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From: Sirach 4:11-19

Love of Wisdom

[11] Wisdom exalts her sons and gives help to those who seek her. [12] Who-
ever loves her loves life, and those who seek her early will be filled with joy. [13]
Whoever holds her fast will obtain glory, and the Lord will bless the place she
enters. [14] Those who serve her will minister to the Holy One; the Lord loves
those who love her. [15] He who obeys her will judge the nations, and whoever
gives heed to her will dwell secure. [16] If he has faith in her he will obtain her,
and his descendants will remain in possession of her. [17] For at first she will
walk with him on tortuous paths, she will bring fear and cowardice upon him,
and will torment him by her discipline until she. trusts I and she will test him
with her ordinances. [18] Then she will come straight back to him and gladden
him, and will reveal her secrets to him. [19] If he goes astray she will forsake
him, and hand him over to his ruin.

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Commentary:

4:11-19. This passage, as do others in the wisdom books, proclaims the advan-
tages that wisdom brings to those who seek her. Read in a Christian context,
where we can see Jesus Christ as being the Wisdom of God become man, eve-
rything it says becomes very plain. The quest for wisdom is indeed the quest for
“the Holy One” (v. 14), that is, God himself. The path described here (vv. 17-21)
with all its twists and turns, is the path to intimate knowledge of God.

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Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.