American Standard Version of 1901
Versliste
Unto you, O men, I call;And my voice is to the sons of men.
O ye simple, understand prudence;And, ye fools, be of an understanding heart.
Hear, for I will speak excellent things;And the opening of my lips shall be right things.
For my mouth shall utter truth;And wickedness is an abomination to my lips.
All the words of my mouth {Or, are righteousness}are in righteousness;There is nothing crooked or perverse in them.
They are all plain to him that understandeth,And right to them that find knowledge.
Receive my instruction, and not silver;And knowledge rather than choice gold.
For wisdom is better than rubies;And all the things that may be desired are not to be compared unto it.
I wisdom have made prudence my dwelling,And find out {Or, knowledge of witty inventions}knowledge and discretion.
The fear of Jehovah is to hate evil:Pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way,And the perverse mouth, do I hate.
Counsel is mine, and {Or, effectual working}sound knowledge:I am understanding; I have might.
By me kings reign,And princes decree justice.
By me {Or, rulers}princes rule,And nobles, even all the judges of the earth.
I love them that love me;And those that seek me {Or, early}diligently shall find me.
Riches and honor are with me;Yea, {Or, ancient}durable wealth and righteousness.
My fruit is better than gold, yea, than fine gold;And my {Or, increase}revenue than choice silver.
I walk in the way of righteousness,In the midst of the paths of justice;
That I may cause those that love me to inherit substance,And that I may fill their treasuries.
Jehovah {Or, formed}possessed me {Or, as}in the beginning of his way, {Or, The first of}Before his works of old.
I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning,Before the earth was.
When there were no depths, I was brought forth,When there were no fountains abounding with water.
Before the mountains were settled,Before the hills was I brought forth;
While as yet he had not made the earth, nor the fields,Nor the {Or, sum}beginning of the dust of the world.
When he {Or, prepared}established the heavens, I was there:When he set a circle upon the face of the deep,
When he made firm the skies above,When the fountains of the deep became strong,
In him was life; and the life was the light of men.
{Or, The flood breaketh out from where men sojourn. Even the waters forgotten of the foot: they are diminished, they are gone away from man.}He breaketh open a shaft away from where men sojourn;They are forgotten of the foot;They hang afar from men, they {Or, flit}swing to and fro.
As for the earth, out of it cometh bread;And underneath it is turned up as it were by fire.
The stones thereof are the place of sapphires, {Or, And he winneth lumps of gold}And it hath dust of gold.
That path no bird of prey knoweth,Neither hath the falcon's eye seen it:
The {Hebrew: sons of pride.}proud beasts have not trodden it,Nor hath the fierce lion passed thereby.
He putteth forth his hand upon the flinty rock;He overturneth the mountains by the roots.
He cutteth out {Or, passages}channels among the rocks;And his eye seeth every precious thing.
He bindeth the streams {Hebrew: from weeping.}that they trickle not;And the thing that is hid bringeth he forth to light.
But where shall wisdom be found?And where is the place of understanding?
Man knoweth not the price thereof;Neither is it found in the land of the living.
The deep saith, It is not in me;And the sea saith, It is not with me.
It cannot be gotten for {Or, treasure}gold,Neither shall silver be weighed for the price thereof.
It cannot be valued with the gold of Ophir,With the precious {Or, beryl}onyx, or the sapphire.
Gold and glass cannot equal it,Neither shall it be exchanged for {Or, vessels}jewels of fine gold.
No mention shall be made of coral or of crystal:Yea, the price of wisdom is above {Or, red coral Or, pearls}rubies.
The topaz of Ethiopia shall not equal it,Neither shall it be valued with pure gold.
Whence then cometh wisdom?And where is the place of understanding?
Seeing it is hid from the eyes of all living,And kept close from the birds of the heavens.
{Hebrew: Abaddon.}Destruction and Death say,We have heard a rumor thereof with our ears.
God understandeth the way thereof,And he knoweth the place thereof.
For he looketh to the ends of the earth,And seeth under the whole heaven;
{Or, When he maketh}To make a weight for the wind:Yea, he meteth out the waters by measure.
When he made a decree for the rain,And a way for the lightning of the thunder;
Then did he see it, and {Or, recount}declare it;He established it, yea, and searched it out.
And unto man he said,Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom;And to depart from evil is understanding.
And this is life eternal, that they should know thee the only true God, and him whom thou didst send, even Jesus Christ.