Sirach 24 — WBMSE
24Verse 1Wisdom shall praise his soul, and he shall be honoured in God; and he shall have glory in the midst of his people.Verse 2And he shall open his mouth in the churches of the Highest; and he shall have glory in the sight of his virtue (or his power). And he shall be enhanced in the midst of his people; and he shall [much] wonder in holy fullness, either plenty. And in the multitude of chosen men he shall have praising; and among blessed men he shall be blessed, and say,Verse 3I, the first engendered [or (be)got-ten] before each creature, came forth from [or (out) of] the mouth of the Highest. I (was) made in (the) heavens, that (or where) light never failing rose up, and as a cloud I covered all (the) earth,Verse 4I dwelled in highest things, and my throne (is) in a pillar of [a] cloud.Verse 5I alone went about the compass [or the circle] of heaven, and I pierced the depth of the sea;Verse 6and I went in the waves of the sea, and I stood in (or on) all the land [or all (the) earth]. And I had the first dignity in each people, and in each folk; and I trod by virtue (or power) on the necks of all excellent men and meek [or all high and low];Verse 7and in all these men I sought rest, and I shall dwell in the heritage (or inheritance) of the Lord.Verse 8Then the Creator [or the former] of all [things] commanded, and said to me; and he that formed me, rested in my tabernacle; and he said to me, Dwell thou in Jacob, and take thou heritage in Israel, and send thou roots in(to) my chosen men [or my chosen].Verse 9I was engendered from the begin-ning and before worlds, and I shall not fail unto the world to coming; [From the beginning and before worlds I am formed, and unto the world to come I shall not cease to be;]Verse 10and I ministered [or served] in an holy dwelling before him. And so I was made steadfast in Zion,Verse 11and in like manner I rested in a city hallowed, and my power was in Jerusalem. [and in an hallowed city (in) like manner I rested, and in Jerusalem (was) my power.]Verse 12And I rooted in a people honour-ed; and the heritage thereof into the parts of my God, and my withholding in the plenty or the fullness of saints.Verse 13I was enhanced as a cedar in Lebanon, and as a cypress tree in the hill of Zion.Verse 14I was enhanced as a palm tree in Cades or in Kedesh, (or in Engedi), and as the planting of (a) rose in Jericho. And as a fair olive tree in fields; and I was enhanced as a plane [or a platan] tree besides (the) water in streets.Verse 15As canel and balm giving great smell, I gave odour; as chosen myrrh I gave the sweetness of odour. And as storax, and galbanum, and ungulam, and gum, and as Lebanon not cut down, I made hot [or I smoked] my dwelling place; and mine odour as balm [or balsam] not meddled, [or mingled, (or mixed)].Verse 16I as terebinth stretched forth my boughs [or branches]; and my boughs [or branches]be boughs (or branches) of honour, and of glory [or grace].Verse 17I as a vine made fruit the sweet-ness of odour; and my flowers be the fruits of honour, and of honesty (or of riches).Verse 18I am a mother of fair love, and of dread, and of knowing, and of holy hope. In me is all grace of way, and of truth; in me is all hope of life and of virtue.Verse 19All ye that covet me, pass (or come) to me; and be ye filled of (or with) my generations.Verse 20For why my spirit is sweet above [or over] honey; and mine heritage is above [or over] honey, and honey-comb. My mind is in(to) the gener-ation of worlds (or I shall always be remembered).Verse 21They that eat me, shall hunger yet [or yet shall hunger]; and they that drink me, shall thirst yet [or yet shall thirst].Verse 22He that heareth me, shall not be shamed; and they that work in me, shall not do sin; and they that declare me, shall have everlasting life.Verse 23All these things is the book of life, and the testament of the Highest, and the knowing [or acknowledging] of (the) truth. Moses commanded a law in the commandments of rightful-nesses [or the behests of rightwise-nesses], and (for an) heritage to the house of Jacob, and (the) promises to Israel.Verse 24He setted, that is, ordained, either promised, to David, his child, to raise [up] of (or from) him a king most strong, and sitting without end in the throne of honour.Verse 25Which king filleth wisdom, as Pishon sheddeth out water; and as Tigris in the days of new things.Verse 26Which, as Euphrates, [full]-filleth wit; which multiplieth, as (the) Jordan in the time of harvest [or reap(ing)].Verse 27Which sendeth teaching as (the) light; and is nigh all men, as Gihon in the day of vintage.Verse 28Which maketh perfectly first to know that wisdom[or That perform-eth first to know it]; and a feebler man shall not ensearch it.Verse 29For why the thought(s) thereof shall be (as) plenteous of (or as) the sea, that is, his knowing is more plenteous than the sea; and his counsel in the great ocean [or in the great deepness]is uncomprehensible. I wisdom shedded [or poured] out floods; I as a way, that is, a strong running, of full great water [or water without measure] of the flood.Verse 30I as the flood Dorix, and as a water conduit I went out of [or from] paradise.Verse 31I said, I shall water my garden of plantings; and I shall greatly fill the fruit of my child-bearing. And lo! a plenteous way of water is made to (or for) me; and my flood nighed to the sea.Verse 32For I (en)lighten teaching as the cheer morrowtide [or morrowtide light] to all men; and I shall tell out it unto far. I shall pierce all the lower [or nether] parts of (the) earth, and I shall behold all that sleep; and I shall (en)lighten all that hope in the Lord.Verse 33Yet I shall shed [or pour] out teach-ing as prophecy, and I shall leave it to them that seek wisdom; and I shall not fail into the generations [or pro-genies] of them, till into the holy world.Verse 34See ye, that I travailed not to me alone, but to all that seek out (the) truth.