1  ^{1 p}Praise the Lord!

I ^qwill give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart,

in the company of ^rthe upright, in the congregation.

2  Great are the ^sworks of the Lord,

^tstudied by all who delight in them.

3  ^uFull of splendor and majesty is his work,

and his ^vrighteousness endures forever.

4  He has ^wcaused his wondrous works to be remembered;

the Lord is gracious and merciful.

5  He provides food for those who fear him;

he ^xremembers his covenant forever.

6  He has shown his people the power of his works,

in giving them the inheritance of the nations.

7  The works of his hands are faithful and just;

all his precepts are ^ytrustworthy;

8  they are ^zestablished forever and ever,

to be performed with ^afaithfulness and uprightness.

9  He sent ^bredemption to his people;

he has ^ccommanded his covenant forever.

^dHoly and awesome is his name!

10  ^eThe fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom;

all those who practice it have ^fa good understanding.

His ^gpraise endures forever!

1  “Surely there is a mine for silver,

and a place for gold that they ^yrefine.

2  Iron is taken out of the earth,

and copper is smelted from the ore.

3  Man puts an end to darkness

and searches out to the farthest limit

the ore in ^zgloom and ^adeep darkness.

4  He opens shafts in a valley away from where anyone lives;

they are forgotten by travelers;

they hang in the air, far away from mankind; they swing to and fro.

5  As for the earth, ^bout of it comes bread,

but underneath it is turned up as by fire.

6  Its stones are the place of ^csapphires,¹

and it has dust of gold.

7  “That path no bird of prey knows,

and the falcon’s eye has not seen it.

8  ^dThe proud beasts have not trodden it;

^ethe lion has not passed over it.

9  “Man puts his hand to ^fthe flinty rock

and overturns mountains by the roots.

10  He cuts out channels in the rocks,

and his eye sees every precious thing.

11  He dams up the streams so that they do not trickle,

and the thing that is hidden he brings out to light.

12  ^g“But where shall wisdom be found?

And where is the place of understanding?

13  Man does not know its worth,

and it is not found in ^hthe land of the living.

14  ⁱThe deep says, ‘It is not in me,’

and the sea says, ‘It is not with me.’

15  It ^jcannot be bought for gold,

and silver cannot be weighed as its price.

16  It cannot be valued in ^kthe gold of ^lOphir,

in precious ^monyx or ⁿsapphire.

17  Gold and glass cannot equal it,

nor can it be exchanged for jewels of fine gold.

18  No mention shall be made of ^ocoral or of crystal;

the price of wisdom is above ^oppearls.

19  ^qThe topaz of Ethiopia cannot equal it,

nor can it be valued in pure gold.

20  “From where, then, does wisdom come?

And where is the place of understanding?

21  It is hidden from the eyes of ^rall living

and concealed from the birds of the air.

22  ^sAbaddon and Death say,

‘We have heard a rumor of it with our ears.’

23  ^t“God understands the way to it,

and he knows its place.

24  For he ^ulooks to the ends of the earth

and sees everything under the heavens.

25  When he ^vgave to the wind its weight

and apportioned the waters by measure,

26  when he made a decree for the rain

and ^wa way for the lightning of the thunder,

27  then he saw it and declared it;

he established it, and searched it out.

28  And he said to man,

‘Behold, ^xthe fear of the Lord, that is wisdom,

and to ^yturn away from evil is understanding.’”

2  “Oh, that I were as in the months of old,

as in the days when God watched over me,

3  when his ^alamp shone upon my head,

and by his light I walked through darkness,

4  as I was in my prime,²

when the ^bfriendship of God was upon my tent,

5  when the Almighty was yet with me,

when my ^cchildren were all around me,

6  when my steps were ^dwashed with ^ebutter,

and ^fthe rock poured out for me streams of ^goil!

7  When I went out to ^hthe gate of the city,

when I prepared my seat in the square,

8  the young men saw me and withdrew,

and the aged rose and stood;

9  the princes refrained from talking

and ⁱlaid their hand on their mouth;

10  the voice of the nobles was hushed,

and their ^jtongue stuck to the roof of their mouth.

11  When the ear heard, it called me blessed,

and when the eye saw, it approved,

12  because I ^kdelivered the poor who cried for help,

and the fatherless who had none to help him.

13  ^lThe blessing of him who was ^mabout to perish came upon me,

and I caused ⁿthe widow’s heart to sing for joy.

14  I ^oput on righteousness, and it clothed me;

my justice was like a robe and ^pa turban.

15  I was ^qeyes to the blind

and feet to the lame.

16  I was a father to the needy,

and I searched out ^rthe cause of him whom I did not know.

17  I ^sbroke ^tthe fangs of the unrighteous

and made him drop his prey from his teeth.

18  ^uThen I thought, ‘I shall die in my ^vnest,

and I shall multiply my days as ^wthe sand,

19  my ^xroots spread out to ^ythe waters,

with the dew all night on my ^zbranches,

20  my glory fresh with me,

and my ^abow ever ^bnew in my hand.’

21  “Men listened to me and waited

and kept silence for my counsel.

22  After I spoke they did not speak again,

and my word ^cdropped upon them.

23  They waited for me as for the rain,

and they ^dopened their mouths as for the ^espring rain.

24  I smiled on them when they had no confidence,

and ^fthe light of my ^gface they did not cast down.

25  I chose their way and sat as chief,

and I lived like ^ha king among his troops,

like one who comforts mourners.