to 9 For inquifition fhall be thought to have it their made into the counfels of the friend, they confumed and the found of nought, and made a covehis words fhall come untonant with it, because they the Lord, for the manifefta- are worthy to take part with tion of his wicked deeds. it. 10 For the ear of jealoufy heareth all things: and the noife of murmurings is not hid. 11 Therefore beware of murmuring, which is unprofitable, and refrain your tongue from backbiting; for there is no word fo fecret, that thall go for nought: and 2 For we are born at all the mouth that belieth, flay-adventure: and we shall be eth the foul. hereafter, as though we had never been: for the breath in our noftrils is as smoke, and a little fpark in the moving of our heart: 12 Seek not death in the error of your life: and pull no: upon yourselves deftruction, with the works of your hands. 13 For God made not death: neither hath he pleasure in the destruction of the living. 14 For he created all things; that they might have their being: and the generations of the world were healthful: and there is no poison of deftruction in them: nor the kingdom of death upon the earth. 15 For righteoufnefs is immortal. CHAP. II. F OR the ungodly faid, reafoning with themselves, fhort and tedious, and in the but not aright, Our life is death of a man there is no remedy: neither was there any man known to have returned from the grave. 16 But ungodly men with their works and words called it to them: for when they 3 Which being extinguithed, our body fhall be turned into afhes, and our fpirit fhall vanifh as the foft air. no returning for it is faft the knowledge of God: and 7 Let us fill ourselves 8 Let us crown ourselves with rofe-buds before they be withered. 16 We are esteemed of him as counterfeits: he ab ftaineth from our ways as from filthiness: he pronounceth the end of the juft to be bleffed, and makwith-eth his boaft that God is his father. 17 Let us fee if his words be true: and let us prove what fhall happen in the end of him. 9 Let none of us go 10 Let us opprefs the poor righteous man, let us not fpare the widow, nor reverence the ancient gray hairs of the aged. 14 He was made to reprove our thoughts. 15 He is grievous unto us even to behold: for his life is not like other men's, his ways are of another fashion. 11 Let our ftrength be the law of justice, for that which is feeble is found to be nothing worth. 18 For if the just man be the fon of God, he will help him, and deliver him from the hand of his enemies. 19 Let us examine him with defpitefulness and torture, that we may know his meeknefs, and prove his pa tience. 20 Let us condemn him with a fhameful death: for by his own faying he shall be refpected. 21 Such things they did imagine, and were deceiv for their own wickednefs hath blinded them. 22 As for the myfteries of God, they knew them. not: 12 Therefore let us lie in 13 He profeffeth to have CHAP. III. BU UT the fouls of the righteous are in the hand of God, and there fhall no torment touch them. vifitation they shall shine, and run to and fro like sparks among the stubble. 5¶And having been a little chaftifed, they fhall be greatly rewarded: for God proved them, and found them worthy for himself. 8 They fhall judge the nations, and have dominion over the people, and their Lord fhall reign for ever. 9 They that put their truft in him fhall understand the truth: and fuch as be faithful in love fhall abide with him for grace and mercy is to his faints, and he hath care for his elect. 10 But the ungodly fhall be punished according to their own imaginations, which have neglected the Lord. 2 In the fight of the un-righteous, and forfaken the wife they seemed to die: and their departure is taken for mifery, 3 And their going from us to be utter deftruction: but they are in peace. 4 For though they be pu-fitable. nifhed in the fight of men: yet is their hope full of immortality. II For whofo defpifeth wisdom and nurture, he is miferable, and their hope is vain, their labours unfruitful, and their works unpro 12 Their wives are foolifh, and their children wicked. 13 Their offspring is curfed: wherefore bleffed is the barren that is undefiled, which hath not known the finful bed: fhe fhall have fruit in the vifitation of 6 As gold in the furnace hath he tried them, and re-fouls. ceived them as a burnt-offer 14 And bleffed is the eunuch, which with his hands ing. 7 And in the time of their hath wrought no iniquity, nor nor imagined wicked things umpheth for ever, having : tion. 15 For glorious is the fruit nor lay any faft foundaof good labours and the root of wisdom fhall never fall away. 16 ¶ As for the children of adulterers, they fhall not come to their perfection, and the feed of an unrighteous bed fhall be rooted out, 4 For though they flourish. in branches for a time; yet ftanding not faft, they fhall be fhaken with the wind, and through the force of winds they fhall be rooted out. 5 The imperfect branches fhall be broken off, their fruit unprofitable, not ripe to eat, yea, meet for nothing. 6 For children begotten of unlawful beds, are witneffes of wickednefs against their parents in their trial. 7 But though the righte ous be prevented with death; yet fhall he be in reft. 8 For honourable age is not that which standeth in length of time, nor that is measured by number of years : 9 But wisdom is the gray hair unto men, and an unspotted life is old age. 10 He pleased God, and was beloved of him: so that living amongst finners he was translated. 11 Yea, speedily was I taken his foul. taken away, left that wick-carcafe, and a reproach aednefs fhould alter his un-mong the dead for evermore. derstanding, or deceit beguile 19 For he fhall rend them, and caft them down headlong, that they fhall be fpeechless: and he shall shake them from the foundation: and they fhall be utterly laid wafte, and be in forrow: and their memorial shall perifh. 12 For the bewitching of naughtinefs doth obfcure things that are honeft: and the wandering of concupifcence doth undermine the fimple mind. 13 He being made perfect in a fhort time, fulfilled a long time. 14 For his foul pleafed the Lord therefore hafted he to take him away from among the wicked. 15 This the people faw, and understood it not, neither laid they up this in their minds, that his grace and mercy is with his faints, and that he hath refpect unto his chofen. 16 Thus the righteous that is dead, fhall condemn the ungodly which are living; and youth that is foon perfected, the many years and old age of the unrighteous. 17 For they fhall fee the end of the wife, and fhall not understand what God in his counsel hath decreed of him, and to what end the Lord hath fet him in fafety. 18 They fhall fee him, and defpife him: but God fhall laugh them to fcorn, and they shall hereafter be a vile 20 And when they caft up the accounts of their fins, they fhall come with fear: and their own iniquities fhall convince them to their face. CHAP. V. THE HEN fhall the righteous man stand in great boldness, before the face of fuch as have afflicted him, and made no account of his labours. 2 When they fee it, they fhall be troubled with terrible fear, and shall be amazed at the ftrangenefs of his falvation, so far beyond all that they looked for. 3 And they repenting and groaning for anguifh of fpirit, fhall fay within themfelves, This was he whom we had fometimes in derifion, and a proverb of reproach. 4 We fools accounted his life madness; and his end to be without honour. |