Anonymous (Septuagint) · a new plain-English translation from the original language
1| The praise of wisdom. Wisdom will praise her own soul, and in the midst of her people she will boast.
2| In the assembly of the Most High she will open her mouth, and in the presence of his host she will boast:
3| I came forth from the mouth of the Most High, and like a mist I covered the earth.
4| I encamped in the heights, and my throne was on a pillar of cloud.
5| Alone I circled the vault of heaven, and I walked in the depths of the abysses.
6| Over the swells of the ocean and across every land, among every nation and people I acquired a holding.
7| Among all these I sought a resting place, and asked, in whose inheritance shall I lodge?
8| Then the creator of all things commanded me, and he who created me made my tent rest, and said: Encamp in Jacob, and receive your inheritance in Israel.
9| Before the age, from the beginning, he created me, and to the age I shall not fail.
10| In the holy tabernacle before him I ministered, and so in Zion I was established.
11| In the beloved city likewise he made me rest, and in Jerusalem is my dominion.
12| And I took root among a glorified people, in the portion of the Lord, his inheritance.
13| Like a cedar I grew tall in Lebanon, and like a cypress on the mountains of Hermon.
14| Like a palm tree I grew tall in Engedi, and like rose plants in Jericho; like a fair olive tree in the plain, I grew tall like a plane tree.
15| Like cinnamon and camel-thorn spice I gave forth fragrance, and like choice myrrh I spread sweet odor, like galbanum, onycha, and stacte, and like the smoke of frankincense in the tent.
16| Like a terebinth I spread out my branches, and my branches are branches of glory and grace.
17| Like a vine I put forth grace in blossom, and my flowers are the fruit of glory and wealth.
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19| Come to me, you who desire me, and be filled with my produce.
20| For my memory is sweeter than honey, and my inheritance sweeter than the honeycomb.
21| Those who eat me will hunger still, and those who drink me will thirst still.
22| Whoever obeys me will not be put to shame, and those who work in me will not sin.
23| All this is the book of the covenant of God the Most High, the law that Moses commanded us, an inheritance for the assemblies of Jacob.
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25| It is he who fills wisdom to overflowing, like the Pishon, and like the Tigris in the days of new fruits;
26| who fills understanding to the full, like the Euphrates, and like the Jordan in the days of harvest;
27| who makes instruction shine forth like light, like the Gihon in the days of vintage.
28| The first man did not finish knowing her, and likewise the last has not fathomed her;
29| for her thought is more abundant than the sea, and her counsel deeper than the great abyss.
30| And I, like a channel from a river, and like a watercourse, went out into a garden.
31| I said, I will water my garden, and drench my flower bed; and behold, my small channel grew into a stream, and that stream turned into an open sea.
32| I will yet make instruction shine like the dawn, and make it known even to far-off lands.
33| I will yet pour out teaching like prophecy, and leave it to generations of ages to come.
34| See that I have not labored for myself alone, but for all who seek her out.