The Excellence and Eternity of Wisdom

81 Does not wisdom call , And understanding lift up her voice ? 2 On top of the heights beside the way , Where the paths meet , she takes her stand ; 3 Beside the gates , at the opening to the city , At the entrance of the doors , she cries out: 4 "To you, O men , I call , And my voice is to the sons of men . 5 "O naive ones , understand prudence ; And, O fools , understand wisdom . 6 "Listen , for I will speak noble things ; And the opening of my lips will reveal right things . 7 "For my mouth will utter truth ; And wickedness is an abomination to my lips . 8 "All the utterances of my mouth are in righteousness ; There is nothing crooked or perverted in them. 9 "They are all straightforward to him who understands , And right to those who find knowledge . 10 "Take my instruction and not silver , And knowledge rather than choicest gold . 11 "For wisdom is better than jewels ; And all desirable things cannot compare with her.

12 "I, wisdom , dwell with prudence , And I find knowledge and discretion . 13 "The fear of the Lord is to hate evil ; Pride and arrogance and the evil way And the perverted mouth , I hate . 14 " Counsel is mine and sound wisdom ; I am understanding , power is mine. 15 "By me kings reign , And rulers decree justice . 16 "By me princes rule , and nobles , All who judge rightly . 17 "I love those who love me; And those who diligently seek me will find me. 18 " Riches and honor are with me, Enduring wealth and righteousness . 19 "My fruit is better than gold , even pure gold , And my yield better than choicest silver . 20 "I walk in the way of righteousness , In the midst of the paths of justice , 21 To endow those who love me with wealth , That I may fill their treasuries .

22 "The Lord possessed me at the beginning of His way , Before His works of old . 23 "From everlasting I was established , From the beginning , from the earliest times of the earth . 24 "When there were no depths I was brought forth , When there were no springs abounding with water . 25 " Before the mountains were settled , Before the hills I was brought forth ; 26 While He had not yet made the earth and the fields , Nor the first dust of the world . 27 "When He established the heavens , I was there , When He inscribed a circle on the face of the deep , 28 When He made firm the skies above e , When the springs of the deep became fixed , 29 When He set for the sea its boundary So that the water would not transgress His command , When He marked out the foundations of the earth ; 30 Then I was beside Him, as a master workman ; And I was daily His delight , Rejoicing always e before Him, 31 Rejoicing in the world , His earth , And having my delight in the sons of men .

32 "Now therefore, O sons , listen to me, For blessed are they who keep my ways . 33 " Heed instruction and be wise , And do not neglect it. 34 " Blessed is the man who listens to me, Watching daily at my gates , Waiting at my doorposts . 35 "For he who finds me finds life And obtains favor from the Lord . 36 "But he who sins against me injures himself ; All those who hate me love death ."

Wisdom and the Foolish Woman

91 Wisdom has built her house , She has hewn out her seven pillars ; 2 She has prepared her food , she has mixed her wine ; She has also set her table ; 3 She has sent out her maidens , she calls From the tops of the heights of the city : 4 " Whoever is naive , let him turn in here !" To him who lacks understanding she says , 5 "Come , eat of my food And drink of the wine I have mixed . 6 "Forsake your folly and live , And proceed in the way of understanding ." 7 He who corrects a scoffer gets dishonor for himself, And he who reproves a wicked man gets insults for himself. 8 Do not reprove a scoffer , or he will hate you, Reprove a wise man and he will love you. 9 Give instruction to a wise man and he will be still wiser , Teach a righteous man and he will increase his learning . 10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom , And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding . 11 For by me your days will be multiplied , And years of life will be added to you. 12 If you are wise , you are wise for yourself, And if you scoff , you alone will bear it.

13 The woman of folly is boisterous , She is naive and knows nothing e . 14 She sits at the doorway of her house , On a seat by the high places of the city , 15 Calling to those who pass by, Who are making their paths straight : 16 " Whoever is naive , let him turn in here ," And to him who lacks understanding she says , 17 "Stolen water is sweet ; And bread eaten in secret is pleasant ." 18 But he does not know that the dead are there , That her guests are in the depths of Sheol .

Ministers of the New Covenant

31 Are we beginning to commend ourselves again ? Or do we need , as some , letters of commendation to you or from you? 2 You are our letter , written in our hearts , known and read by all men ; 3 being manifested that you are a letter of Christ , cared for by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God , not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts . 4 Such confidence we have through Christ toward God . 5 Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves , but our adequacy is from God ,

6 who also made us adequate as servants of a new covenant , not of the letter but of the Spirit ; for the letter kills , but the Spirit gives life . 7 But if the ministry of death , in letters engraved on stones , came with glory , so that the sons of Israel could not look intently at the face of Moses because of the glory of his face , fading as it was, 8 how will the ministry of the Spirit fail to be even more with glory ? 9 For if the ministry of condemnation has glory , much more does the ministry of righteousness abound in glory . 10 For indeed what had glory , in this case has no glory because of the glory that surpasses it. 11 For if that which fades away was with glory , much more that which remains is in glory .

12 Therefore having such a hope , we use great boldness in our speech , 13 and are not like Moses , who used to put a veil over his face so that the sons of Israel would not look intently at the end of what was fading away . 14 But their minds were hardened ; for until this very day at the reading of the old covenant the same veil remains unlifted , because it is removed in Christ . 15 But to this day whenever e Moses is read , a veil lies over their heart ; 16 but whenever e a person turns to the Lord , the veil is taken away . 17 Now the Lord is the Spirit , and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty . 18 But we all , with unveiled face , beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord , are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory , just as from the Lord , the Spirit .