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.
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.
1 For they said within themselves, with unsound reasoning, “Our life is short and sorrowful. There is no healing when a man comes to his end, and no one was ever known who was released from Hades.
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;
2 Because we were born by mere chance, and hereafter we will be as though we had never been, because the breath in our nostrils is smoke, and reason is a spark kindled by the beating of our heart,
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.
3 which being extinguished, the body will be turned into ashes, and the spirit will be dispersed as thin air.
4 And in time our name will surrender to oblivion, and no one will have remembrance of our works.
4 Our name will be forgotten in time. No one will remember our works. Our life will pass away as the traces of a cloud, and will be scattered as is a mist, when it is chased by the rays of the sun, and overcome by its heat.
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.
5 For our allotted time is the passing of a shadow, and our end doesn’t retreat, because it is securely sealed, and no one turns it back.
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.
6 “Come therefore and let’s enjoy the good things that exist. Let’s use the creation earnestly as in our youth.
7 Let us indulge ourselves with costly wine and ointments, and let no flower of youth pass us by.
7 Let’s fill ourselves with costly wine and perfumes, and let no spring flower pass us by.
8 Let us surround ourselves with rosebuds before they wither; let no meadow be left untouched by our indulgence.
8 Let’s crown ourselves with rosebuds before they wither.
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.
9 Let none of us go without his share in our proud revelry. Let’s leave tokens of mirth everywhere, because this is our portion, and this is our lot.
10 Let us oppress the poor just man, and not spare the widow, nor respect the aged grey hairs of elders.
10 Let’s oppress the righteous poor. Let’s not spare the widow, nor regard the gray hair of the old man.
11 But let our strength be the law of justice, for what is weak is found to be useless.
11 But let our strength be a law of righteousness; for that which is weak is proven useless.
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.
12 But let’s lie in wait for the righteous man, because he annoys us, is contrary to our works, reproaches us with sins against the law, and charges us with sins against our training.
13 He promises that he has the knowledge of God and he calls himself the son of God.
13 He professes to have knowledge of God, and calls himself a child of the Lord.
14 He was made among us to expose our very thoughts.
14 He became to us a reproof of our thoughts.
15 He is grievous for us even to behold, for his life is unlike other men’s lives, and immutable are his ways.
15 He is grievous to us even to look at, because his life is unlike other men’s, and his paths are strange.
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.
16 We were regarded by him as something worthless, and he abstains from our ways as from uncleanness. He calls the latter end of the righteous happy. He boasts that God is his father.
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.
17 Let’s see if his words are true. Let’s test what will happen at the end of his life.
18 For if he is the true son of God, he will receive him and deliver him from the hands of his adversaries.
18 For if the righteous man is God’s son, he will uphold him, and he will deliver him out of the hand of his adversaries.
19 Let us examine him with insult and torture, that we may know his reverence and try his patience.
19 Let’s test him with insult and torture, that we may find out how gentle he is, and test his patience.
20 Let us condemn him to a most shameful death, for, according to his own words, God will care for him.”
20 Let’s condemn him to a shameful death, for he will be protected, according to his words.”
21 These things they thought, and they were mistaken, for their own malice blinded them.
21 Thus they reasoned, and they were led astray; for their wickedness blinded them,
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.
22 and they didn’t know the mysteries of God, neither did they hope for wages of holiness, nor did they discern that there is a prize for blameless souls.
23 For God created man to be immortal, and he made him in the image of his own likeness.
23 Because God created man for incorruption, and made him an image of his own everlastingness;
24 But by the envy of the devil, death entered the world,
24 but death entered into the world by the envy of the devil, and those who belong to him experience it.
25 yet they imitate him, who are from his side.
25 Not in this translation
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)