Proverbs 8:1–4, 22–31

¹Does not wisdom call? Does not understanding raise her voice? ²On the heights beside the way, at the crossroads she takes her stand; ³beside the gates in front of the town, at the entrance of the portals she cries aloud: ⁴

²²“The Lord possessed me at the beginning of his work, the first of his acts of old. ²³Ages ago I was set up, at the first, before the beginning of the earth. ²⁴When there were no depths I was brought forth, when there were no springs abounding with water. ²⁵Before the mountains had been shaped, before the hills, I was brought forth, ²⁶

²⁷When he established the heavens, I was there; when he drew a circle on the face of the deep, ²⁸when he made firm the skies above, when he established the fountains of the deep, ²⁹when he assigned to the sea its limit, so that the waters might not transgress his command, when he marked out the foundations of the earth, ³⁰then I was beside him, like a master workman, and I was daily his delight, rejoicing before him always, ³¹