before he made the earth and its fields, or the beginning of the dust of the world.

From eternity I was appointed, from the beginning, from before the world existed.

Whoever brings a fool into the world does so to his grief, and the father of a fool has no joy.

rejoicing in the habitable part of his earth, and delighting in its people.

“Many daughters have done valiantly, but you surpass them all!”

But they do not realize that the dead are there, that her guests are in the depths of the grave.

A person who has friends may be harmed by them, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.

Who has ascended into heaven, and then descended? Who has gathered up the winds in his fists? Who has bound up the waters in his cloak? Who has established all the ends of the earth? What is his name, and what is his son’s name? – if you know!