1 Wisdom shall praise her own self, and shall be honoured in God, and shall glory in the midst of her people, 2 And shall open her mouth in the churches of the most High, and shall glorify herself in the sight of his power, 3 And in the midst of her own people she shall be exalted, and shall be admired in the holy assembly. 4 And in the multitude of the elect she shall have praise, and among the blessed she shall be blessed, saying: 5 I came out of the mouth of the most High, the firstborn before all creatures: 6 I made that in the heavens there should rise light that never faileth, and as a cloud I covered all the earth: 7 I dwelt in the highest places, and my throne is in a pillar of a cloud. 8 I alone have compassed the circuit of heaven, and have penetrated into the bottom of the deep, and have walked in the waves of the sea, 9 And have stood in all the earth: and in every people, 10 And in every nation I have had the chief rule: 11 And by my power I have trodden under my feet the hearts of all the high and low: and in all these I sought rest, and I shall abide in the inheritance of the Lord. 12 Then the creator of all things commanded, and said to me: and he that made me, rested in my tabernacle, 13 And he said to me: Let thy dwelling be in Jacob, and thy inheritance in Israel, and take root in my elect. 14 From the beginning, and before the world, was I created, and unto the world to come I shall not cease to be, and in the holy dwelling place I have ministered before him. 15 And so was I established in Sion, and in the holy city likewise I rested, and my power was in Jerusalem. 16 And I took root in an honourable people, and in the portion of my God his inheritance, and my abode is in the full assembly of saints. 17 I was exalted like a cedar in Libanus, and as a cypress tree on mount Sion. 18 I was exalted like a palm tree in Cades, and as a rose plant in Jericho: 19 As a fair olive tree in the plains, and as a plane tree by the water in the streets, was I exalted. 20 I gave a sweet smell like cinnamon. and aromatical balm: I yielded a sweet odour like the best myrrh: 21 And I perfumed my dwelling as storax, and galbanum, and onyx, and aloes, and as the frankincense not cut, and my odour is as the purest balm. 22 I have stretched out my branches as the turpentine tree, and my branches are of honour and grace. 23 As the vine I have brought forth a pleasant odour: and my flowers are the fruit of honour and riches. 24 I am the mother of fair love, and of fear, and of knowledge, and of holy hope. 25 In me is all grace of the way and of the truth, in me is all hope of life and of virtue. 26 Come over to me, all ye that desire me, and be filled with my fruits. 27 For my spirit is sweet above honey, and my inheritance above honey and the honeycomb. 28 My memory is unto everlasting generations. 29 They that eat me, shall yet hunger: and they that drink me, shall yet thirst. 30 He that hearkeneth to me, shall not be confounded: and they that work by me, shall not sin. 31 They that explain me shall have life everlasting. 32 All these things are the book of life, and the covenant of the most High, and the knowledge of truth. 33 Moses commanded a law in the precepts of justices, and an inheritance to the house of Jacob, and the promises to Israel. 34 He appointed to David his servant to raise up of him a most mighty king, and sitting on the throne of glory for ever. 35 Who filleth up wisdom as the Phison, and as the Tigris in the days of the new fruits. 36 Who maketh understanding to abound as the Euphrates, who multiplieth it as the Jordan in the time of harvest. 37 Who sendeth knowledge as the light, and riseth up as Gehon in the time of the vintage. 38 Who first hath perfect knowledge of her, and a weaker shall not search her out. 39 For her thoughts are more vast than the sea, and her counsels more deep than the great ocean. 40 I, wisdom, have poured out rivers. 41 I, like a brook out of a river of a mighty water; I, like a channel of a river. and like an aqueduct, came out of paradise. 42 I said: I will water my garden of plants, and I will water abundantly the fruits of my meadow. 43 And behold my brook became a great river, and my river came near to a sea: 44 For I make doctrine to shine forth to all as the morning light, and I will declare it afar off. 45 I will penetrate to all the lower parts of the earth, and will behold all that sleep, and will enlighten all that hope in the Lord. 46 I will yet pour out doctrine as prophecy, and will leave it to them that seek wisdom, and will not cease to instruct their offspring even to the holy age. 47 See ye that I have not laboured for myself only, but for all that seek out the truth.
Sirach · Douay-Rheims (Challoner), American Edition 1899
Sirach 24 Douay-Rheims (Challoner), American Edition 1899
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
… to have been emitted from the mouth of God; and if we believe that is the soul, we must consequently acknowledge it to be of the same substance, and equal to that wisdom, which says, "I come out of the mouth of the Most High." Wisdom, indeed, does not say it was breathed out of the mouth of God, but …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 2 (1887)
For while He said, "Blessed are the hungry, for they shall be filled;" it is again said of Wisdom, "Those who eat Thee shall hunger again, and those who drink shall thirst again." Nay, but He did not say "again," but he said, "still:" for "shall thirst again" is as if once having been filled he departed and digested, and …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 8 (1888)