The Lord begot me [Wisdom], the firstborn of his ways,
the forerunner of his prodigies of long ago;
from of old I was poured forth,
at the first, before the earth.
When there were no depths I was brought forth,
when there were no fountains or springs of water;
before the mountains were settled into place,
before the hills; I was brought forth;
while as yet the earth and the fields
were not made,
nor the first clods of the world.