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The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him, and I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; and with my song will I praise him.

Blessed be the LORD, because he hath heard the voice of my supplications.

Because they regard not the works of the LORD, nor the operation of his hands, he shall destroy them, and not build them up.

Give them according to their deeds, and according to the wickedness of their endeavours: give them after the work of their hands; render to them their desert.

Draw me not away with the wicked, and with the workers of iniquity, which speak peace to their neighbours, but mischief is in their hearts.

Hear the voice of my supplications, when I cry unto thee, when I lift up my hands toward thy holy oracle.

Unto thee will I cry, O LORD my rock; be not silent to me: lest, if thou be silent to me, I become like them that go down into the pit.

And unto man he said, Behold, the fear of the LORD, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding.

Then did he see it, and declare it; he prepared it, yea, and searched it out.

When he made a decree for the rain, and a way for the lightning of the thunder:

To make the weight for the winds; and he weigheth the waters by measure.

For he looketh to the ends of the earth, and seeth under the whole heaven;

God understandeth the way thereof, and he knoweth the place thereof.

Destruction and death say, We have heard the fame thereof with our ears.

Seeing it is hid from the eyes of all living, and kept close from the fowls of the air.

Whence then cometh wisdom? and where is the place of understanding?

The topaz of Ethiopia shall not equal it, neither shall it be valued with pure gold.

No mention shall be made of coral, or of pearls: for the price of wisdom is above rubies.

The gold and the crystal cannot equal it: and the exchange of it shall not be for jewels of fine gold.

It cannot be valued with the gold of Ophir, with the precious onyx, or the sapphire.

It cannot be gotten for gold, neither shall silver be weighed for the price thereof.

The depth saith, It is not in me: and the sea saith, It is not with me.

Man knoweth not the price thereof; neither is it found in the land of the living.

But where shall wisdom be found? and where is the place of understanding?

He bindeth the floods from overflowing; and the thing that is hid bringeth he forth to light.

He cutteth out rivers among the rocks; and his eye seeth every precious thing.

He putteth forth his hand upon the rock; he overturneth the mountains by the roots.

The lion"s whelps have not trodden it, nor the fierce lion passed by it.

There is a path which no fowl knoweth, and which the vulture"s eye hath not seen:

The stones of it are the place of sapphires: and it hath dust of gold.