheritance than the
honeycomb.
24:21 They that eat me shall yet be hungry, and they that drink me shall yet
be thirsty.
24:22 He that obeyeth me shall never be confounded, and they that work by me
shall not do amiss.
24:23 All these things are the book of the covenant of the most high God, even
the law which Moses commanded for an heritage unto the congregations of
Jacob.
24:24 Faint not to be strong in the Lord; that he may confirm you, cleave unto
him: for the Lord Almighty is God alone, and beside him there is no
other Saviour.
24:25 He filleth all things with his wisdom, as Phison and as Tigris in the
time of the new fruits.
24:26 He maketh the understanding to abound like Euphrates, and as Jordan in
the time of the harvest.
24:27 He maketh the doctrine of knowledge appear as the light, and as Geon in
the time of vintage.
24:28 The first man knew her not perfectly: no more shall the last find her
out.
24:29 For her thoughts are more than the sea, and her counsels profounder than
the great deep.
24:30 I also came out as a brook from a river, and as a conduit into a garden.
24:31 I said, I will water my best garden, and will water abundantly my garden
bed: and, lo, my brook became a river, and my river became a sea.
24:32 I will yet make doctrine to shine as the morning, and will send forth
her light afar off.
24:33 I will yet pour out doctrine as prophecy, and leave it to all ages for
ever.
24:34 Behold that I have not laboured for myself only, but for all them that
seek wisdom.
