Wisdom

Chapter 1

  1. 1

    Love justice, you who judge the land. Think of the Lord in goodness and seek him in simplicity of heart.

  2. 2

    For he is found by those who do not test him, yet he reveals himself to those who have faith in him.

  3. 3

    For perverse thoughts separate from God. But his virtue, when it is tested, corrects the foolish.

  4. 4

    For wisdom will not enter into a malicious soul, nor dwell in a body subdued by sin.

  5. 5

    For the holy spirit of instruction will flee from falsehood, and he will withdraw himself from thoughts that are without understanding, and he will not be reached when iniquity overcomes.

  6. 6

    For the spirit of wisdom is benevolent, and will not release the evil speaker from his talk, because God is a witness of his temperament, and a true examiner of his heart, and an auditor of his words.

  7. 7

    For the spirit of the Lord has filled the world, and he who contains all things, retains knowledge of every voice.

  8. 8

    Therefore, he who speaks unjust things cannot escape notice, nor will the chastising judgment pass him by.

  9. 9

    For inquiry will be made into the thoughts of the impious, his conversation also will reach the hearing of God, to the chastising of his iniquities.

  10. 10

    For the zealous ear hears all things, and the disturbance of complaining will not be hidden.

  11. 11

    Therefore, keep yourselves from complaining, which benefits nothing, and refrain your tongue from slander, because secret conversation will not pass into nothingness, and the mouth that lies kills the soul.

  12. 12

    Do not court death by the error of your life, nor procure your destruction by the works of your hands,

  13. 13

    because God did not make death, nor does he rejoice in the loss of the living.

  14. 14

    For he created all things that they might exist, and he made the nations of the world curable, and there is no medicine of extermination in them, nor a kingdom of hell upon the earth.

  15. 15

    For justice is perpetual and immortal.

  16. 16

    But the impious, with hands and words, have called death to them, and, esteeming it a friend, they have fallen away and have made a covenant with death, because they deserved to take part in it.