17. I love those who love me,and those who seek me find me.
18. Riches and honor are with me,long-lasting wealth and righteousness.
19. My fruit is better than the purest gold,and what I produce is better than choice silver.
20. I walk in the path of righteousness,in the pathway of justice,
21. that I may cause those who love me to inherit wealth,and that I may fill their treasuries.
22. The Lord created me as the beginning of his works,before his deeds of long ago.
23. From eternity I was appointed,from the beginning, from before the world existed.
24. When there were no deep oceans I was born,when there were no springs overflowing with water;
25. before the mountains were set in place – before the hills – I was born,
26. before he made the earth and its fields,or the beginning of the dust of the world.
27. When he established the heavens, I was there;when he marked out the horizon over the face of the deep,
28. when he established the clouds above,when the fountains of the deep grew strong,
29. when he gave the sea his decreethat the waters should not pass over his command,when he marked out the foundations of the earth,