8. See, today we are in exile, where you have scattered us, an object of reproach and cursing and punishment for all the wicked deeds of our ancestors, who withdrew from the Lord, our God.”
9. Hear, Israel, the commandments of life:listen, and know prudence!
10. How is it, Israel,that you are in the land of your foes,grown old in a foreign land,
11. Defiled with the dead,counted among those destined for Hades?
12. You have forsaken the fountain of wisdom!
13. Had you walked in the way of God,you would have dwelt in enduring peace.
14. Learn where prudence is,where strength, where understanding;That you may know alsowhere are length of days, and life,where light of the eyes, and peace.
15. Who has found the place of wisdom?Who has entered into her treasuries?
16. Where are the rulers of the nations,who lorded it over the wild beasts of the earth,
17. made sport of the birds in the heavens,Who heaped up the silver,the gold in which people trust,whose possessions were unlimited,
18. Who schemed anxiously for money,their doings beyond discovery?
19. They have vanished, gone down to Hades,and others have risen up in their stead.
20. Later generations have seen the light of day,have dwelt on the earth,But the way to understanding they have not known,
21. they have not perceived her paths or reached her;their children remain far from the way to her.
22. She has not been heard of in Canaan,nor seen in Teman.
23. The descendants of Hagar who seek knowledge on earth,the merchants of Medan and Tema,the storytellers and those seeking knowledge—These have not known the way to wisdom,nor have they kept her paths in mind.
24. O Israel, how vast is the dwelling of God,how broad the scope of his dominion:
25. Vast and endless,high and immeasurable!
26. In it were born the giants,renowned at the first,huge in stature, skilled in war.
27. These God did not choose,nor did he give them the way of understanding;