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Footnote:
Chapter 4:7. See the beautiful description, Ecclesiasticus 6:18-31; 24. Bp. Lowth's elegant translation. – Lect. On Heb. Poetry, 24.
Proverbs 4:7
7 Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding.
Ecclesiasticus 6:18-31
18 My son, gather instruction from thy youth up: so shalt thou find wisdom till thine old age.
19 Come unto her as one that ploweth and soweth, and wait for her good fruits: for thou shalt not toil much in labouring about her, but thou shalt eat of her fruits right soon.
20 She is very unpleasant to the unlearned: he that is without understanding will not remain with her.
21 She will lie upon him as a mighty stone of trial; and he will cast her from him ere it be long.
22 For wisdom is according to her name, and she is not manifest unto many.
23 Give ear, my son, receive my advice, and refuse not my counsel,
24 And put thy feet into her fetters, and thy neck into her chain.
25 Bow down thy shoulder, and bear her, and be not grieved with her bonds.
26 Come unto her with thy whole heart, and keep her ways with all thy power.
27 Search, and seek, and she shall be made known unto thee: and when thou hast got hold of her, let her not go.
28 For at the last thou shalt find her rest, and that shall be turned to thy joy.
29 Then shall her fetters be a strong defence for thee, and her chains a robe of glory.
30 For there is a golden ornament upon her, and her bands are purple lace.
31 Thou shalt put her on as a robe of honour, and shalt put her about thee as a crown of joy.
Ecclesiasticus 24
1 Wisdom shall praise herself, and shall glory in the midst of her people.
2 In the congregation of the most High shall she open her mouth, and triumph before his power.
3 I came out of the mouth of the most High, and covered the earth as a cloud.
4 I dwelt in high places, and my throne is in a cloudy pillar.
5 I alone compassed the circuit of heaven, and walked in the bottom of the deep.
6 In the waves of the sea and in all the earth, and in every people and nation, I got a possession.
7 With all these I sought rest: and in whose inheritance shall I abide?
8 So the Creator of all things gave me a commandment, and he that made me caused my tabernacle to rest, and said, Let thy dwelling be in Jacob, and thine inheritance in Israel.
9 He created me from the beginning before the world, and I shall never fail.
10 In the holy tabernacle I served before him; and so was I established in Sion.
11 Likewise in the beloved city he gave me rest, and in Jerusalem was my power.
12 And I took root in an honourable people, even in the portion of the Lord's inheritance.
13 I was exalted like a cedar in Libanus, and as a cypress tree upon the mountains of Hermon.
14 I was exalted like a palm tree in En-gaddi, and as a rose plant in Jericho, as a fair olive tree in a pleasant field, and grew up as a plane tree by the water.
15 I gave a sweet smell like cinnamon and aspalathus, and I yielded a pleasant odour like the best myrrh, as galbanum, and onyx, and sweet storax, and as the fume of frankincense in the tabernacle.
16 As the turpentine tree I stretched out my branches, and my branches are the branches of honour and grace.
17 As the vine brought I forth pleasant savour, and my flowers are the fruit of honour and riches.
18 I am the mother of fair love, and fear, and knowledge, and holy hope: I therefore, being eternal, am given to all my children which are named of him.
19 Come unto me, all ye that be desirous of me, and fill yourselves with my fruits.
20 For my memorial is sweeter than honey, and mine inheritance than the honeycomb.
21 They that eat me shall yet be hungry, and they that drink me shall yet be thirsty.
22 He that obeyeth me shall never be confounded, and they that work by me shall not do amiss.
23 All these things are the book of the covenant of the most high God, even the law which Moses commanded for an heritage unto the congregations of Jacob.
24 Faint not to be strong in the Lord; that he may confirm you, cleave unto him: for the Lord Almighty is God alone, and beside him there is no other Saviour.
25 He filleth all things with his wisdom, as Phison and as Tigris in the time of the new fruits.
26 He maketh the understanding to abound like Euphrates, and as Jordan in the time of the harvest.
27 He maketh the doctrine of knowledge appear as the light, and as Geon in the time of vintage.
28 The first man knew her not perfectly: no more shall the last find her out.
29 For her thoughts are more than the sea, and her counsels profounder than the great deep.
30 I also came out as a brook from a river, and as a conduit into a garden.
31 I said, I will water my best garden, and will water abundantly my garden bed: and, lo, my brook became a river, and my river became a sea.
32 I will yet make doctrine to shine as the morning, and will send forth her light afar off.
33 I will yet pour out doctrine as prophecy, and leave it to all ages for ever.
34 Behold that I have not laboured for myself only, but for all them that seek wisdom.
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