en_RV1895 - Wis 4 - Ozzuu Bible

¹ [1]Better than this is childlessness with virtue; For [2]in the memory [3]of virtue is immortality: Because it is recognised both before God and before men.

² When it is present, men imitate it; And they long after it when it is departed: And [4]throughout all time it marcheth [5]crowned in triumph, Victorious in the strife for the prizes that are undefiled.

³ But the multiplying brood of the ungodly shall be of no profit, And [6]with bastard [7]slips [8]they shall not strike deep root, Nor shall they establish a sure hold.

⁴ For even if these [9]put forth boughs and [10]flourish for a season, Yet, standing unsure, they shall be shaken by the wind, And by the violence of winds [11]they shall be rooted out.

⁵ [12] Their branches shall be broken off before they come to maturity, And [13]their fruit shall be useless, Never ripe to eat, and fit for nothing.

⁶ For children unlawfully begotten are witnesses of wickedness Against parents when God searcheth them out.

⁷ But [14]a righteous man, though he die before his time, shall be at rest.

⁸ (For honourable old age is not that which standeth in length of time, Nor is its measure given by number of years:

⁹ But understanding is gray hairs unto men, And an unspotted life is ripe old age.)

¹⁰ [15]Being found well-pleasing unto God he was beloved of him, And while living among sinners he was translated:

¹¹ [16]He was caught away, lest [17]wickedness should change his understanding, Or guile deceive his soul.

¹² (For the bewitching of naughtiness [18]bedimmeth the things which are good, And the giddy whirl of desire perverteth an innocent mind.)

¹³ Being made perfect in a little while, he fulfilled long [19]years;

¹⁴ For his soul was pleasing unto the Lord: Therefore [20]hasted he out of the midst of wickedness.

¹⁵ But as for the peoples, [21]seeing and understanding not, Neither laying [22]this to heart, [23]That grace and mercy are with his chosen, And that [24]he visiteth his holy ones:—

¹⁶ But a righteous man that is dead shall condemn the ungodly that are living, And [25]youth that is quickly perfected the many years of an unrighteous man's old age;

¹⁷ [26]For the ungodly shall see a wise man's end, And shall not understand what the Lord purposed concerning him, And for what he safely kept him:—

¹⁸ They shall see, and they shall despise; But them [27]the Lord shall laugh to scorn. And after this [28]they shall become a dishonoured carcase, And [29]a reproach among the dead for ever:

¹⁹ Because he shall dash them speechless to the ground, And shall shake them from the foundations, And they shall [30]lie utterly waste, and they shall be in anguish, And [31]their memory shall perish.

²⁰ They shall come, [32]when their sins are reckoned up, with coward fear; And [33]their lawless deeds shall convict them to their face.