1Lord All-Powerful, God of Israel, we are worn out with trouble and distress, and we pray to you for help. 2Though we have sinned against you, won't you answer our prayer and have mercy on us. 3You rule as king forever, but when we die, we are gone forever. 4So when we cry out to you, please listen. We are almost dead, because we are being punished for the sins of our ancestors. 5Forget their sins, and think only of your own power and glory. 6You are the Lord our God, and we will praise you. 7You have made us fear you, so that we would pray to you. We are here as captives, yet we will praise you and turn from the sinful ways of our ancestors. 8They sinned against you, and you have punished us by scattering us here among the nations, where we have been insulted and cursed.

Wisdom Comes from God

9 Listen carefully, people of Israel, so you can learn about wisdom and the commands that lead to life. 10You have lived in this enemy land so long that you are now much older. You are unfit to worship the Lord and are unclean, like a dead body. 11In fact, you are almost dead yourselves! Don't you know why these things are happening to you? 12It's because you have turned away from the only source of wisdom. 13If you had followed the ways of God, you would have lived in peace forever. 14Learn where wisdom, strength, and knowledge come from. Then you will know how to have a long and peaceful life, and you will find light to guide you.

15 No one knows where Wisdom lives or where she keeps her treasures. 16People have tried hard to find her, including rulers of nations, people who tamed wild animals 17and raised birds, greedy people who did anything to get more of the silver and gold they believed would protect them, 18and selfish people who worried about not having enough money and thought of ways to make more. But all of these people have disappeared--they died 19and went to the world below, and others have taken their place.

20-21Neither could any of their descendants find the way to knowledge. They couldn't find out how to gain Wisdom or even how to look for her.

22The Canaanites and the Edomites never heard of Wisdom. 23The Ishmaelites think they have knowledge, but they haven't found Wisdom. They are just like the merchants of Merran and Teman or the story-tellers or those who desire intelligence--none of them has learned the way to true Wisdom.

24 People of Israel, the universe that God has created is very large! He lives here and controls the entire world. 25There is no end to the universe, and no one can measure its width or height. 26 Long ago, the famous giants were born here. They were powerful and skilled warriors, 27yet God did not choose them to be his own or tell them the way to knowledge. 28So they all died because they were fools and lacked Wisdom.

29No one has gone up into heaven and brought Wisdom down to earth. 30No one has sailed across the ocean and found her or bought her with pure gold. 31There's no one who knows how to gain Wisdom or how to find the path that leads to her.

32God alone knows Wisdom, because he knows everything. In fact, he discovered Wisdom with his own knowledge. God created the earth to last forever, and then filled it with all kinds of animals. 33When he commanded light to shine, it trembled and obeyed, and now goes wherever he sends it. 34Even the stars obeyed his voice, and they are happy to shine wherever and whenever he commands. 35He is our God, and nothing is as great as he is. 36God found the complete way to knowledge, then gave it to his servant Israel, the one he loved. 37Since then, Wisdom has lived on earth among human beings.