16. By me the princes rule, and all of the governors judge the earth.
17. I love those that love me, and those that seek me early shall find me.
18. Riches and honour are with me, yea, durable riches and righteousness.
19. My fruit is better than gold, yea, than precious stones, and my revenue than choice silver.
20. I shall lead in the way of righteousness in the midst of the paths of judgment,
21. that I may cause my friends to inherit existence and I will fill their treasures.
22. The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old.
23. I was set up with eternal dominion, from the beginning, before the earth was.
24. I was begotten before the depths, before the existence of the fountains of many waters.
25. Before the mountains were founded, before the hills was I begotten.
26. While as yet he had not made the earth nor the fields nor the beginning of the dust of the world,
27. when he composed the heavens, I was there. When he set a compass upon the face of the depth,
28. when he established the clouds above, when he strengthened the fountains of the deep,
29. when he gave to the sea his decree that the waters should not pass his commandment, when he appointed the foundations of the earth,