| 智慧篇 | Wisdom |
|---|
| 1智慧施展威力，从地极直达地极，从容治理万物。 | 1Wisdom displays her strength from one end of the earth to the other, ordering all things rightly. |
| 2我爱慕智慧，自幼就寻求她，设法娶她作我的配偶：我实在喜爱她的美丽， | 2I loved her and sought her from my youth; I strove to have her as my bride for I had fallen in love with her beauty. |
| 3因她与天主共同生活，更彰显了她出身的尊贵；万有的主宰也喜爱她。 | 3Her nearness to God tells of her noble birth. Because the Lord of all has loved her, |
| 4她实在透澈天主的奥秘，自行决择天主的工程。 | 4she is instructed in God's knowledge and chooses his works. |
| 5如果财富是今生所极贪求的对像，有什么比创造一切的智慧更为富足？ | 5If we desire riches in life, what is richer than Wisdom who is the active cause of everything? |
| 6如果理智指导工作，那么，在万有中有谁比智慧更配作技师？ | 6If the intellect shows itself in action, still more does she who fashions everything. |
| 7若有人爱慕正义，应知道：德行是智慧工作的效果，因为她教训人节制，明智、公义和勇敢：在此生没有比这些为人更有裨益。 | 7If you love righteousness, every virtue is the fruit of her labor, for she teaches temperance, prudence, justice, fortitude - all that is most valuable in life. |
| 8若有人希望有丰富的经验，智慧知道往古，推测未来，通晓深言奥意，会解释谜语，预知异蹟和奇事，年代和世纪的结局。 | 8If someone is eager for experience, she knows what took place in the past and forecasts the future. She has the art of interpretation and knows how to solve riddles, she foresees signs and wonders, the end of ages and eras. |
| 9为此，我决意娶她与我一同生活，深知她是我顺境中的参谋，是我忧虑与困苦中的安慰。 | 9This is why I decided to have her as companion for life, knowing she would be a wise counselor and encourage me in times of worry and distress. |
| 10我虽然年幼，藉着她，我在民众中必获荣耀，必为长老所尊重； | 10I thought: With her I shall have glory among the nations and, although young, honor among the elderly; |
| 11我在断案时，必断狱机敏，有权势的人见了，都对我表示钦佩。【长官见了，莫不对我惊奇。】 | 11I shall be found penetrating in judgment and be admired by the powerful. |
| 12我沉默，他们就静候；我发言，他们就侧耳静听；我若讲论不绝，他们就用手掩住自己的口。 | 12If I am silent they will wait to hear me; if I speak, they will pay attention; though I speak at length they will put their hand on their lips. |
| 13藉着她，我将永垂不朽，且为我以后的人，留下永恒的记念。 | 13Thanks to her I shall win immortality, and to those who come after me I shall leave an everlasting memory. |
| 14我要统治万民，列邦都要归顺我。 | 14I shall govern peoples, and nations will be subject to me. |
| 15可畏的君侯听见我必要恐惧；在民众前，我将显示温良；在战争时，我将显出勇敢。 | 15Terrible sovereigns will cower when they hear of my name, but to my people I shall show myself kind; in battle, courageous. |
| 16回到家中，只有在她身傍，我才获得安息；因为只要与她为伴，便没有苦恼；与她共同生活，便没有悲哀，只有喜乐和愉快。 | 16When I come home I shall take my rest with her, for there is nothing bitter in her company and no suffering in sharing life with her, only pleasure and joy. |
| 17我每一念及这些思想，心里反复思量：不死不灭是在于与智慧亲近， | 17Pondering over all this, I understood that I would achieve immortality by being united to Wisdom; |
| 18纯洁的喜乐是在于与智慧为友，无尽的财富是在于智慧手中的工作；明哲是在于与智慧结交，声誉是在于与智慧交谈；因此，我寻遍方法；好能将她娶到手中。 | 18I would have pure delight through friendship with her, inexhaustible riches in what she does, understanding from being in her company and renown from sharing her conversation. Then I set out to seek and possess her. |
| 19我原是个性善的孩子，获得了个善良的灵魂； | 19I had a pleasant personality even as a child and |
| 20或更好说，因为我善良，我进入了一个无玷的身体内； | 20was good-natured or rather, being good, I had entered an undefiled body. |
| 21但我知道，天主若不将她赐给我，我不会获得她──连知道这是谁的恩赐，己经是由于智慧──我于是转向上主全心祈求他说： | 21But knowing that I could only possess Wisdom if she were given me by God - it was a mark of intelligence to know who was the donor - I turned to the Lord and implored him, saying with all my heart: |
