Skip to Content
intertextual.bible
Go to Related Reading
About this book

Wisdom of Solomon

About this book
Chapter 8

1 But she reaches from one end to the other with full strength, and orders all things well.⁠

Solomon Seeks Wisdom as His Companion

2 I loved her and sought her from my youth. I sought to take her for my bride. I became enamoured by her beauty.⁠ 3 She glorifies her noble birth by living with God. The Sovereign Lord of all loves her. 4 For she is initiated into the knowledge of God, and she chooses his works. 5 But if riches are a desired possession in life, what is richer than wisdom, which makes all things? 6 And if understanding is effective, who more than wisdom is an architect of the things that exist? 7 If a man loves righteousness, the fruits of wisdom’s labor are virtues, for she teaches soberness, understanding, righteousness, and courage.⁠ There is nothing in life more profitable for people than these. 8 And if anyone longs for wide experience, she knows the things of old, and infers the things to come. She understands subtleties of speeches and interpretations of dark sayings.⁠ She foresees signs and wonders, and the issues of seasons and times.⁠ 9 Therefore I determined to take her to live with me, knowing that she is one who would give me good counsel, and encourage me in cares and grief. 10 Because of her, I will have glory among multitudes, and honor in the sight of elders, though I am young. 11 I will be found keen when I give judgment. I will be admired in the presence of rulers. 12 When I am silent, they will wait for me. When I open my lips, they will heed what I say. If I continue speaking, they will put their hands on their mouths.⁠ 13 Because of her, I will have immortality, and leave behind an eternal memory to those who come after me.⁠ 14 I will govern peoples. Nations will be subjected to me. 15 Dreaded monarchs will fear me when they hear of me. Among the people, I will show myself to be good, and courageous in war. 16 When I come into my house, I will find rest with her. For her company has no bitterness, and living with her has no pain, but gladness and joy.

Wisdom Must Be Received from God

17 When I considered these things in myself, and thought in my heart how immortality is in kinship to wisdom, 18 and in her friendship is good delight, and in the labors of her hands is wealth that doesn’t fail, and understanding is in her companionship, and great renown in having fellowship with her words, I went about seeking how to take her to myself. 19 Now I was a clever child, and received a good soul. 20 Or rather, being good, I came into an undefiled body. 21 But perceiving that I could not otherwise possess wisdom unless God gave her to me—⁠ and to know by whom the grace is given was itself a mark of understanding—⁠ I pleaded with the Lord and implored him, and with my whole heart I said:

Texts in conversation

Compare Wisdom of Solomon 8:1 and Augustine, City of God 12.25

Deuterocanon · Early Christian

Share:

Summary

The Christian theologian Augustine uses the Wisdom of Solomon as an authoritative source for teaching and theology, repeating its description of divine wisdom as the power that orders and sustains creation.

Passages

Wisdom of Solomon 8:1

Deuterocanon
1 But she reaches from one end to the other with full strength, and orders all things well. 2 I loved her and sought her from my youth. I sought to take her for my bride. I became enamoured by her beauty. 3 She glorifies her noble birth by living with God. The Sovereign Lord of all loves her. 4 For she is initiated into the knowledge of God, and she chooses his works. 5 But if riches are a desired possession in life, what is richer than wisdom, which makes all things?
50 BCE – 50 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in the Wisdom of Solomon

Augustine, City of God 12.25

Early Christian · On the City of God Against the Pagans
For the same divine and, so to speak, creative energy, which cannot be made, but makes, and which gave to the earth and sky their roundness — this same divine, effective, and creative energy gave their roundness to the eye and to the apple; and the other natural objects which we anywhere see, received also their form, not from outside, but from the secret and profound might of the Creator, who said, “Do I not fill heaven and earth?” Jeremiah 23:24 and whose wisdom it is that “reaches from one end to another mightily; and she orders all things sweetly.” Therefore I do not know what kind of aid the angels, themselves created first, gave to the Creator in making other things. I cannot ascribe to them what perhaps they cannot do, nor ought I to deny them the ability they have.
426 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Augustine, City of God 12

References

"... In affirming the canonicity of the two ‘Solomonic’ books not written by Solomon, Augustine says of Wisdom and Sirach “the Church especially in the West has accepted them as authoritative from antiquity”; City of God 17.20). A survey of patristic comments on the liturgical use of what Rufinus called the ecclesiastical books bears out Augustine’s geographical distinction. Eastern sources restrict the liturgical use of documents to the books of the Jewish canon. Cyril of Jerusalem (Catechesis 4.36–38) emphatically asserts that only the 22 books accepted by the Jews find a place in Christian liturgy, and he advises catechumens to maintain this standard in their private reading. Athanasius (Festal Letters 39) assigns the ecclesiastical books the role of elementary instruction in the faith, as do the Apostolic Canons (canon 85); this position seems to discount their use in the liturgy. The Council of Laodicea is more explicit; in the same context in which it limits the OT canon to 22 books ... However, the matter stood differently among Latin writers: Jerome, Rufinus, and Augustine all affirm that the ecclesiastical books are used in the corporate worship of the Church ... if the Church reads a ‘scriptural’ book, it is a canonical book. Similarly, Augustine responds to the objection of some that the Book of Wisdom is not canonical by arguing that its employment in the liturgy implies its divine authority ..."
Edmon L. Gallagher, Hebrew Scripture in Patristic Biblical Theory: Canon, Language, Text, VCSup 114 (Leiden: Brill, 2012), 54–55.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

Your feedback

Wisdom of Solomon 8:1 and Augustine, City of God 12.25

Leave a comment

Your questions and comments are welcome!

Comments

Glossary

Search the Library