Wisdom Sings Her Praise

He gave them good sense, a tongue and eyes,ears, and a heart to understand with.He filled them with the knowledge of wisdom,and showed them good and evil.He set his eye on their hearts,to show them how great his works are.And they will praise his holy name,so that they can tell how great his works are.

He gave them still more knowledge,and handed them a law of life as their inheritance.He made a covenant with them that lasts forever,and showed them his rulings.Their eyes saw his great glory.Their ears heard his glorious voice.He told them, “Keep away from every wrong.”And he gave each of them commands about his neighbor.

For every nation he set a ruler in place,but Israel is the Lord’s own share.

Yet he lets those who repent come back,and he comforts those who are losing hope.How great is the mercy of the Lord,and his forgiveness to those who turn to him!

One person stays silent and turns out to be wise,and another is hated because he talks so much.One stays silent because he has no answer to give,and another stays silent, knowing when to speak.A wise man stays silent until his time comes,but the boaster and the fool miss their time.

Throw a stone at birds, and you scare them away.Insult a friend, and your friendship melts away.If you have drawn a sword against a friend, don’t give up hope,because there may be a way back.If you have spoken against a friend, don’t be afraid,because you may still make peace,unless it was insults, pride, telling a secret, or a traitor’s blow.Any friend will run from those.

“I came out of the mouth of the Most High,and covered the earth as a mist.I lived in high places,and my throne is in the pillar of cloud.Alone I went the whole way around the heavens,and walked in the depths of the great deep.In the waves of the sea and in all the earth,in every people and nation, I gained a possession.Among all of these I looked for a place to rest.In whose inheritance would I stay?Then the Creator of all things gave me a command.The one who created me gave my tent a place to rest,and said, ‘Make your home in Jacob,and receive your inheritance in Israel.’He created me from the beginning, before the ages.Through all the ages I will never come to an end.In the holy tabernacle, I served him.So I was given a firm place in Zion.In the beloved city, he gave me rest as well.Jerusalem was where I ruled.I took root among a people who were honored,in the Lord’s own share, his inheritance.

“I rose high like a cedar in Lebanon,and like a cypress tree on the mountains of Hermon.I rose high like a palm tree on the seashore,like rosebushes in Jericho,and like a beautiful olive tree in the plain.I rose high like a plane tree.Like cinnamon and aspalathus, I have given perfumes their scent.Like the best myrrh, I spread a pleasant fragrance,like galbanum, onycha, stacte,and like the smell of frankincense in the tabernacle.Like the terebinth, I stretched out my branches.My branches are glorious and graceful.Like the vine, I put out beauty,and my flowers are the fruit of glory and riches.

“Come to me, all you who long for me,and fill yourselves with my fruit.Remembering me is sweeter than honey,and my inheritance is sweeter than the honeycomb.Those who eat me will be hungry for more.Those who drink me will be thirsty for more.Whoever obeys me won’t be ashamed.Those who work with me will not sin.”

It is he who makes wisdom plentiful like the Pishon,and like the Tigris in the days of the first harvest.He makes understanding run full like the Euphrates,and like the Jordan at harvest time.He makes teaching shine out like the light,like the Gihon when the grapes are gathered.The first man didn’t know wisdom perfectly,and the last has not explored her either,because her thoughts are filled from the sea,and her advice from the great deep.

Then the son of Sirach says:

I came out like a channel dug from a river,like a ditch running into a garden.I said, “I will water my garden,and soak my garden bed.”And look, my stream became a river,and my river became a sea.I will still bring teaching to light like the morning,and make these things clear from far away.I will go on pouring out teaching like prophecy,and leave it to all generations.See, I have not worked for myself only,but for all who search hard for wisdom.

And there are sayings about anger:

Forgive your neighbor the hurt he has done you,and then, when you pray, your sins will be forgiven.Does anyone hold on to anger against anotherand still expect healing from the Lord?

Remember your own end, and stop being anyone’s enemy.Remember decay and death, and keep the commandments.Remember the commandments, and don’t be angry with your neighbor.Keep in mind the covenant of the Most High, and let it pass when people don’t know better.

Blow on a spark, and it will burn.Spit on it, and it will go out.Both come out of your mouth.

The lash of a whip leaves a mark on the skin,but the lash of a tongue will break bones.Many have fallen by the edge of the sword,yet even more have fallen because of the tongue.

You put a hedge of thorns around what you own,and lock up your silver and your gold.In the same way, make scales and a weight for your words,and make a door with a bar for your mouth.Take care not to slip with it,or you may fall in front of someone lying in wait.

Then the teaching speaks to anyone who is sick:

My son, when you are sick, don’t be careless,but pray to the Lord, and he will heal you.Stop doing wrong, and use your hands to do what is right.Clean your heart of every sin.Give an offering with a sweet smell, and a memorial of fine flour,and pour oil on your offering, according to what you have.Then make room for the doctor, because it was the Lord who created him.Don’t let him leave you, because you need him.There is a time when getting well is in the doctors’ hands.They too will ask the Lordto help them find what is wrong and heal it, to keep people alive.Whoever sins in the sight of his Maker,let him fall into the doctor’s hands.

So too with every craftsman and master workerwho keeps working by night as well as by day,those who cut engravings into seals.He works hard to make many different designs.His heart is set on making his picture true to life,and he takes care to finish his work.

So too with the blacksmith, sitting by the anvil,studying the iron he hasn’t yet shaped.The smoke of the fire wears his body down,and he toils in the heat of the furnace.The hammer’s noise deafens him.He keeps his eyes on the pattern of the thing he is making.His heart is set on making his work perfect,and he takes care to decorate it perfectly.

So too with the potter, sitting at his work,turning the wheel around with his feet.He is always busy and worried at his work,and he makes his pots in great numbers.He shapes the clay with his arm,and bends the stiff clay at his feet.His heart is set on finishing the glaze,and he takes care to clean out the kiln, the oven where pots are fired.

All these trust in their hands,and each one becomes skilled at his own work.Without them no city would have people living in it,and no one would stay there as a foreigner or walk around in it.No one will ask for them in the council of the people.They won’t rise high in the assembly.They won’t sit on the judge’s seat.They won’t understand the covenant of judgment.They won’t explain teaching or judgment.They won’t be found where parables are spoken.But they keep the world of their day standing,and their prayer is in the work of their craft.

It’s not like that for the one who has given himselfto thinking over the law of the Most High.He will search out the wisdom of all the people of long ago,and keep busy with prophecies.He will keep the sayings of famous men,and find his way into the fine points of parables.He will search out the hidden meaning of proverbs,and know his way around the riddles of parables.He will serve among great menand appear before the one who rules.He will travel through the lands of foreign nations,because he has learned what is good and evil among people.He will set his heart on turning early to the Lord who made him,and he will pray to the Most High.He will open his mouth in prayerand ask forgiveness for his sins.

If the great Lord wills it,he will be filled with the spirit of understanding.He will pour out the words of his wisdom,and in his prayers he will thank the Lord.

Many will speak well of his understanding,and as long as the world lasts, it won’t be wiped out.He won’t be forgotten.His name will live from generation to generation.Nations will tell of his wisdom,and the assembly will speak his praise.If he lives on, he will leave a greater name than a thousand others.If he comes to his final rest, that is enough for him.

How lovely all his works are!You can see it even in a spark.All these things live and last forever, for every kind of use,and they all obey.Everything is in pairs, one across from the other,and he has made nothing imperfect.One thing makes the good in another stronger.Who could ever see enough of his glory?

The pride of the heights is the clear sky,the look of heaven in all its glory.The sun, when it appears, brings news as it rises,a marvelous instrument, the work of the Most High.At noon it dries up the land.Who can stand against its burning heat?A man who tends a furnace is in burning heat,but the sun is three times hotter, burning up the mountains.It breathes out fiery vapors,and its bright beams blind the eyes.The Lord who made it is great.At his word he speeds it on its course.

The moon marks the changing seasons.It tells the times and is a sign for the world.The moon gives the sign for the feast days,a light that shrinks when it finishes its course.The month is named after it,and it grows in a wonderful way as it changes,an instrument of the army on high,shining in the framework of heaven,the beauty of heaven, the glory of the stars,a jewel giving light in the Lord’s highest places.At the word of the Holy One, they will stand in their order.They won’t grow tired as they keep watch.

Look at the rainbow, and praise the one who made it.It is very beautiful in its brightness.It circles the sky with its glorious ring.The hands of the Most High have stretched it out.

The eye is dazzled by its beautiful whiteness,and the heart is amazed as it falls.He also pours frost on the earth like salt,and when it freezes, it has points like thorns.The cold north wind blows,and ice freezes on the water.It settles on every pool,and the water puts it on like armor.It will eat up the mountains, burn up the wilderness,and destroy the green grass like fire.A mist that comes quickly heals everything,and dew coming after the heat brings gladness.

By his plan he has calmed the deep,and planted islands in it.Those who sail on the sea tell of its dangers,and when we hear it, we are amazed.In it there are strange and wonderful works too,every kind of living thing, and the huge creatures of the sea.Because of him, his messengers succeed.By his word, all things hold together.

We may say many things and still not say enough.All our words add up to this: “He is everything!”How could we have the strength to give him glory?He himself is greater than all his works.The Lord is awesome and very great!His power is marvelous!Give the Lord glory, and lift him up as high as you can,because even then he will be higher still.When you lift him up, use all your strength.Don’t grow tired, because you can never praise him enough.Who has seen him well enough to describe him?Who can praise him as he truly is?Many things greater than these are hidden,because we have seen only a few of his works.The Lord made all things,and he gave wisdom to the godly.