1 Wisdom displays her strength from one end of the earth to the other, ordering all things rightly.
2 I 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.
3 Her nearness to God tells of her noble birth. Because the Lord of all has loved her,
4 she is instructed in God’s knowledge and chooses his works.
5 If we desire riches in life, what is richer than Wisdom who is the active cause of everything?
6 If the intellect shows itself in action, still more does she who fashions everything.
7 If 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.
8 If 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.
9 This 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.
10 I thought: With her I shall have glory among the nations and, although young, honor among the elderly;
11 I shall be found penetrating in judgment and be admired by the powerful.
12 If 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.
13 Thanks to her I shall win immortality, and to those who come after me I shall leave an everlasting memory.
14 I shall govern peoples, and nations will be subject to me.
15 Terrible sovereigns will cower when they hear of my name, but to my people I shall show myself kind; in battle, courageous.
16 When 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.
17 Pondering over all this, I understood that I would achieve immortality by being united to Wisdom;
18 I 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.
19 I had a pleasant personality even as a child and
20 was good-natured or rather, being good, I had entered an undefiled body.
21 But 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: