¹ Doesn’t Wisdom cry out and Understanding shout? ² Atop the heights along the path, at the crossroads she takes her stand. ³ By the gate before the city, at the entrances she shouts: ⁴ I cry out to you, people; my voice goes out to all of humanity. ²² The LORD created me at the beginning of his way, before his deeds long in the past. ²³ I was formed in ancient times, at the beginning, before the earth was. ²⁴ When there were no watery depths, I was brought forth, when there were no springs flowing with water. ²⁵ Before the mountains were settled, before the hills, I was brought forth; ²⁶ before God made the earth and the fields or the first of the dry land. ²⁷ I was there when he established the heavens, when he marked out the horizon on the deep sea, ²⁸ when he thickened the clouds above, when he secured the fountains of the deep, ²⁹ when he set a limit for the sea, so the water couldn’t go beyond his command, when he marked out the earth’s foundations. ³⁰ I was beside him as a master of crafts. I was having fun, smiling before him all the time, ³¹ frolicking with his inhabited earth and delighting in the human race.