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Frederick Kwesi Great
The praise of wisdom
HEAR THE PRAISE of wisdom from her own mouth,
as she speaks with pride among her people,
before
the assembly of the Most High and in the presence of the heavenly host:
'I am the word which was spoken by the Most High;
it was I who covered the earth like a mist.
My dwelling- place was in high heaven;
my throne was in a pillar of
cloud.
Alone I made a circuit of the sky and traversed the depth of the abyss.
The waves of the sea, the whole earth,
every people and nation were under my sway.
Among them all I looked for a home: in whose territory was I to settle?
Then
the Creator of the universe laid a command upon me;
my Creator decreed where I should dwell.
He said, '"Make your
home in Jacob; find your heritage in Israel."
Before time began he created me, and I shall remain for ever.
In the
sacred tent I ministered in his presence, and so I came to be established in Zion.
Thus he settled me in the city he loved
and gave me authority in Jerusalem.
I took root among the people whom the Lord had honoured by choosing them to be his
special possession.
'There I grew like a cedar of Lebanon, like a cypress on the slopes of Hermon,
like a date- palm
at Engedi, like roses at Jericho.
I grew like a fair olive -tree in the vale, or like a plane -tree planted beside the
water.
Like cassia or camel- thorn I was redolent of spices;
I spread my fragrance like choice myrrh, like galban,
aromatic shell, and gum resin;
I was like the smoke of incense in the sacred tent.
Like a terebinth I spread out my
branches, laden with honour and grace.
I put forth lovely shoots like the vine, and my blossoms were a harvest of wealth
and honour.
'Come to me , you who desire me, and eat your fill of my fruit.
The memory of me is sweeter than syrup,
the possession of me sweeter than honey dripping from the comb.
Whoever feeds on me will be hungry for more, and whoever
drinks from me will thirst for more.
To obey me is to be safe from disgrace; those who work in wisdom will not go astray.'
All this is the covenant- book of God Most High, the law which Moses enacted to be the heritage of the assemblies of Jacob.
He sends out wisdom in full flood like the river Pishon or like the Tigris at the time of firstfruits;
he overflows
with understanding like the Euphrates or like Jordan at the time of harvest.
He pours forth instruction like the Nile,
like the Gihon at the time of vintage.
No man has ever fully known wisdom; from first to last no one has fathomed her;
for her thoughts are vaster than the ocean and her purpose deeper than the great abyss.
As for me, I was like a canal
leading from a river, a watercourse into a pleasure- garden.
I said, 'I will water my garden, drenching its flower- beds';
and at once my canal became a river and my river a sea.
I will again make discipline shine like the dawn,
so that
its light may be seen from afar.
I will again pour out doctrine like prophecy and bequeath it to future generations.
Truly,
my labour has not been for myself alone but for all seekers of wisdom.
- Adapted from SIRACH from
THE APOCRYPHA, The New English Bible The ways of wisdom
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