²³beneficent, humane,steadfast, sure, free from anxiety,all-powerful, overseeing all,and penetrating through all spiritsthat are intelligent, pure, and altogether subtle.²⁴ For wisdom is more mobile than any motion;because of her pureness she pervades and penetrates all things.²⁵ For she is a breath of the power of God,and a pure emanation of the glory of the Almighty;therefore nothing defiled gains entrance into her.²⁶ For she is a reflection of eternal light,a spotless mirror of the working of God,and an image of his goodness.²⁷ Although she is but one, she can do all things,and while remaining in herself, she renews all things;in every generation she passes into holy soulsand makes them friends of God, and prophets;²⁸ for God loves nothing so much as the person who lives with wisdom.²⁹ She is more beautiful than the sun,and excels every constellation of the stars.Compared with the light she is found to be superior,³⁰ for it is succeeded by the night,but against wisdom evil does not prevail. ⁸She reaches mightily from one end of the earth to the other,and she orders all things well.

The Visit of the Wise Men

²In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem,²asking, ‘Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage.’³When King Herod heard this, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him;⁴and calling together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born.⁵They told him, ‘In Bethlehem of Judea; for so it has been written by the prophet:⁶ “And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,   are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;for from you shall come a ruler   who is to shepherd my people Israel.” ’ ⁷ Then Herod secretly called for the wise men and learned from them the exact time when the star had appeared.⁸Then he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, ‘Go and search diligently for the child; and when you have found him, bring me word so that I may also go and pay him homage.’⁹When they had heard the king, they set out; and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen at its rising, until it stopped over the place where the child was.¹⁰When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy.¹¹On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure-chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.¹²And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road.