ommandments of the Lord.

23:38. It is great glory to follow the Lord: for length of days shall be
received from him.

Ecclesiasticus Chapter 24

Wisdom praiseth herself: her origin, her dwelling, her dignity, and her
fruits.

24:1. Wisdom shall praise her own self, and shall be honoured in God,
and shall glory in the midst of her people,

24:2. And shall open her mouth in the churches of the most High, and
shall glorify herself in the sight of his power,

24:3. And in the midst of her own people she shall be exalted, and shall
be admired in the holy assembly.

24:4. And in the multitude of the elect she shall have praise, and among
the blessed she shall be blessed, saying:

24:5. I came out of the mouth of the most High, the firstborn before all
creatures:

24:6. I made that in the heavens there should rise light that never
faileth, and as a cloud I covered all the earth:

24:7. I dwelt in the highest places, and my throne is in a pillar of a
cloud.

24:8. 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,

24:9. And have stood in all the earth: and in every people,

24:10. And in every nation I have had the chief rule:

24:11. 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.

24:12. Then the creator of all things commanded, and said to me: and he
that made me, rested in my tabernacle,

24:13. And he said to me: Let thy dwelling be in Jacob, and thy
inheritance in Israel, and take root in my elect.

24:14. 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.

24:15. And so was I established in Sion, and in the holy city likewise I
rested, and my power was in Jerusalem.

24:16. 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.

24:17. I was exalted like a cedar in Libanus, and as a cypress tree on
mount Sion.

24:18. I was exalted like a palm tree in Cades, and as a rose plant in
Jericho:

24:19. As a fair olive tree in the plains, and as a plane tree by the
water in the streets, was I exalted.

24:20. I gave a sweet smell like cinnamon, and aromatical balm: I
yielded a sweet odour like the best