Wisdom of Solomon 6

1Therefore listen, O kings, and understand; learn, O judges of the ends of the earth.

2Listen, you who rule over multitudes and boast over crowds of nations.

3For authority was given to you by the Lord, and sovereignty by the Most High, who will examine your works and investigate your plans;

4because, though you were ministers of his kingdom, you did not judge rightly, nor keep the law, nor walk according to the counsel of God.

5He will come upon you terribly and swiftly, because severe judgment comes upon those in high places.

6For the least is deserving of mercy, but the mighty will be examined mightily.

7For the Master of all will not show partiality, nor will he be overawed by greatness; for he himself made both small and great, and he cares for all alike.

8But for the mighty, a stern inquiry is coming.

9Therefore my words are for you, O tyrants, so that you may learn wisdom and not fall away.

10For those who have kept holy things holily will be made holy, and those who have been taught them will find a defense.

11Therefore desire my words; long for them, and you will be instructed.

12Wisdom is radiant and unfading, and is readily seen by those who love her;

13She hastens to make herself known to those who desire her.

14Whoever rises early for her will not grow weary, for he will find her sitting beside his gates.

15For thinking about her is the perfection of understanding, and the one who stays awake because of her will quickly be free from care.

16For she goes about seeking those worthy of her, and graciously appears to them on the paths, and meets them in every purpose.

17For the truest beginning of her is the desire for instruction,

18and concern for instruction is love, and love is the keeping of her laws, and attention to her laws is the assurance of incorruptibility,

19and incorruptibility makes one near to God.

20So then, desire for wisdom leads to kingship.

21Therefore, if you delight in thrones and scepters, O rulers of peoples, honor wisdom, so that you may reign forever.

22But what wisdom is and how it came to be, I will declare, and I will not hide mysteries from you; rather, from the beginning of its origin I will trace it out, and I will set the knowledge of it in the open, and I will by no means pass by the truth.

23Nor indeed will I accompany wasting envy, because it will have no share in wisdom.

24A multitude of the wise is the salvation of the world, and a prudent king is the stability of a people.

25Therefore be instructed by my words, and you will benefit.