Wisdom 4
4
1 # Cp. Ecclus. 16.3. Better than this is childlessness with virtue;
For #Cp. Ps. 112.6 & Prov. 10.7.in the memory #4.1 Gr. of it.of virtue is immortality:
Because it is recognised both before God and before men.
2When it is present, men imitate it;
And they long after it when it is departed:
And #4.2 Gr. in the age.throughout all time it marcheth #Cp. ch. 5.16 & 1 Cor. 9.24,25 & James 1.12.crowned in triumph,
Victorious in the strife for the prizes that are undefiled.
3But the multiplying brood of the ungodly shall be of no profit,
And #4.3 Gr. from.with bastard #4.3 Or offshootsslips #Cp. Ecclus. 23.25.they shall not strike deep root,
Nor shall they establish a sure hold.
4For even if these #4.4 Gr. in boughs flourish.put forth boughs and #Cp. Ps. 37.35,36.flourish for a season,
Yet, standing unsure, they shall be shaken by the wind,
And by the violence of winds #Cp. Jude 12.they shall be rooted out.
5 # Cp. John 15.2,6 & Rom. 11.17,20. Their branches shall be broken off before they come to maturity,
And #Cp. Jude 12.their fruit shall be useless,
Never ripe to eat, and fit for nothing.
6For children unlawfully begotten are witnesses of wickedness
Against parents when God searcheth them out.
7But #ch. 3.3.a righteous man, though he die before his time, shall be at rest.
8(For honourable old age is not that which standeth in length of time,
Nor is its measure given by number of years:
9But understanding is gray hairs unto men,
And an unspotted life is ripe old age.)
10 # See Gen. 5.24. Being found well-pleasing unto God he was beloved of him,
And while living among sinners he was translated:
11 # Cp. Is. 57.1. He was caught away, lest #4.11 Or malicewickedness should change his understanding,
Or guile deceive his soul.
12(For the bewitching of naughtiness #Cp. ch. 2.21.bedimmeth the things which are good,
And the giddy whirl of desire perverteth an innocent mind.)
13Being made perfect in a little while, he fulfilled long #4.13 Gr. times.years;
14For his soul was pleasing unto the Lord:
Therefore #4.14 Or he hastened him awayhasted he out of the midst of wickedness.
15But as for the peoples, #See Is. 6.9.seeing and understanding not,
Neither laying #4.15 Gr. such a thing as this.this to heart,
# ch. 3.9. That grace and mercy are with his chosen,
And that #4.15 Gr. his visitation is with.he visiteth his holy ones:—
16But a righteous man that is dead shall condemn the ungodly that are living,
And #Cp. Is. 65.20.youth that is quickly perfected the many years of an unrighteous man's old age;
17 # Cp. ch. 3.2. For the ungodly shall see a wise man's end,
And shall not understand what the Lord purposed concerning him,
And for what he safely kept him:—
18They shall see, and they shall despise;
But them #Ps. 2.4 & 37.13.the Lord shall laugh to scorn.
And after this #Cp. Is. 14.19.they shall become a dishonoured carcase,
And #4.18 Or be for outragea reproach among the dead for ever:
19Because he shall dash them speechless to the ground,
And shall shake them from the foundations,
And they shall #4.19 Or be a perpetual desolationlie utterly waste, and they shall be in anguish,
And #Ps. 9.6.their memory shall perish.
20They shall come, #4.20 Or when they reckon up their sinswhen their sins are reckoned up, with coward fear;
And #Cp. Jer. 2.19.their lawless deeds shall convict them to their face.
Currently Selected:
Wisdom 4: RV1895
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
historical text maintained by the British and Foreign Bible Society