"For in her is a spirit intelligent, holy, unique, manifold, subtle, agile, clear, unstained, certain, not baneful, loving the good, keen, unhampered, beneficent, kindly, firm, secure, tranquil, all-powerful, all-seeing, and pervading all spirits, though they be intelligent, pure and very subtle.
 

"For Wisdom is mobile behind all motion, and she penetrates and pervades all things by reason of her purity.  For she is an aura of the might of God and a pure effusion of the glory of the Almighty; therefore nought that is sullied enters into her. For she is the refulgence of eternal light, the spotless mirror of the power of God, the image of His goodness.
 

"And she, who is one, can do all things, and renews everything while herself perduring; and passing into holy souls from age to age, she produces friends of God and prophets.  For there is nought God loves, be it not one who dwells with Wisdom.  For she is fairer than the sun and surpasses every constellation of the stars.  Compared to light, she takes precedence; for that, indeed, night supplants, but wickedness prevails not over Wisdom.
 

"Indeed, she reaches from end to end mightily and governs all things well."
 
 

"Her I loved and sought after from my youth; I sought to take her for my bride and was enamored of her beauty:  She adds to nobility the splendor of companionship with God; even the Lord of all loved her.
 

"For she is instructress in the understanding of God, the selector of His works.  And if richness be a desirable possession in life, what is more rich than Wisdom, who produces all things?  And if prudence renders service, who in the world is a better craftsman than she?  Or if one loves justice, the fruits of her works are virtues; for she teaches moderation and prudence, justice and fortitude, and nothing in life is more useful for men than these.
 

"Or again, if one yearns for copious learning, she knows the things of old, and infers those yet to come.  She understands the turns of phrases and the solutions of riddles; signs and wonders she knows in advance and the outcome of times and ages."
 
 

"She preserved the first-formed father of the world when he alone had been created; and she raised him up from his fall, and gave him power to rule all things.  But when the unjust man withdrew from her in his anger, he perished through his fratricidal wrath.  When on his account the earth was flooded, Wisdom again saved it, piloting the just man on frailest wood.
 

"She, when the nations were sunk in universal wickedness, knew the just man, kept him blameless before God, and preserved him resolute against pity for his child.  She delivered the just man from among the wicked who were being destroyed, when he fled as fire descended upon Pentapolis - where as a testimony to its wickedness there yet remain a smoking desert, plants bearing fruit that never ripens, and the tomb of a disbelieving soul, a standing pillar of salt.
 

"For those who forsook Wisdom first were bereft of knowledge of the right, and then they left mankind a memorial of their folly - so that they could not even be hidden in their fall.  But Wisdom delivered from tribulations those who served her.
 

She, when the just man fled from his brother's anger, guided him in direct ways, showed him the kingdom of God and gave him knowledge of holy things; she prospered him in his labors and made abundant the fruit of his works, stood by him against the greed of his defrauders, and enriched him; she preserved him from foes, and secured him against ambush, and she gave him the prize for his stern struggle that he might know that devotion to God is mightier than all else.
 

"She did not abandon the just man when he was sold, but delivered him from sin.  She went down with him into the dungeon, and did not desert him in his bonds, until she brought him the scepter of royalty and authority over his oppressors, showed those who had defamed him false, and gave him eternal glory.
 

"The holy people and blameless race - it was she who delivered them from the nation that oppressed them.  She entered the soul of the Lord's servant, and withstood fearsome kings with signs and portents; she gave the holy ones the recompense of their labors, conducted them by a wondrous road, and became a shelter for them by day and a starry flame by night.
 

"She took them across the Red Sea and brought them through the deep waters - but their enemies she overwhelmed, and cast them up from the bottom of the depths.  Therefore the just despoiled the wicked; and they sang, O Lord, Your holy Name and praised in unison Your conquering hand - because Wisdom opened the mouths of the dumb, and gave ready speech to infants."
 
 

"Therefore I prayed, and prudence was given me; I pleaded, and the spirit of Wisdom came to me.  I preferred her to scepter and throne.  And deemed riches nothing in comparison with her, nor did I liken any priceless gem to her; because all gold, in view of her, is a little sand, and before her, silver is to be accounted mire.  Beyond health and comeliness I loved her, and I chose to have her rather than the light, because the splendor of her never yields to sleep.  Yet all good things together came to me in her company, and countless riches at her hands; and I rejoiced in them all, because Wisdom is their leader, though I had not known that she is the mother of these."
 
 

"Simply I learned about her, and ungrudgingly do I share - her riches I do not hide away; for to men she is an unfailing treasure; those who gain this treasure with the friendship of God, to Whom the gifts they have from discipline commend them.
 

"Now God grant I speak suitably and value these endowments at their worth:  for He is the Guide of Wisdom and the Director of the wise.  For both we and our words are in His Hand, as well as all prudence and knowledge of existing things, that I might know the organization of the universe and the force of its elements, the beginning and the end and the midpoint of times, the changes in the sun's course and the variations of the seasons.  Cycles of years, positions of the stars, natures of animals, tempers of beasts, powers of the winds and thoughts of men, uses of plants and virtues of roots - such things as are hidden I learned, and such as are plain; for Wisdom, the artificer of all, taught me."
 
 

"So I determined to take her to live with me, knowing that she would be my counselor while all was well, and my comfort in care and grief.  For her sake I should have glory among the masses, and esteem from the elders, though I be but a youth.  I should become keen in judgment, and should be a marvel before rulers.  They would abide my silence and attend my utterance; and as I spoke on further, they would place their hands upon their mouths.
 

For her sake I should have immortality and leave to those after me an everlasting memory.  I should govern peoples, and nations would be my subjects---terrible princes, hearing of me, would be afraid; in the assembly I should appear noble, and in war courageous.  Within my dwelling, I should take my repose beside her; for association with her involves no bitterness and living with her no grief, but rather joy and gladness."
 
 

"Thinking thus within myself, and reflecting in my heart that there is immortality in kinship with Wisdom, and good pleasure in her friendship, and unfailing riches in the works of her hands, and that in frequenting her society there is prudence, and fair renown in sharing her discourses, I went about seeking to take her for my own.
 

"Now, I was a well-favored child, and I came by a noble nature; or rather, being noble, I attained an unsullied body.  And knowing that I could not otherwise possess her except God gave it - and this, too, was prudence, to know whose is the gift - I went to the Lord and besought Him, and said with all my heart:
 
 

"God of my fathers, Lord of mercy, You Who have made all things by Your Word.  And in Your Wisdom have established man to rule the creatures produced by You, to govern the world in holiness and justice, and to render judgment in integrity of heart:  Give me Wisdom, the attendant at Your throne, and reject me not from among Your children; for I am Your servant, the son of Your handmaid, a man weak and short-lived and lacking in comprehension of judgment and of laws.
 

"Indeed, though one be perfect among the sons of men, if Wisdom, who comes from You, be not with him, he shall be held in no esteem.  You have chosen me king over Your people and magistrate for Your sons and daughters.  You have bid me build a temple on Your holy mountain and an altar in the city that is Your dwelling place, a copy of the holy tabernacle which You had established from of old.
 

"Now with You is Wisdom, who knows Your works and was present when You made the world; and what is conformable with Your commands.  Send her forth from Your holy heavens and from Your glorious throne dispatch her that she may be with me and work with me, that I may know what is Your pleasure.  For she knows and understands all things, and will guide me discreetly in my affairs and safeguard me by her glory; thus my deeds will be acceptable, and I shall judge Your people justly and be worthy of my father's throne.
 

"For what man knows God's counsel, or who can conceive what the Lord intends?  For the deliberations of mortals are timid, and unsure are our plans.  For the corruptible body burdens the soul and the earthen shelter weighs down the mind that has many concerns.  And scarce do we guess the things on earth, and what is within our grasp we find with difficulty; but when things are in heaven, who can search them out?  or who ever knew Your counsel, except You had given Wisdom and sent Your Holy Spirit from on high?
 

"And thus were the paths of those on earth made straight, and men learned what was Your pleasure, and were saved by Wisdom."
 
 

"If we are in bondage, it will usually be a bondage in our minds.  It will exist there as nowhere else.  Most of man's problems, if not all, are found and defeated in the mind of man.  The mind is the great battleground, the true locality of Armegeddon, and our own personal battle of Armageddon will be fought and won right there rather than in Israel....
 

"What caused the fall of Adam in the first place was a desire to act independently of God and to decide for himself.  That desire seems burned into man and is innate in him.  It is self-will and must in its entirety go.  Every one of God's virgin sons found in the 14th chapter of Revelation will have a heart cry which says, "Not my will but thine be done".  Without this heart, ONE IS NOT A COMPLETED SON...
 

"It is in man's spirit that God communicates with man, not his soul.  That's why the first thing God does when He finds us is to make alive our spirit which was dead in sins and trespasses.  God speaks to man's spirit and then the spirit drops it down into the soul where intellect (understanding) resides and the soul receives understanding (from the spirit).  But the soul would like to receive understanding from the reasoning mind, man's intellect, the tree of Knowledge.  The picture of a soul partaking of the reasoning mind of man rather than true revelation of and by the spirit is a picture of Eve reaching for the fruit of knowledge (she reached for an answer to the Serpent's question; she reached for knowledge, and when she came up with an answer to the question, she had partaken of the fruit of the tree of knowledge and had, at the same time, roused within herself the carnal mind - death. To be carnally-minded is death.
 

"Just as Eve left her place of protection and safety in Adam and acted on her own, the soul wants to do the same thing.  The feminine soul must be brought back to its rightful place of complete and absolute submission to the masculine spirit.  As I said before, as soon as the soul returns to its rightful place of submission to the spirit of man, the body of man - which is nothing more than a servant - will follow her and know full and complete redemption as spirit, soul and body become again one."
 
 

"Hear, therefore, kings, and understand; learn, you magistrates of the earth's expanse!  Hearken, you who are in power over the multitude and lord it over throngs of peoples!  Because authority was given you by the Lord and sovereignty by the Most High, Who shall probe your works and scrutinize your counsels.  Because, though you were ministers of His kingdom, you judged not rightly, and did not keep the law, nor walk according to the will of God, terribly and swiftly shall He come against you - because judgment is stern for the exalted - for the lowly may be pardoned out of mercy but the mighty shall be mightily put to the test.
 

"For the Lord of all shows no partiality, nor does He fear greatness, because He Himself made the great as well as the small, and He provides for all alike; but for those in power a rigorous scrutiny impends.  To you, therefore, O princes, are my words addressed that you may learn wisdom and that you may not sin.  For those who keep the holy precepts hallowed shall be found holy, and those learned in them will have ready a response.
 

"Desire there my words; long for them and you shall be instructed.  Resplendent and unfading is Wisdom, and she is readily perceived by those who love her, and found by those who seek her. She hastens to make herself known in anticipation of men's desire; he who watches for her at dawn shall not be disappointed, for he shall find her sitting by his gate.  For taking thought of her is the perfection of prudence, and he who for her sake keeps vigil shall quickly be free from care; because she makes her own rounds, seeking those worthy of her, and graciously appears to them in the ways, and meets them with all solicitude.
 

"For the first step toward discipline is a very earnest desire for her; then, care for discipline is love of her; love means the keeping of her laws; to observe her laws is the basis for incorruptibility; and incorruptibility makes one close to God; thus the desire for Wisdom leads up to a kingdom.  If, then, you find pleasure in throne and scepter, you princes of the peoples, honor Wisdom, that you may reign as kings forever.