CHAPTER 24
1 Wisdom shall praise his soul, and he shall be honoured in God; and he shall have glory in the midst of his people.
2 And he shall open his mouth in the churches of the Highest; and he shall have glory in the sight of his virtue. And he shall be enhanced in the midst of his people; and he shall [much] wonder in holy fullness, either plenty. And in the multitude of chosen men he shall have praising; and among blessed men he shall be blessed, and say,
3 I, the first engendered [or begotten] before each creature, came forth from the mouth of the Highest. I was made in heavens, that light never failing rose up, and as a cloud I covered all earth,
4 I dwelled in highest things, and my throne in a pillar of [a] cloud.
5 I alone went about the compass [or the circle] of heaven, and I pierced the depth of the sea;
6 and I went in the waves of the sea, and I stood in all the land [or all the earth]. And I had the first dignity in each people, and in each folk; and I trod by virtue on the necks of all excellent men and meek;
7 and in all these men I sought rest, and I shall dwell in the heritage of the Lord.
8 Then the Creator of all [or the Former of all things] commanded, and said to me; and he that formed me, rested in my tabernacle; and he said to me, Dwell thou in Jacob, and take thou heritage in Israel, and send thou roots into my chosen men [or in my chosen].
9 I was engendered [or formed] from the beginning and before worlds, and I shall not fail unto the world to coming [or unto the world to come I shall not cease to be];
10 and I ministered [or served] in an holy dwelling before him. And so I was made steadfast in Zion,
11 and in like manner I rested in a city hallowed, and my power was in Jerusalem.
12 And I rooted in a people honoured; and the heritage thereof into the parts of my God, and my withholding in the plenty or the fullness of saints.
13 I was enhanced as a cedar in Lebanon, and as a cypress tree in the hill of Zion.
14 I was enhanced as a palm tree in Cades or Engedi, and as the planting of [a] rose in Jericho. And as a fair olive tree in fields; and I was enhanced as a plane [or platanus] tree beside [the] water in streets.
15 As canel and balm giving great smell, I gave odour; as chosen myrrh I gave the sweetness of odour. And as storax, and galbanum, and ungulam, and gum, and as Lebanon not cut down, I made hot [or smoked] my dwelling place; and mine odour as balm not meddled, [or as balsam not mingled, is my smell].
16 I as terebinth stretched forth my boughs [or straightened out my branches]; and my boughs [or branches]be boughs of honour, and of glory.
17 I as a vine made fruit the sweet-ness of odour; and my flowers be the fruits of honour, and of honesty or riches.
18 I am a mother of fair love, and of dread, and of knowing, and of holy hope. In me is all grace of way, and of truth; in me is all hope of life and of virtue.
19 All ye that covet me, pass or come to me; and be ye filled of my generations.
20 For why my spirit is sweet above honey; and mine heritage is above honey, and honeycomb. My mind is into the generation of worlds.
21 They that eat me, shall hunger yet; and they that drink me, shall thirst yet.
22 He that heareth me, shall not be shamed [or confounded]; and they that work in me, shall not do sin; and they that declare me, shall have ever-lasting life.
23 All these things is the book of life, and the testament of the Highest, and the knowing [or acknowledging] of truth. Moses commanded a law in the commandments of rightfulnesses [or rightwisenesses], and for an heri-tage to the house of Jacob, and promises to Israel.
24 He setted, that is, ordained, either promised, to David, his child or servant, to raise [up] of him a king most strong, and sitting without end in the throne of honour.
25 Which king filleth wisdom, as Pishon sheddeth out water; and as Tigris in the days of new things.
26 Which, as Euphrates, [full-]filleth wit; which multiplieth, as Jordan in the time of harvest [or reaping].
27 Which sendeth teaching [or doctrine] as light; and is nigh all men, as Gihon in the day of vintage.
28 Which maketh perfectly first to know that wisdom; and a feebler man shall not ensearch it.
29 For why the thoughts thereof shall be as plenteous of or as the sea, that is, his knowing is more plenteous than the sea; and his counsel in the great ocean [or the great deepness]is uncomprehensible. I wisdom shedded [or poured] out floods; I as a way, that is, a strong running, of full great water [or water without measure] of the flood.
30 I as the flood Dorix, and as a water conduit I went out of [or from] paradise.
31 I said, I shall water my garden of plantings; and I shall greatly fill the fruit of my child-bearing. And lo! a plenteous way of water is made to me; and my flood nighed to the sea.
32 For I enlighten teaching as the clear morrowtide to all men; and I shall tell out it unto [a] far. I shall pierce all the lower [or nether] parts of [the] earth, and I shall behold all that sleep; and I shall enlighten all that hope in the Lord.
33 Yet I shall shed [or pour] out teaching [or doctrine] as prophecy, and I shall leave it to them that seek wisdom; and I shall not fail into the generations of them, till into the holy world.
34 See ye, that I travailed not to me alone, but to all that seek out truth.