1: Do you hear Lady Wisdom calling? Can you hear Madame Insight raising her voice?
2: She's taken her stand at First and Main, at the busiest intersection.
3: Right in the city square where the traffic is thickest, she shouts,
4: "You--I'm talking to all of you, everyone out here on the streets!
5: Listen, you idiots--learn good sense! You blockheads--shape up!
6: Don't miss a word of this--I'm telling you how to live well, I'm telling you how to live at your best.
7: My mouth chews and savors and relishes truth--I can't stand the taste of evil!
8: You'll only hear true and right words from my mouth; not one syllable will be twisted or skewed.
9: You'll recognize this as true--you with open minds; truth--ready minds will see it at once.
10: Prefer my life--disciplines over chasing after money, and God-knowledge over a lucrative career.
11: For Wisdom is better than all the trappings of wealth; nothing you could wish for holds a candle to her.
12: "I am Lady Wisdom, and I live next to Sanity; Knowledge and Discretion live just down the street.
13: The Fear-of-GOD means hating Evil, whose ways I hate with a passion--pride and arrogance and crooked talk.
14: Good counsel and common sense are my characteristics; I am both Insight and the Virtue to live it out.
15: With my help, leaders rule, and lawmakers legislate fairly;
16: With my help, governors govern, along with all in legitimate authority.
17: I love those who love me; those who look for me find me.
18: Wealth and Glory accompany me--also substantial Honor and a Good Name.
19: My benefits are worth more than a big salary, even a very big salary; the returns on me exceed any imaginable bonus.
20: You can find me on Righteous Road--that's where I walk--at the intersection of Justice Avenue,
21: Handing out life to those who love me, filling their arms with life--armloads of life!
22: "GOD sovereignly made me--the first, the basic--before he did anything else.
23: I was brought into being a long time ago, well before Earth got its start.
24: I arrived on the scene before Ocean, yes, even before Springs and Rivers and Lakes.
25: Before Mountains were sculpted and Hills took shape, I was already there, newborn;
26: Long before GOD stretched out Earth's Horizons, and tended to the minute details of Soil and Weather,
27: And set Sky firmly in place, I was there. When he mapped and gave borders to wild Ocean,
28: built the vast vault of Heaven, and installed the fountains that fed Ocean,
29: When he drew a boundary for Sea, posted a sign that said, NO TRESPASSING, And then staked out Earth's foundations,
30: I was right there with him, making sure everything fit. Day after day I was there, with my joyful applause, always enjoying his company,
31: Delighted with the world of things and creatures, happily celebrating the human family.
32: "So, my dear friends, listen carefully; those who embrace these my ways are most blessed.
33: Mark a life of discipline and live wisely; don't squander your precious life.
34: Blessed the man, blessed the woman, who listens to me, awake and ready for me each morning, alert and responsive as I start my day's work.
35: When you find me, you find life, real life, to say nothing of GOD's good pleasure.
36: But if you wrong me, you damage your very soul; when you reject me, you're flirting with death."