Wisdom 1:16-5:23

New Catholic Bible

¹⁶ But the godless by their words and deeds summoned death,
    regarded it as a friend, and longed for it.
They made a covenant with it
    since they deserve to be in its company.^[c]

¹ These people said to themselves with deluded reasoning:
“Brief and burdensome is our life,
    and there is no remedy when death summons,
    nor has anyone been known to have returned^[d] from the netherworld.
² For we were born as the result of happenstance,
    and afterward we shall be as though we had never existed.
The breath in our nostrils is merely a puff of smoke,
    and our reason is a spark enkindled by the beating of our hearts.
³ Once it is extinguished, our body will turn to ashes,
    and our spirit will melt away like empty air.
⁴ Our name will be forgotten with the passing of time,
    and no one will remember our deeds.
Our life will pass away like the wisps of a cloud
    and be scattered like mist
pursued by the rays of the sun
    and overwhelmed by its heat.
⁵ For our lifetime is but a passing shadow,
    and there is no way to recall our end
    because it is sealed, and no one can bring it back.

⁶ “Come, therefore, let us enjoy the good things of life,
    and use creation fully, with youthful ardor.
⁷ Let us take our fill of expensive wine and perfumes
    and allow no flower of spring to escape our notice;
⁸     let us crown ourselves with rosebuds before they wither.^[e]
9 Let none of us fail to share in our wanton doings;
    let us leave traces of our revelry everywhere,
    since this is our portion, this our lot.

¹⁰ “Let us oppress the righteous man who is in need;^[g]
    let us not spare the widow
    or show respect for the venerable gray head of the aged.
¹¹ Rather, let our might serve as the yardstick of justice,
    for what is feeble has proved itself useless.
¹² Let us wait in hiding for the righteous man,
    for he inconveniences us and opposes our deeds.
He reproaches us for our sins against the law
    and accuses us of failures in what we have been taught.
¹³ He claims to have knowledge of God
    and refers to himself as a child of the Lord.
¹⁴ He has become for us a reproof to our manner of thinking,
    and the very sight of him is a source of pain to us.
¹⁵ For his life is unlike that of others,
    and his ways are just as different.^[h]
16 He considers us to be counterfeit,
    and he steers clear of our ways as unclean.
He proclaims the final end of the righteous as blessed,
    and he boasts that God is his Father.
¹⁷ Let us see if what he says is true,
    and let us probe what will happen at the conclusion of his life.
¹⁸ For if the righteous man is a child of God,^[i] he will defend him
    and deliver him from the power of his enemies.
¹⁹ Let us test him with insults and torments
    so that we may be able to measure his gentleness
    and ascertain the depths of his forbearance of evil.
²⁰ Let us condemn him^[j] to a shameful death,
    since, according to his words, he will be protected.”

²¹ Such was their reasoning, but they were wrong,
    for their own malice blinded them.
²² They did not discern the hidden plans of God,
    or hope for the recompense of holiness
    or recognize the reward destined for innocent souls.
²³ For God created us to be immortal
    and formed us in the image of his own nature.^[l]
24 But as a result of the devil’s envy, death entered the world,
    and those who follow him experience it.

^{1     [o]}But the souls of the righteous are in the hand of God,
    and no torment can overtake them.
² From the viewpoint of the foolish, they seemed to be dead,
    and their passing away was reckoned as a misfortune,
³     and their departure from us as their ruin.
But they are at peace.^[p]
4 Although in the eyes of others they were chastised,
    their hope is full of immortality.
⁵ Having endured a slight chastisement, they will receive great blessings,
    because God tested them
    and found them worthy to be with him.^[q]
6 He put them to the proof like gold in a furnace,
    and he accepted them as a sacrificial burnt offering.^[r]
7 In the time of their visitation^[s] they will shine brightly
    and spread like sparks among the stubble.
⁸ They will judge nations and have dominion over peoples,
    and the Lord will be their King forever.
⁹ Those who trust in him will understand truth,
    and the faithful will dwell with him in love,
because grace and mercy are reserved for his holy ones,
    and he shows concern for his elect.
¹⁰ However, the godless will receive a punishment in accord with their reasoning,
    for they had no concern for the righteous
    and rebelled against the Lord.
¹¹ Those who despise wisdom and discipline are wretched:
    vain is their hope, unprofitable are their labors,
    and worthless are their achievements.
¹² Their wives are foolish and their children depraved;
    their lineage is accursed.

¹³ Blessed is the barren woman who is undefiled,
    who has not experienced a sinful union;
    she will bear fruit at the visitation of souls.
¹⁴ Blessed also is the eunuch whose hands have committed no iniquity
    and who has never harbored any wicked thoughts against the Lord;
he shall receive a special grace for his faithfulness
    and a more illustrious share in the temple of the Lord.
¹⁵ For the fruit of good works is glorious,
    and the root of understanding is ever fruitful.
¹⁶ But the children of adulterers will never see maturity,
    and the offspring of an unlawful union will disappear.
¹⁷ Even should they achieve a long life, they will be regarded as of no account,
    and in the end their old age will be without honor.
¹⁸ But if they die young, they will have no hope,
    nor any consolation on the day of judgment,
¹⁹     for the fate of a wicked generation is harsh.

¹ Far better than this is childlessness accompanied by virtue,^[u]
    for immortality is gained by a remembrance of virtue,
    since it is acknowledged both by God and by men.
² When it is present, men imitate it,
    and they long for it in its absence.
And throughout eternity it marches crowned in triumph,
    victorious in the struggle for prizes that are undefiled.^[v]
3 However, the prolific progeny of the wicked will avail nothing;
    none of their illegitimate stock will put forth deep roots
    or lay a firm foundation.
⁴ For even if they put forth branches for a time,
    without a firm foundation they will be shaken by the wind
    and torn up by the violence of the storms.
⁵ Their immature branches will be broken off
    and their fruit will be useless,
    not ripe enough to eat and fit for no purpose.
⁶ For children born of unlawful unions
    bear witness to the wickedness of their parents
    when God brings them to judgment.^[w]

⁷ But the righteous man, even if he dies prematurely, will be at rest.^[y]
8 For the honor that comes with age is not due to the length of life
    or determined by the number of years.
⁹ Gray hairs for anyone consists in understanding,
    and ripe old age consists in a blameless life.
^{10     [z]}He has sought to please God, so God has loved him;
    while living among sinners, he has been taken up.
¹¹ He has been snatched away so that evil would not pervert his understanding
    or guile deceive his soul.
¹² For the spell of wickedness beclouds what is good,
    and the swirl of desire corrupts the simple heart.
¹³ Having achieved perfection in a short time,
    he attained a lengthy span of years.
¹⁴ Since his soul was pleasing to the Lord,
    he quickly removed him from the midst of wickedness.
People observed this yet failed to comprehend,
    nor did they reflect on this fact,
¹⁵ that grace and mercy are reserved for God’s holy ones
    and he shows concern for his elect.^[aa]
16 The righteous man who dies condemns the godless who are still alive,
    and youth that has quickly achieved perfection
    condemns the prolonged age of the wicked.
¹⁷ For they observe the death of the wise man
    but understand neither the designs of the Lord for him
    nor why he has kept him safe.
¹⁸ They look on and sneer contemptuously at him,
    but the Lord will laugh them to scorn.
¹⁹ Afterward they will become dishonored corpses
    and objects of contempt among the dead forever.
For he will cast them speechless to the ground
    and shake them to their very foundations.
They will be completely laid waste,
    overwhelmed with grief,
    and their memory will perish.

²⁰ The godless will cringe with terror when their sins are reckoned,
    and their lawless deeds will convict them to their face.

¹ Then will the righteous man stand with great confidence
    in the presence of his oppressors
    and those who derided his sufferings.
² On beholding him, his oppressors will be seized with terrible dread
    and will be amazed at his unexpected deliverance.
³ With remorse they will speak to one another,
    and groaning in distress of spirit they will say:
⁴ “This is the one whom we once mocked
    and made a target of our insults, fools that we were.
We regarded his way of life as madness
    and his end as dishonorable.
⁵ Why is he now reckoned among the children of God,
    sharing the lot of the saints?
⁶ Clearly we have been the ones who have strayed from the way of truth,
    and the light of justice has not shone for us
    or the sun risen upon us.
⁷ We had our fill of traversing the paths of lawlessness and ruin
    and wandered across trackless deserts,
    but of the way of the Lord we have been ignorant.
⁸ Of what avail has arrogance been to us?
    What advantage have we received from our vaunted wealth?
⁹ “All these things have passed like a shadow,
    much like a fleeting notice;
^10 [ac]like a ship that sails through the surging waters
    of whose passage—once it has passed by—no trace can be found,
    no wake from its keel in the waves;
¹¹ or like a bird that flies through the air
    and no sign of its passage is left,
for the light air, whipped by the beat of its pinions
    and cleft by the force of its speed,
is traversed by the flapping wings,
    and afterward there is no sign of its passage;
¹² or as when an arrow is shot at a target,
    the air is parted but immediately comes together again,
    and no evidence remains of its passage;
¹³ so we also, as soon as we were born, ceased to be
    and had not a trace of virtue to exhibit
    but were consumed in our wickedness.”^[ad]
14 The hope of the godless is like chaff carried on the wind,
    and like sea spray swept before a storm;
it is dissipated like smoke confronted by the wind,
    and it passes away like the memory of a guest who stays but a single day.
¹⁵ But the righteous live forever,
    and their recompense is with the Lord;^[ae]
    the Most High provides for them.
¹⁶ Therefore, they will receive a glorious crown
    and a splendid diadem from the hand of the Lord.
For he will shelter them with his right hand
    and shield them with his arm.
¹⁷ He will take zeal as his armor
    and arm all creation to repulse his foes.^[af]
18 He will put on justice as a breastplate,
    and wear an infallible judgment as a helmet.
¹⁹ He will take invincible holiness as a shield
²⁰     and sharpen unrelenting wrath for a sword,^[ag]
    and the whole world will unite with him to fight against the reckless.
²¹ Shafts of his lightning, accurately aimed, will fly forth,
    hurtling from the clouds as from a well-drawn bow toward their target,
²²     while the hailstones of his wrath will be hurled as from a sling.
The waters of the sea will rage against them,
    and the rivers will relentlessly engulf them.
²³ A mighty wind will rise against them
    and will winnow them like a tempest.
Lawlessness will make the whole earth a wasteland,
    and evildoing will overthrow the thrones of the mighty.