| 1. Will not wisdom call out, and understanding give forth its voice? |
|
א. |
| Will not wisdom call out: Does not the Torah announce for you the things mentioned below in this section? |
|
: |
|
| 2. At the top of the heights upon the road; at the crossroads she stands. |
|
ב. |
| 3. Beside the gates, at the entrance of the roof, at the entrance of the portals she cries, |
|
ג. |
| at the entrance of the roof: Heb. קרת, the ceiling above the gate, where people sit. |
|
: |
| she cries: Heb. תרנה, she cries, and what does she say?“To you, O men, I call.” |
|
: |
|
| 4. "To you, O men, I call, and my voice [is] to the children of man. |
|
ד. |
| 5. O simpletons, understand cunning, and you fools, give understanding to your heart. |
|
ה. |
| 6. Hearken for I will speak noble things, and the opening of my lips shall be right things. |
|
ו. |
| Hearken for I will speak noble things: Words of nobility and importance. |
|
: |
|
| 7. For my palate shall utter truth, and wickedness is an abomination of my lips. |
|
ז. |
| 8. All the sayings of my lips are with righteousness; there is nothing twisted or crooked in them. |
|
ח. |
| there is nothing twisted or crooked in them: There is no crookedness. |
|
: |
|
| 9. They are all true to the understanding one, and straight to those who find knowledge. |
|
ט. |
| 10. Take my discipline and not silver; knowledge is chosen above gold. |
|
י. |
| gold: Heb. חרוץ. A type of gold. |
|
: |
|
| 11. For wisdom is better than pearls; all desirable things cannot be compared to it. |
|
יא. |
| than pearls: Heb. מפנינים, pearls. |
|
: |
| cannot be compared to it: They will not equal its value. |
|
: |
|
| 12. I am wisdom; I dwelt [beside] cunning, and the knowledge of devices I will find. |
|
יב. |
| I dwelt [beside] cunning: Beside cunning, for since a man has learned Torah, cunning about every matter enters into him. |
|
: |
|
| 13. Fear of the Lord is to hate evil, haughtiness, pride, the way of evil, and a perverse mouth; [these] I hate. |
|
יג. |
| Fear of the Lord is to hate evil: This is the discipline that wisdom announces to the people. |
|
: |
|
| 14. I have counsel and sound wisdom; I am understanding; I have might. |
|
יד. |
| 15. Kings reign with me, and rulers legislate righteousness. |
|
טו. |
| Kings reign with me: for the judges and the judgments I teach them. |
|
: |
|
| 16. Through me princes govern, and nobles, yea, all judges of righteousness. |
|
טז. |
| 17. I will love those who love me, and those who seek me eagerly will find me. |
|
יז. |
| I will love those who love me: Heb. אהבי. [This is the reading.] The text is written: אוהביה, those who love her. Said the Holy One, blessed be He: “I will love those who love the Torah.” I heard this from Rabbi Aaron in the name of Rabbi Nathan. |
|
: |
| I will love: Heb. אהב, like אאהב. |
|
: |
| will find me: Heb. ימצאנני. There is an extra “nun,” denoting fifty. I will allow him to find the fifty gates of understanding. |
|
: |
|
| 18. Riches and honor are with me, powerful wealth and charity. |
|
יח. |
| 19. My fruit is better than gold-yea than fine gold- and my produce [is better] than choice silver. |
|
יט. |
| 20. In the way of righteousness I will go, in the midst of the paths of justice. |
|
כ. |
| 21. There is substance to give inheritance to those who love me, and I will fill their treasuries. |
|
כא. |
| There is substance to give inheritance: Heb. יש, lit. there is. There is with me a great inheritance. |
|
: |
|
| 22. The Lord acquired me at the beginning of His way, before His works of old. |
|
כב. |
| at the beginning of His way: before the creation of the world. |
|
: |
|
| 23. From the distant past I was enthroned, from the beginning, of those that preceded the earth. |
|
כג. |
| I was enthroned, from the beginning: Heb. נסכתי, an expression of (Ezek. 35): “Princes (נסיכי) of the sons of man.” |
|
: |
|
| 24. I was created when there were yet no deeps, when there were no fountains replete with water. |
|
כד. |
| I was created: Heb. חוללתי. |
|
: |
|
| 25. I was created before the mountains were sunk, before the hills; |
|
כה. |
| before the mountains were sunk: within the water. |
|
: |
|
| 26. when He had not yet made the land and the outsides and the beginning of the dust of the earth. |
|
כו. |
| the land and the outsides: The land of Israel and other lands. |
|
: |
| and the beginning of the dust of the earth: The first man. |
|
: |
|
| 27. When He established the heavens, there I was, when He drew a circle over the face of the deep; |
|
כז. |
| when He drew a circle over the face of the deep: When He drew the circle of the earth over the water, to draw a boundary that it may not pass. חוג is an expression of encircling, as in (Isa. 44: 13): “and with a compass (ובמחוגה) he rounds it.” (Compas in French, zirkel in German, as in Gen. 29:17, Isa. 5:22, 44:13, and Job 22: 14.) |
|
: |
|
| 28. when He made the skies above firm, when He strengthened the fountains of the deep; |
|
כח. |
| when He strengthened the fountains of the deep: When He made mighty the fountains of the deep. |
|
: |
|
| 29. when He gave the sea its boundary, and the water shall not transgress His command, when He established the foundations of the earth |
|
כט. |
| when He gave the sea its boundary: and decreed upon the Reed Sea when he created it, on the condition that it split before Moses. |
|
: |
| when He established the foundations of the earth: Heb. בחקו from an expression of engraving (חקוי) , as in (Isa. 49:16): “Behold on [My] hands I have engraved you (חקתיך) ,” and so (Ezek. 43:14): “And from the bottom (מחיק) upon the ground.” |
|
: |
|
| 30. I was a nursling beside Him, and I was [His] delight every day, playing before Him at all times; |
|
ל. |
| a nursling: Heb. אמון, one that was reared beside Him, an expression of (Lam. 4: 5): "They that were reared (האמנים) amid crimson. |
|
: |
| every day: יום יום, lit. a day a day, two thousand years. |
|
: |
|
| 31. playing in the habitable world of His earth, and [having] my delights with the children of man. |
|
לא. |
| playing in the habitable world of His earth: All the generations of the wicked that were from Adam to Noah and from Noah to Abraham, I was laughing at them. |
|
: |
| and [having] my delights: I waited until the generation of the desert came and accepted me. |
|
: |
|
| 32. And now, my children, hearken to me, and fortunate are those who observe my ways. |
|
לב. |
| 33. Hearken to discipline and become wise, and do not put it to naught. |
|
לג. |
| and do not put it to naught: Heb. תפרעו, and do not put my discipline to naught. |
|
: |
|
| 34. Fortunate is the man who listens to me to watch by my doors day by day, to watch the doorposts of my entrances. |
|
לד. |
| to watch: Heb. לשקד |
|
: |
| by my doors: [to be the] first to enter into the study hall and the synagogue and [the] last to leave. |
|
: |
|
| 35. For he who has found me has found life, and he has obtained favor from the Lord. |
|
לה. |
| 36. But he who sins against me robs his soul; all who hate me, love death." |