The Book of Sirach (or Ecclesiasticus)
Chapter 24
1 – Wisdom shall praise her own self, and shall be honoured in God, and shall glory in the midst of her people,
2 – And shall open her mouth in the churches of the most High, and shall glorify herself in the sight of his power,
3 – And in the midst of her own people she shall be exalted, and shall be ad- mired in the holy assembly.
4 – And in the multitude of the elect she shall have praise, and among the blessed she shall be blessed, saying:
5 – I came out of the mouth of the most High, the firstborn before all creatures:
6 – I made that in the heavens there should rise light that never faileth, and as a cloud I covered all the earth:
7 – I dwelt in the highest places, and my throne is in a pillar of a cloud.
8 – I alone have compassed the circuit of heaven, and have penetrated into the bottom of the deep, and have walked in the waves of the sea,
9 – And have stood in all the earth: and in every people,
10 – And in every nation I have had the chief rule:
11 – And by my power I have trodden under my feet the hearts of all the high and low: and in all these I sought rest, and I shall abide in the inheritance of the Lord.
12 – Then the creator of all things commanded, and said to me: and he that made me, rested in my tabernacle,
13 – And he said to me: Let thy dwelling be in Jacob, and thy inheritance in Israel, and take root in my elect.
14 – From the beginning, and before the world, was I created, and unto the world to come I shall not cease to be, and in the holy dwelling place I have ministered before him.
15 – And so was I established in Sion, and in the holy city likewise I rested, and my power was in Jerusalem.
16 – And I took root in an honourable people, and in the portion of mg God his inheritance, and my abode is in the full assembly of saints.
17 – I was exalted like a cedar in Libanus, and as a cypress tree on mount Sion.
18 – I was exalted like a palm tree in Cades, and as a rose plant in Jericho:
19 – As a fair olive tree in the plains, and as a plane tree by the water in the streets, was I exalted.
20 – I gave a sweet smell like cinnamon. and aromatical balm: I yielded a sweet odour like the best myrrh:
21 – And I perfumed my dwelling as storax, and galbanum, and onyx, and aloes, and as the frankincense not cut, and my odour is as the purest balm.
22 – I have stretched out my branches as the turpentine tree, and my branches are of honour and grace.
23 – As the vine I have brought forth a pleasant odour: and my flowers are the fruit of honour and riches.
24 – I am the mother of fair love, and of fear, and of knowledge, and of holy hope.
25 – In me is all grace of the way and of the truth, in me is all hope of life and of virtue.
26 – Come over to me, all ye that desire me, and be filled with my fruits.
27 – For my spirit is sweet above honey, and my inheritance above honey and the honeycomb.
28 – My memory is unto everlasting generations.
29 – They that eat me, shall yet hunger: and they that drink me, shall yet thirst.
30 – He that hearkeneth to me, shall not be confounded: and they that work by me, shall not sin.
31 – They that explain me shall have life everlasting.
32 – All these things are the book of life, and the covenant of the most High, and the knowledge of truth.
33 – Moses commanded a law in the precepts of justices, and an inheritance to the house of Jacob, and the promises to Israel.
34 – He appointed to David his servant to raise up of him a most mighty king, and sitting on the throne of glory for ever.
35 – Who filleth up wisdom as the Phison, and as the Tigris in the days of the new fruits.
36 – Who maketh understanding to abound as the Euphrates, who multiplieth it as the Jordan in the time of harvest.
37 – Who sendeth knowledge as the light, and riseth up as Gehon in the time of the vintage.
38 – Who first hath perfect knowledge of her, and a weaker shall not search her out.
39 – For her thoughts are more vast than the sea, and her counsels more deep than the great ocean.
40 – I, wisdom, have poured out rivers.
41 – I, like a brook out of a river of a mighty water; I, like a channel of a river. and like an aqueduct, came out of paradise.
42 – I said: I will water my garden of plants, and I will water abundantly the fruits of my meadow.
43 – And behold my brook became a great river, and my river came near to a sea:
44 – For I make doctrine to shine forth to all as the morning light, and I will declare it afar off.
45 – I will penetrate to all the lower parts of the earth, and will behold all that sleep, and will enlighten all that hope in the Lord.
46 – I will yet pour out doctrine as prophecy, and will leave it to them that seek wisdom, and will not cease to instruct their offspring even to the holy age.
47 – See ye that I have not laboured for myself only, but for all that seek out the truth.
The Catholic Bible Online. Scriptures are from The Douay Rheims Catholic Bible 1582-1610 a.d. Version In the Public Domain. The Douay Rheims Bible is a translation of the Bible from the Latin Vulgate into English undertaken by members of the English College, Douai in the service of the Catholic Church.