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24:1  Listen to Wisdom! She proudly sings her own praises among the Israelites, her own people,
24:2  in the assembly of the Most High, in the presence of his power.
24:3  I am the word spoken by the Most High. I covered the earth like a mist.
24:4  I made my home in highest heaven, my throne on a pillar of cloud.
24:5  Alone I walked around the circle of the sky and walked through the ocean beneath the earth.
24:6  I ruled over all the earth and the ocean waves, over every nation, over every people.
24:7  I looked everywhere for a place to settle, some part of the world to make my home.
24:8  Then my Creator, who created the universe, told me where I was to live. Make your home in Israel, he said. The descendants of Jacob will be your people.
24:9  He created me in eternity, before time began, and I will exist for all eternity to come.
24:10  I served him in the Sacred Tent and then made my home on Mount Zion.
24:11  He settled me in the Beloved City and gave me authority over Jerusalem.
24:12  I put down roots among an honored people whom the Lord had chosen as his own.
24:13  I grew tall, like the cedars in Lebanon, like the cypresses on Mount Hermon,
24:14  like the palm trees of Engedi, like the roses of Jericho, like beautiful olive trees in the fields, like plane trees growing by the water.
24:15  My breath was the spicy smell of cinnamon, of sweet perfume and finest myrrh, of stacte, onycha, and galbanum, the fragrant incense in the Sacred Tent.
24:16  Like an oak I spread out my branches, magnificent and graceful.
24:17  Like a grapevine I put out lovely shoots; my blossoms gave way to rich and glorious fruit.
24:19  Come to me, all you that want me, and eat your fill of my fruit.
24:20  You will remember me as sweeter than honey, better than honey from the comb.
24:21  Eat me, and you will hunger for more; drink me, and you will thirst for more.
24:22  Obey me, and you will never have cause for embarrassment; do as I say, and you will be safe from sin.
24:23  Wisdom is the Law, the Law which Moses commanded us to keep, the covenant of God Most High, the inheritance of the synagogues of Israel.
24:25  The Law overflows with Wisdom like the Pishon River, like the Tigris at fruit-picking time.
24:26  The Law brims over with understanding like the Euphrates, like the Jordan at harvest time.
24:27  It sparkles with teachings like the Nile, like the Gihon at grape-picking time.
24:28  The first human being ever created never knew Wisdom completely, and the last person on earth will be no more successful.
24:29  The possibilities of Wisdom are vaster than the ocean; her resources are more profound than the deepest waters beneath the earth.
24:30  As for me, I thought of myself as an irrigation canal bringing water from a river into a garden.
24:31  I only intended to water my orchard and flower beds, but the canal soon became a river, and the river became a sea.
24:32  And so I present you with my learning; I hold it high, so that its light can be seen everywhere, like that of the rising sun.
24:33  Like an inspired prophet, I pour out my teachings, so that future generations can benefit from them.
24:34  Please realize that I have not done all this hard work for myself alone, but to help anyone who wants to be wise.