The Call of Lady Wisdom

• 20 Wisdom calls out in the streets, in the squares she raises her voice.
• 21 On a busy corner[fn] she cries out, at the entrances of the gates in the city, she speaks her sayings:
• 22 “ How long ,[fn] O simple ones, will you love simplicity? And how long will scoffers delight in their scoffing,
• and fools hate knowledge?
• 23 May you turn to my argument![fn] Behold, I shall pour out my spirit upon you;
• I will make my words known to you.
• 24 Because I called out and you refused me, I stretched out my hand, yet there is none who heeds.
• 25 You have ignored all my counsel, and my reproof you are not willing to accept.
• 26 I will also laugh at your calamity;[fn] I will mock when panic[fn] comes upon you.
• 27 When your panic comes like a storm, and your calamity arrives like a whirlwind,
• when distress and anguish come upon you,
• 28 then they will call[fn] me, but I will not answer; they will seek me diligently but not find me.
• 29 Since they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of Yahweh,
• 30 they were not willing to accept my counsel, they despised all my reproof.
• 31 They shall eat from the fruit of their way, and they shall be sated from their own schemes,
• 32 for the waywardness of the simple ones will kill them, and the complacency of fools will destroy them.
• 33 Whoever listens to me will dwell in security and rest securely[fn] from dread and disaster.”