Wisdom of Solomon · Catholic Public Domain Version
Wisdom of Solomon 2 Catholic Public Domain Version
Notes on this text (3)
- Esther and Daniel are the Vulgate books (Esther 1–16 with the Greek additions as chapters 10:4–16; Daniel 1–14 with the Song of the Three, Susanna and Bel). Baruch 6 is the Letter of Jeremiah.
- The translator's footnotes, cross-references, chapter summaries and book introductions in the CrossWire module are not shown.
- No imprimatur; single translator.
Wisdom of Solomon is not in RV1909.
1 For they have said, reasoning with themselves incorrectly: “Our lifetime is brief and tedious, and there is no relief within the limits of man, and no one is acknowledged to have returned from the dead.
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2 For we are born from nothing, and after this we will be as if we had not been, because the breath in our nostrils is like smoke, and conversation sends out sparks from the stirring of our heart;
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3 therefore, when it is extinguished, our body will be ashes, and our spirit will be diffused like a soft breeze, and our life will pass away like the wisp of a cloud, just as a mist is dissolved when it is driven away by the rays of the sun and overpowered by its heat.
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4 And in time our name will surrender to oblivion, and no one will have remembrance of our works.
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5 For our time is like the passing of a shadow, and nothing can reverse our end, for it is signed and sealed, and cannot be returned.
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6 Therefore, hurry, let us enjoy the good things of the present time, and let us quickly use up passing things, just as in youth.
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7 Let us indulge ourselves with costly wine and ointments, and let no flower of youth pass us by.
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8 Let us surround ourselves with rosebuds before they wither; let no meadow be left untouched by our indulgence.
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9 Let no one among us be exempt from our indulgence. Let us leave behind tokens of enjoyment everywhere, for this is our portion, and this is fate.
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10 Let us oppress the poor just man, and not spare the widow, nor respect the aged grey hairs of elders.
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11 But let our strength be the law of justice, for what is weak is found to be useless.
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12 Therefore, let us encircle the just, because he is useless to us, and he is against our works, and he reproaches us with our legal offenses, and makes known to us the sins of our way of life.
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13 He promises that he has the knowledge of God and he calls himself the son of God.
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14 He was made among us to expose our very thoughts.
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15 He is grievous for us even to behold, for his life is unlike other men’s lives, and immutable are his ways.
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16 It is as if we are considered by him to be insignificant, and he abstains from our ways as from filth; he prefers the newly justified, and he glories that he has God for his father.
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17 Let us see, then, if his words are true, and let us test what will happen to him, and then we will know what his end will be.
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18 For if he is the true son of God, he will receive him and deliver him from the hands of his adversaries.
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19 Let us examine him with insult and torture, that we may know his reverence and try his patience.
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20 Let us condemn him to a most shameful death, for, according to his own words, God will care for him.”
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21 These things they thought, and they were mistaken, for their own malice blinded them.
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22 And they were ignorant of the mysteries of God; they neither hoped for the reward of justice, nor judged the value of holy souls.
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23 For God created man to be immortal, and he made him in the image of his own likeness.
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24 But by the envy of the devil, death entered the world,
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25 yet they imitate him, who are from his side.
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What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
… is become blind in His faith, neither walks in the ordinances of His appointment, nor acts a part becoming a Christian, but walks after his own wicked lusts, resuming the practice of an unrighteous and ungodly envy, by which death itself entered into the world. Chapter IV — Many evils have already flowed from this source in ancient times For …
For he says, what it was foretold in the book of Wisdom that he should say, "He is grievous unto us, even to behold; for his life is not like other men's." Therefore he "seeks to slay him." What?
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 8 (1888)
"Let us condemn Him with a most shameful death, for by His own sayings He shall be respected;" for if he is indeed the Son of God, He will deliver Him from the hands of His adversaries: He will not suffer His Son to die, if He is truly His Son.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 8 (1888)
… saith, "Behold there cometh the Prince of the world," being an acute observer of all sins; "Behold," He saith, "there cometh the Prince of this world," with death afflicting sinners, presiding over death: for, "By the malice of the devil death came into the world." "Behold," He saith, "there cometh the Prince of the world:"--He said these words close upon …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 8 (1888)