Proverbs 8 — Legacy Standard Bible

The Blessing of Wisdom

8Does not ^awisdom call,And discernment give forth her voice?²At the top of ^athe heights upon the way,Where the pathways meet, she takes her stand;³Beside the ^agates, at the opening to the city,At the entrance of the doors, she makes a shout:⁴“To you, O men, I call,And my voice is to the sons of men.⁵“O ^asimple ones, understand prudence;And, O ^bfools, understand a heart of wisdom.⁶“Listen, for I will speak ^anoble things;And the opening of my lips will reveal ^bupright things.⁷“For my ^amouth will utter truth;And wickedness is an abomination to my lips.⁸“All the words of my mouth are in righteousness;There is nothing ^atwisted or crooked in them.⁹“They are all ^astraightforward to him who understands,And right to those who ^bfind knowledge.¹⁰“Take my ^adiscipline and not silver,And knowledge rather than choicest fine gold.¹¹“For wisdom is ^abetter than pearls;And ^ball desirable things cannot compare with her.¹²“I, wisdom, ^adwell with prudence,And I find ^bknowledge and discretion.¹³“The ^afear of Yahweh is to hate evil;^bPride and arrogance and ^cthe evil wayAnd the mouth of ¹^,^dperverted words, I hate.¹⁴“^aCounsel is mine and ^bsound wisdom;I am understanding, ^cmight is mine.¹⁵“By me ^akings reign,And rulers mark out righteousness.¹⁶“By me princes rule, and nobles,All who judge rightly.¹⁷“I ^alove those who love me;And ^bthose who earnestly seek me will find me.¹⁸“^aRiches and glory are with me,Enduring ^bwealth and righteousness.¹⁹“My fruit is ^abetter than fine gold, even pure gold,And my produce better than ^bchoice silver.²⁰“I walk in the path of righteousness,In the midst of the pathways of justice,²¹To give those who love me an inheritance of wealth,That I may ^afill their treasuries.²²“Yahweh possessed me ^aat the beginning of His way,Before His deeds ¹of old.²³“From everlasting I was ¹^,^ainstalled,From the beginning, ^bfrom the earliest times of the earth.²⁴“When there were no ^adepths I was ¹brought forth,When there were no springs heavy with water.²⁵“^aBefore the mountains were settled,Before the hills I was ¹brought forth;²⁶While He had not yet made the earth and the fields outside,Nor the first dust of the world.²⁷“When He ^aestablished the heavens, I was there,When ^bHe marked out a circle on the face of the deep,²⁸When He made firm the skies above,When the springs of the deep became strong,²⁹When ^aHe set for the sea its boundarySo that the water would not pass over His ¹command,When He marked out ^bthe foundations of the earth;³⁰Then ^aI was beside Him, as a master workman;And I was a daily delight,¹Rejoicing always before Him,³¹¹Rejoicing in the world, His earth,^aMy delight is in the sons of men.³²“So now, O sons, ^alisten to me,For ^bblessed are they who keep my ways.³³“^aHear discipline and be wise,And do not neglect it.³⁴“^aHow blessed is the man who hears me,To watch daily at my doors,To keep watch at my doorposts.³⁵“For ^ahe who finds me finds lifeAnd ^bobtains favor from Yahweh.³⁶“But he who ¹sins against me ^adoes violence to his own soul;All those who ^bhate me ^clove death.”