In viii. 22–31, Wisdom becomes more than a personification, and takes her place in cosmogony. This passage, which contains germs of much of our latter-day theology, must be quoted in full, and comparatively studied. Wisdom speaks:
22. Jahveh acquired me in the outset of his way,
Before his works, from of old.
23. From eternity was I existent,
From the first, before the earth.
24. When no deep seas I was brought forward,
When no fountains abounding with water.
25. Before the mountains were fixed,
Before the hills, was I brought forward:
26. When he had not fashioned the earth and the fields,
And the consummate part of the dust of the world.
27. When he established the heavens, I was there;
When he set a boundary on the face of the deep;
28. When he made firm the clouds above;
When the fountains of the deep became strong;
29. When he gave to the sea its limit,
That the waters should not pass over their coast;
When he marked out the foundation pillars of the earth:
30. Then was I near him, as a master builder:
And I was his delight continually,
Sporting before him at all times;