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Wisdom 7
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Chapter 7
Solomon a man like other men
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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,
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for ten months[*a] taking shape in her blood by means of virile seed and pleasure, sleep’s companion.
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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.
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I was nurtured in swaddling clothes, with every care.
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No king has known any other beginning of existence;
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for all there is one way only into life, as out of it.
Solomon’s respect for Wisdom
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And so I prayed, and understanding was given me; I entreated, and the spirit of Wisdom came to me.
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I esteemed her more than sceptres and thrones; compared with her, I held riches as nothing.
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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.
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I loved her more than health or beauty, preferred her to the light, since her radiance never sleeps.
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In her company all good things came to me, at her hands riches not to be numbered.
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All these I delighted in, since Wisdom brings them, but as yet I did not know she was their mother.
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What I learned without self-interest, I pass on without reserve; I do not intend to hide her riches.
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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.
The appeal to divine inspiration
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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.
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We are indeed in his hand, we ourselves and our words, with all our understanding, too, and technical knowledge.
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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,
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the beginning, end and middle of the times, the alternation of the solstices and the succession of the seasons,
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the revolution of the year and the positions of the stars,
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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.
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All that is hidden, all that is plain, I have come to know, instructed by Wisdom who designed them all.
In praise of Wisdom
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For within her is a spirit intelligent, holy, unique, manifold, subtle, active, incisive, unsullied, lucid, invulnerable, benevolent, sharp,
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irresistible, beneficent, loving to man, steadfast, dependable, unperturbed, almighty, all-surveying, penetrating all intelligent, pure and most subtle spirits;
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for Wisdom is quicker to move than any motion; she is so pure, she pervades and permeates all things.
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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.
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She is a reflection of the eternal light, untarnished mirror of God’s active power, image of his goodness.
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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;
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for God loves only the man who lives with Wisdom.
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She is indeed more splendid than the sun, she outshines all the constellations; compared with light, she takes first place,
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for light must yield to night, but over Wisdom evil can never triumph.
Chapters of Wisdom
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
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