Wisdom 7

¹ Like all the others, I too am a mortal man, descendant of the first being fashioned from the earth, I was modelled in flesh within my mother’s womb,

² for ten months[*a] taking shape in her blood by means of virile seed and pleasure, sleep’s companion.

³ I too, when I was born, drew in the common air, I fell on the same ground that bears us all, a wail my first sound, as for all the rest.

⁴ I was nurtured in swaddling clothes, with every care.

⁵ No king has known any other beginning of existence;

⁶ for all there is one way only into life, as out of it.

⁷ And so I prayed, and understanding was given me; I entreated, and the spirit of Wisdom came to me.

⁸ I esteemed her more than sceptres and thrones; compared with her, I held riches as nothing.

⁹ I reckoned no priceless stone to be her peer, for compared with her, all gold is a pinch of sand, and beside her silver ranks as mud.

¹⁰ I loved her more than health or beauty, preferred her to the light, since her radiance never sleeps.

¹¹ In her company all good things came to me, at her hands riches not to be numbered.

¹² All these I delighted in, since Wisdom brings them, but as yet I did not know she was their mother.

¹³ What I learned without self-interest, I pass on without reserve; I do not intend to hide her riches.

¹⁴ For she is an inexhaustible treasure to men, and those who acquire it win God’s friendship, commended as they are to him by the benefits of her teaching.

¹⁵ May God grant me to speak as he would wish and express thoughts worthy of his gifts, since he himself is the guide of Wisdom, since he directs the sages.

¹⁶ We are indeed in his hand, we ourselves and our words, with all our understanding, too, and technical knowledge.

¹⁷ It was he who gave me true knowledge of all that is,[*b] who taught me the structure of the world and the properties of the elements,

¹⁸ the beginning, end and middle of the times, the alternation of the solstices and the succession of the seasons,

¹⁹ the revolution of the year and the positions of the stars,

²⁰ the natures of animals and the instincts of wild beasts, the powers of spirits and the mental processes of men, the varieties of plants and the medical properties of roots.

²¹ All that is hidden, all that is plain, I have come to know, instructed by Wisdom who designed them all.

²² For within her is a spirit intelligent, holy, unique, manifold, subtle, active, incisive, unsullied, lucid, invulnerable, benevolent, sharp,

²³ irresistible, beneficent, loving to man, steadfast, dependable, unperturbed, almighty, all-surveying, penetrating all intelligent, pure and most subtle spirits;

²⁴ for Wisdom is quicker to move than any motion; she is so pure, she pervades and permeates all things.

²⁵ She is a breath of the power of God, pure emanation of the glory of the Almighty; hence nothing impure can find a way into her.

²⁶ She is a reflection of the eternal light, untarnished mirror of God’s active power, image of his goodness.

²⁷ Although alone, she can do all; herself unchanging, she makes all things new. In each generation she passes into holy souls, she makes them friends of God and prophets;

²⁸ for God loves only the man who lives with Wisdom.

²⁹ She is indeed more splendid than the sun, she outshines all the constellations; compared with light, she takes first place,

³⁰ for light must yield to night, but over Wisdom evil can never triumph.