1 But the souls of the just are in the hand of God and no torment of death will touch them. 2 In the eyes of the foolish, they seemed to die, and their departure was considered an affliction, 3 and their going away from us, a banishment. Yet they are in peace. 4 And though, in the sight of men, they suffered torments, their hope is full of immortality. 5 Troubled in few things, in many things they will be well compensated, because God has tested them and found them worthy of himself. 6 Like gold in the furnace, he has proved them, and as a holocaust victim, he has received them, and in the time of their visitation 7 they will shine, and they will dash about like sparks among stubble. 8 They will judge the nations and they will rule over the people, and their Lord will reign forever. 9 Those who trust in him, will understand the truth, and those who are faithful in love will rest in him, because grace and peace is for his elect. 10 But the impious will be chastised according to their thoughts, for they have neglected the just and have retreated from the Lord. 11 For whoever abandons wisdom and instruction is unhappy, and their hope is empty, and their labors without fruit, and their works useless. 12 Their wives are foolish and their sons are wicked; the things that serve them are accursed. 13 Therefore, fertile is the barren and undefiled, who has not known transgressions in bed; she will bear fruit by caring for holy souls. 14 And fertile is the celibate, who has not wrought iniquity with his hands, nor thought wickedness against God; for to him will be given a special gift of faith and a very welcome place in the temple of the Lord. 15 For the fruit of good labors is glorious and the root of wisdom shall never perish. 16 But the sons of adulterers will not reach completion, and the offspring of a sinful bed will be banished. 17 And if they live long, they will be counted as nothing, and their last years of old-age will be without honor. 18 And if they die quickly, they will have no hope, nor words of comfort on the day of reckoning. 19 For the iniquities of the people have a dreadful result.
Wisdom of Solomon · Catholic Public Domain Version
Wisdom of Solomon 3 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.
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).
Ye have read and heard, "As gold in the furnace hath He tried them, and received them as a burnt-offering." See what ye shall be among the treasures of God.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 6 (1888)
For "the souls of the righteous are in the hand of God;" and if of the righteous, then those children's souls also; for neither are they wicked: and the souls too of sinners are straightway led away hence.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 10 (1888)
The divine Scripture likewise saith that the souls of the just are in God's hand and death cannot lay hold of them.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 9 (1899)
Truly when the Scripture was speaking of persecution, it said, "Like gold in a furnace it hath proved them" (speaking of Martyrs being slain), "and as the holocaust's victim it hath received them." Hear how even the tongue of flatterers is of such sort: "The proving," he saith, "of silver and of gold is fire; but a man is proved …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 8 (1888)
… to those who sleep in the tomb, whom God hath not yet remembered: since the righteous are among the latter, of whom, even though God hath not yet called them to the resurrection, it is said, that their "souls are in the hands of God," that is, that "they dwell under the defence of the Most High; and shall abide …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 8 (1888)