1Wisdom displays her strength from one end of the earth to the other, ordering all things rightly.
2I loved her and sought her from my youth; I strove to have her as my bride for I had fallen in love with her beauty.
3Her nearness to God tells of her noble birth. Because the Lord of all has loved her, 4she is instructed in God’s knowledge and chooses his works.
5If we desire riches in life, what is richer than Wisdom who is the active cause of everything? 6If the intellect shows itself in action, still more does she who fashions everything. 7If you love righteousness, every virtue is the fruit of her labor, for she teaches temperance, prudence, justice, fortitude – all that is most valuable in life.
8If someone is eager for experience, she knows what took place in the past and forecasts the future. She has the art of interpretation and knows how to solve riddles, she foresees signs and wonders, the end of ages and eras.
9This is why I decided to have her as companion for life, knowing she would be a wise counselor and encourage me in times of worry and distress.
10I thought: With her I shall have glory among the nations and, although young, honor among the elderly; 11I shall be found penetrating in judgment and be admired by the powerful.
12If I am silent they will wait to hear me; if I speak, they will pay attention; though I speak at length they will put their hand on their lips.
13Thanks to her I shall win immortality, and to those who come after me I shall leave an everlasting memory.
14I shall govern peoples, and nations will be subject to me. 15Terrible sovereigns will cower when they hear of my name, but to my people I shall show myself kind; in battle, courageous.
16When I come home I shall take my rest with her, for there is nothing bitter in her company and no suffering in sharing life with her, only pleasure and joy.
17Pondering over all this, I understood that I would achieve immortality by being united to Wisdom; 18I would have pure delight through friendship with her, inexhaustible riches in what she does, understanding from being in her company and renown from sharing her conversation. Then I set out to seek and possess her.
19I had a pleasant personality even as a child and 20was good-natured or rather, being good, I had entered an undefiled body.
21But knowing that I could only possess Wisdom if she were given me by God – it was a mark of intelligence to know who was the donor – I turned to the Lord and implored him, saying with all my heart:
