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1 She reaches therefore from end to end mightily, and orders all things sweetly. 2 Her I have loved, and have sought her out from my youth, and have desired to take her for my spouse, and I became a lover of her beauty. 3 She glorifies her nobility by being conversant with God: yea and the Lord of all things has loved her. 4 For it is she that teaches the knowledge of God, and is the chooser of his works. 5 And if riches be desired in life, what is richer than wisdom, which makes all things? 6 And if sense do work: who is a more artful worker than she of those things that are? 7 And if a man love justice: her labours have great virtues; for she teaches temperance, and prudence, and justice, and fortitude, which are such things as men can have nothing more profitable in life. 8 And if a man desire much knowledge: she knows things past, and judges of things to come: she knows the subtilties of speeches, and the solutions of arguments: she knows signs and wonders before they be done, and the events of times and ages.


9 I purposed therefore to take her to me to live with me: knowing that she will communicate to me of her good things, and will be a comfort in my cares and grief. 10 For her sake I shall have glory among the multitude, and honour with the ancients, though I be young: 11 And I shall be found of a quick conceit in judgment, and shall be admired in the sight of the mighty, and the faces of princes shall wonder at me. 12 They shall wait for me when I hold my peace, and they shall look upon me when I speak, and if I talk much they shall lay their hands on their mouths. 13 Moreover by the means of her I shall have immortality: and shall leave behind me an everlasting memory to them that come after me. 14 I shall set the people in order: and nations shall be subject to me. 15 Terrible kings hearing shall be afraid of me: among the multitude I shall be found good, and valiant in war. 16 When I go into my house, I shall repose myself with her: for her conversation has no bitterness, nor her company any tediousness, but joy and gladness. 17 Thinking these things with myself, and pondering them in my heart, that to be allied to wisdom is immortality, 18 And that there is great delight in her friendship, and inexhaustible riches in the works of her hands, and in the exercise of conference with her, wisdom, and glory in the communication of her words: I went about seeking, that I might take her to myself.


19 And I was a witty child and had received a good soul. 20 And whereas I was more good, I came to a body undefiled. 21 And as I knew that I could not otherwise be continent, except God gave it, and this also was a point of wisdom, to know whose gift it was: I went to the Lord, and besought him, and said with my whole heart:

 

 

 

8:1 from end to end: That is, from the beginning of the world to the coming of Christ. (Rabanus Maurus) 8:2 The form of wisdom is truth which all, who think in a genuine religious way, want most earnestly to recognize, because it alone is that by which all the elect of God hope to be blessed in eternal quiet. Truth says to Peter in the Gospel John 17:3: ‘Now this is eternal life that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent’. (Rabanus Maurus) 8:3 conversant with God: With the Father because she is coeternal with the Father. (Rabanus Maurus) 8:7 great virtues: Nothing idle nor lazy in her works. He states the four main virtues; temperance, that is moderation. prudence, that is, in discerning and loving good; justice, in paying debts; and fortitude, that is, strength. (Rabanus Maurus) 8:8 signs and wonders: a miracle whatever seems to be difficult or unusual and beyond the hope and understanding of the admirer. (St. Augustine Liber de util cred 16.34) 8:11 He is found to be young and quick in judgment, since he discerns and judges everything according to the decree of the law of God. (Rabanus Maurus) 8:12 when I speak: That is, when I speak they shall look at me attentive to my words. (Interlinear Gloss) 8:14 I shall set: That is, i shall teach. (Interlinear Gloss)

8:15 All this was fulfilled in Christ in a spiritual sense, and they can be understood of Christ. (Rabanus Maurus) 8:17 Whatever is known of her nature is found to be totally immortal and to live always. (Rabanus Maurus) 8:18 Bodily delights weigh down the body, while spiritual delights lift up the mind. The more one hungers for bodily delights, the more are they eaten; they please the appetite, but the taste displeases. Spiritual delights, however, increase desire, and the more they are taken the more avidly are they loved. (Rabanus Maurus) Philo states five things that every preacher or doctor should have so that wisdom might be preached or taught: The first is to think about wisdom which is touched on here: Thinking these things with myself. The second is a love of wisdom, which is touched on there: there is great delight in her friendship. The third is work, touched on in the words: inexhaustible riches in the works of her hands. The fourth is zeal which is touched on here: in the exercise of conference with her. The fifth is teaching or preaching, touched on in the words: glory in the communication of her words. (Hugh of St. Cher) 8:19-20 a body undefiled: As a youth Solomon asked God for wisdom, he therefore became most wise and seems to have received a good soul, with a wise and intelligent heart. But how it is right to say of him: I came to a body undefiled, since he loved foreign women and built idols [1 Kings 11:1ff.]? It would seem to apply more fittingly to the people of the Saints who are reborn in baptism and are imbued with the faith of the Saviour, and have shown a childhood of good character and simple innocence. (Rabanus Maurus)

 

CCC 8:1 302; 8:2 2500; 8:7 1805;