Wisdom 1:1-6:21
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
I. The Reward of Righteousness[a]
Chapter 1
Exhortation to Righteousness, the Key to Life
1 Love righteousness,[b] you who judge the earth;(A)
think of the Lord in goodness,
and seek him in integrity of heart;(B)
2 Because he is found by those who do not test him,
and manifests himself to those who do not disbelieve him.(C)
3 For perverse counsels separate people from God,
and his power, put to the proof, rebukes the foolhardy;(D)
4 [c]Because into a soul that plots evil wisdom does not enter,
nor does she dwell in a body under debt of sin.(E)
5 For the holy spirit of discipline[d] flees deceit
and withdraws from senseless counsels
and is rebuked when unrighteousness occurs.(F)
6 For wisdom is a kindly spirit,
yet she does not acquit blasphemous lips;
Because God is the witness of the inmost self(G)
and the sure observer of the heart
and the listener to the tongue.(H)
7 For the spirit of the Lord fills the world,(I)
is all-embracing, and knows whatever is said.
8 Therefore those who utter wicked things will not go unnoticed,
nor will chastising condemnation pass them by.(J)
9 For the devices of the wicked shall be scrutinized,
and the sound of their words shall reach the Lord,
for the chastisement of their transgressions;
10 Because a jealous ear hearkens to everything,(K)
and discordant grumblings are not secret.
11 Therefore guard against profitless grumbling,
and from calumny[e] withhold your tongues;
For a stealthy utterance will not go unpunished,
and a lying mouth destroys the soul.
12 Do not court death[f] by your erring way of life,
nor draw to yourselves destruction by the works of your hands.
13 Because God did not make death,(L)
nor does he rejoice in the destruction of the living.
14 For he fashioned all things that they might have being,
and the creatures of the world are wholesome;
There is not a destructive drug among them
nor any domain of Hades[g] on earth,
15 For righteousness is undying.[h](M)
The Wicked Reject Immortality and Righteousness Alike
16 It was the wicked who with hands and words invited death,
considered it a friend, and pined for it,
and made a covenant with it,
Because they deserve to be allied with it.(N)
Chapter 2
1 For, not thinking rightly, they said among themselves:[i]
“Brief and troubled is our lifetime;(O)
there is no remedy for our dying,
nor is anyone known to have come back from Hades.
2 For by mere chance were we born,
and hereafter we shall be as though we had not been;
Because the breath in our nostrils is smoke,
and reason a spark from the beating of our hearts,
3 And when this is quenched, our body will be ashes
and our spirit will be poured abroad like empty air.(P)
4 Even our name will be forgotten in time,
and no one will recall our deeds.
So our life will pass away like the traces of a cloud,
and will be dispersed like a mist
Pursued by the sun’s rays
and overpowered by its heat.
5 For our lifetime is the passing of a shadow;
and our dying cannot be deferred
because it is fixed with a seal; and no one returns.(Q)
6 Come, therefore, let us enjoy the good things that are here,
and make use of creation with youthful zest.(R)
7 Let us have our fill of costly wine and perfumes,
and let no springtime blossom pass us by;
8 let us crown ourselves with rosebuds before they wither.
9 Let no meadow be free from our wantonness;
everywhere let us leave tokens of our merriment,
for this is our portion, and this our lot.(S)
10 Let us oppress the righteous poor;
let us neither spare the widow
nor revere the aged for hair grown white with time.(T)
11 But let our strength be our norm of righteousness;
for weakness proves itself useless.
12 [j]Let us lie in wait for the righteous one, because he is annoying to us;
he opposes our actions,
Reproaches us for transgressions of the law[k]
and charges us with violations of our training.(U)
13 He professes to have knowledge of God
and styles himself a child of the Lord.(V)
14 To us he is the censure of our thoughts;
merely to see him is a hardship for us,(W)
15 Because his life is not like that of others,
and different are his ways.
16 He judges us debased;
he holds aloof from our paths as from things impure.
He calls blest the destiny of the righteous
and boasts that God is his Father.(X)
17 Let us see whether his words be true;
let us find out what will happen to him in the end.(Y)
18 For if the righteous one is the son of God, God will help him
and deliver him from the hand of his foes.(Z)
19 With violence and torture let us put him to the test
that we may have proof of his gentleness
and try his patience.
20 Let us condemn him to a shameful death;
for according to his own words, God will take care of him.”(AA)
21 These were their thoughts, but they erred;
for their wickedness blinded them,(AB)
22 [l]And they did not know the hidden counsels of God;
neither did they count on a recompense for holiness
nor discern the innocent souls’ reward.(AC)
23 For God formed us to be imperishable;
the image of his own nature he made us.(AD)
24 But by the envy[m] of the devil, death entered the world,
and they who are allied with him experience it.(AE)
Chapter 3
The Hidden Counsels of God[n]
A. On Suffering[o]
1 The souls of the righteous are in the hand of God,(AF)
and no torment shall touch them.
2 They seemed, in the view of the foolish, to be dead;
and their passing away was thought an affliction
3 and their going forth from us, utter destruction.
But they are in peace.(AG)
4 For if to others, indeed, they seem punished,
yet is their hope full of immortality;
5 Chastised a little, they shall be greatly blessed,
because God tried them
and found them worthy of himself.(AH)
6 As gold in the furnace, he proved them,
and as sacrificial offerings[p] he took them to himself.(AI)
7 In the time of their judgment[q] they shall shine
and dart about as sparks through stubble;(AJ)
8 They shall judge nations and rule over peoples,
and the Lord shall be their King forever.(AK)
9 Those who trust in him shall understand truth,
and the faithful shall abide with him in love:
Because grace and mercy are with his holy ones,(AL)
and his care is with the elect.
10 But the wicked shall receive a punishment to match their thoughts,[r]
since they neglected righteousness and forsook the Lord.
11 For those who despise wisdom and instruction are doomed.(AM)
Vain is their hope, fruitless their labors,
and worthless their works.(AN)
12 Their wives are foolish and their children wicked,
accursed their brood.(AO)
B. On Childlessness[s]
13 Yes, blessed is she who, childless and undefiled,
never knew transgression of the marriage bed;
for she shall bear fruit at the judgment of souls.[t]
14 So also the eunuch whose hand wrought no misdeed,
who held no wicked thoughts against the Lord—
For he shall be given fidelity’s choice reward[u]
and a more gratifying heritage in the Lord’s temple.(AP)
15 For the fruit of noble struggles is a glorious one;
and unfailing is the root of understanding.[v](AQ)
16 But the children of adulterers[w] will remain without issue,
and the progeny of an unlawful bed will disappear.(AR)
17 For should they attain long life, they will be held in no esteem,
and dishonored will their old age be in the end;
18 Should they die abruptly, they will have no hope
nor comfort in the day of scrutiny;
19 for dire is the end of the wicked generation.(AS)
Chapter 4
1 Better is childlessness with virtue;
for immortal is the memory of virtue,
acknowledged both by God and human beings.(AT)
2 When it is present people imitate it,
and they long for it when it is gone;
Forever it marches crowned in triumph,
victorious in unsullied deeds of valor.
3 But the numerous progeny of the wicked shall be of no avail;
their spurious offshoots shall not strike deep root
nor take firm hold.(AU)
4 For even though their branches flourish for a time,
they are unsteady and shall be rocked by the wind
and, by the violence of the winds, uprooted;(AV)
5 Their twigs shall be broken off untimely,
their fruit useless, unripe for eating,
fit for nothing.
6 For children born of lawless unions
give evidence of the wickedness of their parents, when they are examined.
C. On Early Death[x]
7 But the righteous one, though he die early, shall be at rest.(AW)
8 For the age that is honorable comes not with the passing of time,(AX)
nor can it be measured in terms of years.
9 Rather, understanding passes for gray hair,
and an unsullied life is the attainment of old age.
10 [y]The one who pleased God was loved,(AY)
living among sinners, was transported—
11 Snatched away, lest wickedness pervert his mind
or deceit beguile his soul;(AZ)
12 For the witchery of paltry things obscures what is right
and the whirl of desire transforms the innocent mind.(BA)
13 Having become perfect in a short while,
he reached the fullness of a long career;
14 for his soul was pleasing to the Lord,
therefore he sped him out of the midst of wickedness.(BB)
But the people saw and did not understand,
nor did they take that consideration into account.[z]
16 Yes, the righteous one who has died will condemn
the sinful who live;
And youth, swiftly completed, will condemn
the many years of the unrighteous who have grown old.(BC)
17 For they will see the death of the wise one
and will not understand what the Lord intended,
or why he kept him safe.
18 They will see, and hold him in contempt;
but the Lord will laugh them to scorn.(BD)
19 And they shall afterward become dishonored corpses(BE)
and an unceasing mockery among the dead.
For he shall strike them down speechless and prostrate(BF)
and rock them to their foundations;
They shall be utterly laid waste
and shall be in grief
and their memory shall perish.
The Judgment of the Wicked
20 Fearful shall they come, at the counting up of their sins,
and their lawless deeds shall convict them to their face.
Chapter 5
1 [aa]Then shall the righteous one with great assurance confront(BG)
his oppressors who set at nought his labors.(BH)
2 Seeing this, the wicked shall be shaken with dreadful fear,
and be amazed at the unexpected salvation.
3 They shall say among themselves, rueful
and groaning through anguish of spirit:
“This is the one whom once we held as a laughingstock
and as a type for mockery,
4 fools that we were!
His life we accounted madness,
and death dishonored.
5 See how he is accounted among the heavenly beings;[ab]
how his lot is with the holy ones!(BI)
6 We, then, have strayed from the way of truth,(BJ)
and the light of righteousness did not shine for us,
and the sun did not rise for us.(BK)
7 We were entangled in the thorns of mischief and of ruin;
we journeyed through trackless deserts,
but the way of the Lord we never knew.
8 What did our pride avail us?
What have wealth and its boastfulness afforded us?(BL)
9 All of them passed like a shadow
and like a fleeting rumor;(BM)
10 Like a ship traversing the heaving water:
when it has passed, no trace can be found,
no path of its keel in the waves.
11 Or like a bird flying through the air;
no evidence of its course is to be found—
But the fluid air, lashed by the beating of pinions,
and cleft by the rushing force
Of speeding wings, is traversed;
and afterward no mark of passage can be found in it.
12 Or as, when an arrow has been shot at a mark,
the parted air straightway flows together again
so that none discerns the way it went—
13 Even so, once born, we abruptly came to nought
and held no sign of virtue to display,
but were consumed in our wickedness.”(BN)
14 [ac]Yes, the hope of the wicked is like chaff borne by the wind,
and like fine, storm-driven snow;
Like smoke scattered by the wind,
and like the passing memory of the nomad camping for a single day.(BO)
15 But the righteous live forever,
and in the Lord is their recompense,
and the thought of them is with the Most High.(BP)
16 Therefore shall they receive the splendid crown,
the beautiful diadem, from the hand of the Lord,
For he will shelter them with his right hand,
and protect them with his arm.(BQ)
17 He shall take his zeal for armor(BR)
and arm creation to requite the enemy,
18 Shall put on righteousness for a breastplate,
wear sure judgment for a helmet,
19 Shall take invincible holiness for a shield,(BS)
20 and sharpen his sudden anger for a sword.
The universe will war with him against the foolhardy;
21 Well-aimed bolts of lightning will go forth
and from the clouds will leap to the mark as from a well-drawn bow;(BT)
22 and as from a sling, wrathful hailstones shall be hurled.
The waters of the sea will be enraged
and flooding rivers will overwhelm them;(BU)
23 A mighty wind will confront them
and winnow them like a tempest;
Thus lawlessness will lay waste the whole earth
and evildoing overturn the thrones of the mighty.(BV)
Chapter 6
Exhortation to Seek Wisdom[ad]
1 Hear, therefore, kings, and understand;(BW)
learn, you magistrates[ae] of the earth’s expanse!
2 Give ear, you who have power over multitudes
and lord it over throngs of peoples!
3 Because authority was given you by the Lord
and sovereignty by the Most High,
who shall probe your works and scrutinize your counsels!(BX)
4 Because, though you were ministers of his kingdom, you did not judge rightly,
and did not keep the law,[af]
nor walk according to the will of God,
5 Terribly and swiftly he shall come against you,
because severe judgment awaits the exalted—
6 For the lowly may be pardoned out of mercy(BY)
but the mighty shall be mightily put to the test.
7 For the Ruler of all shows no partiality,
nor does he fear greatness,(BZ)
Because he himself made the great as well as the small,
and provides for all alike;
8 but for those in power a rigorous scrutiny impends.
9 To you, therefore, O princes, are my words addressed(CA)
that you may learn wisdom and that you may not fall away.
10 For those who keep the holy precepts hallowed will be found holy,
and those learned in them will have ready a response.[ag]
11 Desire therefore my words;
long for them and you will be instructed.
12 Resplendent and unfading is Wisdom,
and she is readily perceived by those who love her,
and found by those who seek her.(CB)
13 She hastens to make herself known to those who desire her;(CC)
14 one who watches for her at dawn will not be disappointed,
for she will be found sitting at the gate.
15 For setting your heart on her is the perfection of prudence,
and whoever keeps vigil for her is quickly free from care;
16 Because she makes her rounds, seeking those worthy of her,
and graciously appears to them on the way,
and goes to meet them with full attention.(CD)
17 [ah]For the first step toward Wisdom is an earnest desire for discipline;(CE)
18 then, care for discipline is love of her;
love means the keeping of her laws;
To observe her laws is the basis for incorruptibility;
19 and incorruptibility makes one close to God;
20 thus the desire for Wisdom leads to a kingdom.
21 If, then, you find pleasure in throne and scepter, you princes of peoples,
honor Wisdom, that you may reign as kings forever.
Footnotes
- 1:1–6:21 The reward is the gift of immortality, to the righteous (1:15; 3:1–3), but not to the wicked (5:1–13). Contrasts between these two groups dominate chaps. 1–5. The philosophy of the wicked and their persecution of the righteous are dramatically presented in 1:16–2:24. New light is shed on the suffering of the righteous (3:1–9), childlessness (3:13–15), and premature death (4:7–16)—in contrast to the fate of the wicked (3:10–12, 16–19; 4:3–6, 17–20).
- 1:1 Righteousness: not merely the cardinal virtue of justice (cf. 8:7), but the universal moral quality which is the application of wisdom to moral conduct. You who judge: “judges” and “kings” (cf. 6:1) are addressed in accordance with the literary customs of the times and with the putative Solomonic authorship, but the real audience is the Jewish community.
- 1:4 In these verses personified Wisdom is identified with the spirit of the Lord; so also in 9:17.
- 1:5 Discipline: here and elsewhere, another name for Wisdom.
- 1:11 Calumny: speech against God and divine providence is meant.
- 1:12 Death: as will become clear, the author is not speaking of physical death but of spiritual death, the eternal separation from God.
- 1:14 Hades: the Greek term for the Hebrew Sheol, the dwelling place of the dead.
- 1:15 Undying: immortality is not seen as an innate quality of the soul but as a gift of God to the righteous.
- 2:1–20 In this speech the wicked deny survival after death and indeed invite death by their evil deeds.
- 2:12–5:23 From 2:12 to 5:23 the author draws heavily on Is 52–62, setting forth his teaching in a series of characters or types taken from Isaiah and embellished with additional details from other texts. The description of the “righteous one” in 2:12–20 seems to undergird the New Testament passion narrative.
- 2:12 Law: the law of Moses; “training” has the same meaning.
- 2:22 This verse announces the subject of the next section.
- 2:24 Envy: perhaps because Adam was in the image of God or because Adam had control over all creation. Devil: the first biblical text to equate the serpent of Gn 3 with the devil.
- 3:1–4:19 The central section of chaps. 1–6. The author begins by stating that immortality is the reward of the righteous, and then in the light of that belief comments on three points of the traditional discussion of the problem of retribution (suffering, childlessness, early death) each of which was often seen as a divine punishment.
- 3:1–12 The author affirms that, for the righteous, sufferings are not punishments but purification and opportunities to show fidelity, whereas for the wicked suffering is truly a punishment.
- 3:6 Offerings: the image is that of the burnt offering, in which the victim is completely consumed by fire.
- 3:7 Judgment: the Greek episkopē is God’s loving judgment of those who have been faithful to him; the same word is used in 14:11 for the punishment of the wicked at God’s judgment. Cf. also v. 13.
- 3:10 To match their thoughts: a fate as empty as that which they describe in 2:1–5.
- 3:13–4:6 The true fruit of life is not children but virtue which leads to immortality. The many children of the wicked will be a disappointing fruit.
- 3:13 See vv. 7–9.
- 3:14 Fidelity’s choice reward: cf. Is 56:1–8. More gratifying: better than sons and daughters; cf. Is 56:5.
- 3:15 Root of understanding: the root that is understanding (wisdom).
- 3:16 Adulterers: understood here as a type of sinners in general; cf. Is 57:3–5.
- 4:7–19 Early death is not a punishment for the righteous because genuine old age is the attainment of perfection and early death is a preservation from corruption. The old age and death of the wicked, however, will not be honorable.
- 4:10–11 There are allusions here to Enoch (Gn 5:21–24), who was young by patriarchal standards, and to Lot (Gn 19:10–11; 2 Pt 2:7–8). Cf. also Is 57:1–2.
- 4:14 Verse 15 is omitted because it repeats the last two lines of 3:9.
- 5:1–13 In contrast to their speech in chap. 2 the wicked now regret their assessment of life and righteousness.
- 5:5 Heavenly beings: lit., “sons of God.” These are the holy ones, members of the heavenly court, among whom the righteous are to be found. A bodily resurrection does not seem to be envisioned.
- 5:14–23 A picture of the reward of the righteous which develops into an apocalyptic description of the divine warrior’s destruction of evil. The author utilizes Is 59–62.
- 6:1–21 The first part of the book closes with an exhortation comparable to 1:1–15, and it leads into “Solomon’s” personal comments on wisdom in chaps. 7–9.
- 6:1 Kings…magistrates: note the inclusion with v. 21 (“kings”). The address to earthly powers is in accord with the opening (1:1), but the true audience remains the Jewish community.
- 6:4 Law: that of Moses; cf. 2:12; 6:10.
- 6:10 Response: a suitable plea before the great Judge. Cf. Prv 22:21; Jb 31:14; Hb 2:1; Sir 8:9.
- 6:17–20 This type of reasoning approximates the rhetorical sorites, a series of statements in which the predicate of each becomes the subject of the next. Cf. Rom 5:3–5.
Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.