Ecclesiasticus
Ecclesiasticus 24
Chapter XXIV · Vol. III, p. 1567
1 Wisdom doth praise herself, shewing her beginning, her dwelling, her glory, her fruit, her increase and perfection.
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.
4 2I dwelt in high places, and my throne is in a cloudy pillar.
2 Job 22. 14.
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 3created me from the beginning before the world, and I shall never fail.
3 Prov. 8. 22.
11 5Likewise in the 6beloved city he gave me rest, and in Jerusalem was my power.
5 Ps. 132. 14.
6 Or, holy.
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 7Engaddi, and as a rose-plant in Jericho, as a fair olive-tree in a pleasant field, and grew up as a plane-tree 8by the water.
7 Or, Cades.
8 Or, in 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 9tabernacle.
9 Ex. 36. 34.
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 a pleasant savour, and my flowers are the fruit of honour and riches.
* John 15. 1.
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.
† Or, chosen.
19 Come unto me, all ye that be desirous of me, and fill yourselves with my fruits.
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 a heritage unto the congregations of Jacob.
¶ Ex. 20. 1. & 24. 3. Deut. 4. 1. & 29. 1.
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 besides him there is no other Saviour.
25 He filleth all things with his wisdom, as 1Phison and as Tigris in the time of the new fruits.
1 Gen. 2. 11.
26 He maketh the understanding to abound like Euphrates, and as 2Jordan in the time of the harvest.
2 Josh. 3. 15.
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.
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.