Ecclesiasticus 24

1Wisdom shall praise her own self, and shall be honoured in God, and shall glory in the midst of her people,● 2And shall open her mouth in the churches of the most High, and shall glorify herself in the sight of his power,● 3And in the midst of her own people she shall be exalted, and shall be admired in the holy assembly.● 4And in the multitude of the elect she shall have praise, and among the blessed she shall be blessed, saying:● 5I came out of the mouth of the most High, the firstborn before all creatures:● 6I made that in the heavens there should rise light that never faileth, and as a cloud I covered all the earth:● 7I dwelt in the highest places, and my throne is in a pillar of a cloud.● 8I 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,● 9And have stood in all the earth: and in every people,● 10And in every nation I have had the chief rule:● 11And 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.● 12Then the creator of all things commanded, and said to me: and he that made me, rested in my tabernacle,● 13And he said to me: Let thy dwelling be in Jacob, and thy inheritance in Israel, and take root in my elect.● 14From 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.● 15And so was I established in Sion, and in the holy city likewise I rested, and my power was in Jerusalem.● 16And I took root in an honourable people, and in the portion of my God his inheritance, and my abode is in the full assembly of saints.● 17I was exalted like a cedar in Libanus, and as a cypress tree on mount Sion.● 18I was exalted like a palm tree in Cades, and as a rose plant in Jericho:● 19As a fair olive tree in the plains, and as a plane tree by the water in the streets, was I exalted.● 20I gave a sweet smell like cinnamon, and aromatical balm: I yielded a sweet odour like the best myrrh:● 21And 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.● 22I have stretched out my branches as the turpentine tree, and my branches are of honour and grace.● 23As the vine I have brought forth a pleasant odour: and my flowers are the fruit of honour and riches.● 24I am the mother of fair love, and of fear, and of knowledge, and of holy hope.● 25In me is all grace of the way and of the truth, in me is all hope of life and of virtue.● 26Come over to me, all ye that desire me, and be filled with my fruits.● 27For my spirit is sweet above honey, and my inheritance above honey and the honeycomb.● 28My memory is unto everlasting generations.● 29They that eat me, shall yet hunger: and they that drink me, shall yet thirst.● 30He that hearkeneth to me, shall not be confounded: and they that work by me, shall not sin.● 31They that explain me shall have life everlasting.● 32All these things are the book of life, and the covenant of the most High, and the knowledge of truth.● 33Moses commanded a law in the precepts of justices, and an inheritance to the house of Jacob, and the promises to Israel.● 34He appointed to David his servant to raise up of him a most mighty king, and sitting on the throne of glory for ever.● 35Who filleth up wisdom as the Phison, and as the Tigris in the days of the new fruits.● 36Who maketh understanding to abound as the Euphrates, who multiplieth it as the Jordan in the time of harvest.● 37Who sendeth knowledge as the light, and riseth up as Gehon in the time of the vintage.● 38Who first hath perfect knowledge of her, and a weaker shall not search her out.● 39For her thoughts are more vast than the sea, and her counsels more deep than the great ocean.● 40I, wisdom, have poured out rivers.● 41I, 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.● 42I said: I will water my garden of plants, and I will water abundantly the fruits of my meadow.● 43And behold my brook became a great river, and my river came near to a sea:● 44For I make doctrine to shine forth to all as the morning light, and I will declare it afar off.● 45I 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.● 46I 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.● 47See ye that I have not laboured myself only, but for all that seek out the truth.●