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/Wis/ - Wisdom

<< Esther (Greek) Sirach >>The Book of Wisdom or The Wisdom of Solomon
The Book of Wisdom or The Wisdom of Solomon
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8Wisdom reacheth from one end to another mightily: and sweetly doth she order all things.

2I loved her, and sought her out from my youth, I desired to make her my spouse, and I was a lover of her beauty.

3In that she is conversant with God, she magnifieth her nobility: yea, the Lord of all things himself loved her.

4For she is privy to the mysteries of the knowledge of God, and a lover of his works.

5If riches be a possession to be desired in this life; what is richer than wisdom, that worketh all things?

6And if prudence work; who of all that are is a more cunning workman than she?

7And if a man love righteousness her labours are virtues: for she teacheth temperance and prudence, justice and fortitude: which are such things, as men can have nothing more profitable in their life.

8If a man desire much experience, she knoweth things of old, and conjectureth aright what is to come: she knoweth the subtilties of speeches, and can expound dark sentences: she foreseeth signs and wonders, and the events of seasons and times.

9Therefore I purposed to take her to me to live with me, knowing that she would be a counsellor of good things, and a comfort in cares and grief.

10For her sake I shall have estimation among the multitude, and honour with the elders, though I be young.

11I shall be found of a quick conceit in judgment, and shall be admired in the sight of great men.

12When I hold my tongue, they shall bide my leisure, and when I speak, they shall give good ear unto me: if I talk much, they shall lay their hands upon their mouth.

13Moreover by the means of her I shall obtain immortality, and leave behind me an everlasting memorial to them that come after me.

14I shall set the people in order, and the nations shall be subject unto me.

15Horrible tyrants shall be afraid, when they do but hear of me; I shall be found good among the multitude, and valiant in war.

16After I am come into mine house, I will repose myself with her: for her conversation hath no bitterness; and to live with her hath no sorrow, but mirth and joy.

17Now when I considered these things in myself, and pondered them in my heart, how that to be allied unto wisdom is immortality;

18And great pleasure it is to have her friendship; and in the works of her hands are infinite riches; and in the exercise of conference with her, prudence; and in talking with her, a good report; I went about seeking how to take her to me.

19For I was a witty child, and had a good spirit.

20Yea rather, being good, I came into a body undefiled.

21Nevertheless, when I perceived that I could not otherwise obtain her, except God gave her me; and that was a point of wisdom also to know whose gift she was; I prayed unto the Lord, and besought him, and with my whole heart I said,

9O God of my fathers, and Lord of mercy, who hast made all things with thy word,

2And ordained man through thy wisdom, that he should have dominion over the creatures which thou hast made,

3And order the world according to equity and righteousness, and execute judgment with an upright heart:

4Give me wisdom, that sitteth by thy throne; and reject me not from among thy children:

5For I thy servant and son of thine handmaid am a feeble person, and of a short time, and too young for the understanding of judgment and laws.

6For though a man be never so perfect among the children of men, yet if thy wisdom be not with him, he shall be nothing regarded.

7Thou hast chosen me to be a king of thy people, and a judge of thy sons and daughters:

8Thou hast commanded me to build a temple upon thy holy mount, and an altar in the city wherein thou dwellest, a resemblance of the holy tabernacle, which thou hast prepared from the beginning.

9And wisdom was with thee: which knoweth thy works, and was present when thou madest the world, and knew what was acceptable in thy sight, and right in thy commandments.

10O send her out of thy holy heavens, and from the throne of thy glory, that being present she may labour with me, that I may know what is pleasing unto thee.

11For she knoweth and understandeth all things, and she shall lead me soberly in my doings, and preserve me in her power.

12So shall my works be acceptable, and then shall I judge thy people righteously, and be worthy to sit in my father’s seat.

13For what man is he that can know the counsel of God? or who can think what the will of the Lord is?

14For the thoughts of mortal men are miserable, and our devices are but uncertain.

15For the corruptible body presseth down the soul, and the earthy tabernacle weigheth down the mind that museth upon many things.

16And hardly do we guess aright at things that are upon earth, and with labour do we find the things that are before us: but the things that are in heaven who hath searched out?

17And thy counsel who hath known, except thou give wisdom, and send thy Holy Spirit from above?

18For so the ways of them which lived on the earth were reformed, and men were taught the things that are pleasing unto thee, and were saved through wisdom.

10She preserved the first formed father of the world, that was created alone, and brought him out of his fall,

2And gave him power to rule all things.

3But when the unrighteous went away from her in his anger, he perished also in the fury wherewith he murdered his brother.

4For whose cause the earth being drowned with the flood, wisdom again preserved it, and directed the course of the righteous in a piece of wood of small value.

5Moreover, the nations in their wicked conspiracy being confounded, she found out the righteous, and preserved him blameless unto God, and kept him strong against his tender compassion toward his son.

6When the ungodly perished, she delivered the righteous man, who fled from the fire which fell down upon the five cities.

7Of whose wickedness even to this day the waste land that smoketh is a testimony, and plants bearing fruit that never come to ripeness: and a standing pillar of salt is a monument of an unbelieving soul.

8For regarding not wisdom, they gat not only this hurt, that they knew not the things which were good; but also left behind them to the world a memorial of their foolishness: so that in the things wherein they offended they could not so much as be hid.

9But wisdom delivered from pain those that attended upon her.

10When the righteous fled from his brother’s wrath she guided him in right paths, shewed him the kingdom of God, and gave him knowledge of holy things, made him rich in his travels, and multiplied the fruit of his labours.

11In the covetousness of such as oppressed him she stood by him, and made him rich.

12She defended him from his enemies, and kept him safe from those that lay in wait, and in a sore conflict she gave him the victory; that he might know that goodness is stronger than all.

13When the righteous was sold, she forsook him not, but delivered him from sin: she went down with him into the pit,

14And left him not in bonds, till she brought him the sceptre of the kingdom, and power against those that oppressed him: as for them that had accused him, she shewed them to be liars, and gave him perpetual glory.

15She delivered the righteous people and blameless seed from the nation that oppressed them.

16She entered into the soul of the servant of the Lord, and withstood dreadful kings in wonders and signs;

17Rendered to the righteous a reward of their labours, guided them in a marvellous way, and was unto them for a cover by day, and a light of stars in the night season;

18Brought them through the Red sea, and led them through much water:

19But she drowned their enemies, and cast them up out of the bottom of the deep.

20Therefore the righteous spoiled the ungodly, and praised thy holy name, O Lord, and magnified with one accord thine hand, that fought for them.

21For wisdom opened the mouth of the dumb, and made the tongues of them that cannot speak eloquent.

11She prospered their works in the hand of the holy prophet.

2They went through the wilderness that was not inhabited, and pitched tents in places where there lay no way.

3They stood against their enemies, and were avenged of their adversaries.

4When they were thirsty, they called upon thee, and water was given them out of the flinty rock, and their thirst was quenched out of the hard stone.

5For by what things their enemies were punished, by the same they in their need were benefited.

6For instead of a perpetual running river troubled with foul blood,

7For a manifest reproof of that commandment, whereby the infants were slain, thou gavest unto them abundance of water by a means which they hoped not for:

8Declaring by that thirst then how thou hadst punished their adversaries.

9For when they were tried albeit but in mercy chastised, they knew how the ungodly were judged in wrath and tormented, thirsting in another manner than the just.

10For these thou didst admonish and try, as a father: but the other, as a severe king, thou didst condemn and punish.

11Whether they were absent or present, they were vexed alike.

12For a double grief came upon them, and a groaning for the remembrance of things past.

13For when they heard by their own punishments the other to be benefited, they had some feeling of the Lord.

14For whom they respected with scorn, when he was long before thrown out at the casting forth of the infants, him in the end, when they saw what came to pass, they admired.

15But for the foolish devices of their wickedness, wherewith being deceived they worshipped serpents void of reason, and vile beasts, thou didst send a multitude of unreasonable beasts upon them for vengeance;

16That they might know, that wherewithal a man sinneth, by the same also shall he be punished.

17For thy Almighty hand, that made the world of matter without form, wanted not means to send among them a multitude of bears or fierce lions,

18Or unknown wild beasts, full of rage, newly created, breathing out either a fiery vapour, or filthy scents of scattered smoke, or shooting horrible sparkles out of their eyes:

19Whereof not only the harm might dispatch them at once, but also the terrible sight utterly destroy them.

20Yea, and without these might they have fallen down with one blast, being persecuted of vengeance, and scattered abroad through the breath of thy power: but thou hast ordered all things in measure and number and weight.

21For thou canst shew thy great strength at all times when thou wilt; and who may withstand the power of thine arm?

22For the whole world before thee is as a little grain of the balance, yea, as a drop of the morning dew that falleth down upon the earth.

23But thou hast mercy upon all; for thou canst do all things, and winkest at the sins of men, because they should amend.

24For thou lovest all the things that are, and abhorrest nothing which thou hast made: for never wouldest thou have made any thing, if thou hadst hated it.

25And how could any thing have endured, if it had not been thy will? or been preserved, if not called by thee?

26But thou sparest all: for they are thine, O Lord, thou lover of souls.

12For thine incorruptible Spirit is in all things.

2Therefore chastenest thou them by little and little that offend, and warnest them by putting them in remembrance wherein they have offended, that leaving their wickedness they may believe on thee, O Lord.

3For it was thy will to destroy by the hands of our fathers both those old inhabitants of thy holy land,

4Whom thou hatedst for doing most odious works of witchcrafts, and wicked sacrifices;

5And also those merciless murderers of children, and devourers of man’s flesh, and the feasts of blood,

6With their priests out of the midst of their idolatrous crew, and the parents, that killed with their own hands souls destitute of help:

7That the land, which thou esteemedst above all other, might receive a worthy colony of God’s children.

8Nevertheless even those thou sparedst as men, and didst send wasps, forerunners of thine host, to destroy them by little and little.

9Not that thou wast unable to bring the ungodly under the hand of the righteous in battle, or to destroy them at once with cruel beasts, or with one rough word:

10But executing thy judgments upon them by little and little, thou gavest them place of repentance, not being ignorant that they were a naughty generation, and that their malice was bred in them, and that their cogitation would never be changed.

11For it was a cursed seed from the beginning; neither didst thou for fear of any man give them pardon for those things wherein they sinned.

12For who shall say, What hast thou done? or who shall withstand thy judgment? or who shall accuse thee for the nations that perish, whom thou made? or who shall come to stand against thee, to be revenged for the unrighteous men?

13For neither is there any God but thou that careth for all, to whom thou mightest shew that thy judgment is not unright.

14Neither shall king or tyrant be able to set his face against thee for any whom thou hast punished.

15Forsomuch then as thou art righteous thyself, thou orderest all things righteously: thinking it not agreeable with thy power to condemn him that hath not deserved to be punished.

16For thy power is the beginning of righteousness, and because thou art the Lord of all, it maketh thee to be gracious unto all.

17For when men will not believe that thou art of a full power, thou shewest thy strength, and among them that know it thou makest their boldness manifest.

18But thou, mastering thy power, judgest with equity, and orderest us with great favour: for thou mayest use power when thou wilt.

19But by such works hast thou taught thy people that the just man should be merciful, and hast made thy children to be of a good hope that thou givest repentance for sins.

20For if thou didst punish the enemies of thy children, and the condemned to death, with such deliberation, giving them time and place, whereby they might be delivered from their malice:

21With how great circumspection didst thou judge thine own sons, unto whose fathers thou hast sworn, and made covenants of good promises?

22Therefore, whereas thou dost chasten us, thou scourgest our enemies a thousand times more, to the intent that, when we judge, we should carefully think of thy goodness, and when we ourselves are judged, we should look for mercy.

23Wherefore, whereas men have lived dissolutely and unrighteously, thou hast tormented them with their own abominations.

24For they went astray very far in the ways of error, and held them for gods, which even among the beasts of their enemies were despised, being deceived, as children of no understanding.

25Therefore unto them, as to children without the use of reason, thou didst send a judgment to mock them.

26But they that would not be reformed by that correction, wherein he dallied with them, shall feel a judgment worthy of God.

27For, look, for what things they grudged, when they were punished, that is, for them whom they thought to be gods; now being punished in them, when they saw it, they acknowledged him to be the true God, whom before they denied to know: and therefore came extreme damnation upon them.


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