Part 2

Let us see if his words be true, and let us try what shall befall in the ending of his life.

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.

With outrage and torture let us put him to the test, that we may learn his gentleness, and may prove his patience under wrong.

Let us condemn him to a shameful death; for he shall be visited according to his words.

* * * * *

Thus reasoned they, and they were led astray; for their wickedness blinded them,

And they knew not the mysteries of God, neither hoped they for wages of holiness, nor did they judge that there is a prize for blameless souls.

Because God created man for incorruption, and made him an image of his own proper being;

But by the envy of the devil death entered into the world, and they that are of his portion make trial thereof.

=3= But the souls of the righteous are in the hand of God, and no torment shall touch them.

In the eyes of the foolish they seemed to have died; and their departure was accounted to be their hurt,

And their journeying away from us to be their ruin: but they are in peace.

For even if in the sight of men they be punished, their hope is full of immortality;

And having borne a little chastening, they shall receive great good; because God made trial of them, and found them worthy of himself.

As gold in the furnace he proved them, and as a whole burnt offering he accepted them.

And in the time of their visitation they shall shine forth, and as sparks among stubble they shall run to and fro.

They shall judge nations, and have dominion over peoples; and the Lord shall reign over them for evermore.

They that trust on him shall understand truth, and the faithful shall abide with him in love; because grace and mercy are to his chosen.

* * * * *

But the ungodly shall be requited even as they reasoned, they which lightly regarded the righteous man, and revolted from the Lord;

(For he that setteth at nought wisdom and discipline is miserable;) and void is their hope and their toils unprofitable, and useless are their works:

Their wives are foolish, and wicked are their children;

Accursed is their begetting. Because happy is the barren that is undefiled, she who hath not conceived in transgression; she shall have fruit when God visiteth souls.

And happy is the eunuch which hath wrought no lawless deed with his hands, nor imagined wicked things against the Lord; for there shall be given him for his faithfulness a peculiar favour, and a lot in the sanctuary of the Lord more delightsome than wife or children.

For good labours have fruit of great renown; and the root of understanding cannot fail.

But children of adulterers shall not come to maturity, and the seed of an unlawful bed shall vanish away.

For if they live long, they shall be held in no account, and at the last their old age shall be without honour.

And if they die quickly, they shall have no hope, nor in the day of decision shall they have consolation.

For the end of an unrighteous generation is always grievous.

=4= Better than this is childlessness with virtue; for in the memory of virtue is immortality: because it is recognised both before God and before men.

When it is present, men imitate it; and they long after it when it is departed: and throughout all time it marcheth crowned in triumph, victorious in the strife for the prizes that are undefiled.

But the multiplying brood of the ungodly shall be of no profit, and with bastard slips they shall not strike deep root, nor shall they establish a sure hold.

For even if these put forth boughs and flourish for a season, yet, standing unsure, they shall be shaken by the wind, and by the violence of winds they shall be rooted out.

Their branches shall be broken off before they come to maturity, and their fruit shall be useless, never ripe to eat, and fit for nothing.

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

* * * * *

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

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

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

Being found well-pleasing unto God he was beloved of him, and while living among sinners he was translated:

He was caught away, lest wickedness should change his understanding, or guile deceive his soul.

(For the bewitching of naughtiness bedimmeth the things which are good, and the giddy whirl of desire perverteth an innocent mind.)

Being made perfect in a little while, he fulfilled long years;

For his soul was pleasing unto the Lord: therefore hasted he out of the midst of wickedness.

But as for the peoples, seeing and understanding not, neither laying this to heart, that grace and mercy are with his chosen, and that he visiteth his holy ones:--

But a righteous man that is dead shall condemn the ungodly that are living, and youth that is quickly perfected the many years of an unrighteous man’s old age;

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:--

They shall see, and they shall despise; but them the Lord shall laugh to scorn. And after this they shall become a dishonoured carcase, and a reproach among the dead for ever:

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

* * * * *

They shall come, when their sins are reckoned up, with coward fear; and their lawless deeds shall convict them to their face.

=5= Then shall the righteous man stand in great boldness before the face of them that afflicted him, and them that make his labours of no account.

When they see it, they shall be troubled with terrible fear, and shall be amazed at the marvel of God’s salvation.

They shall say within themselves repenting, and for distress of spirit shall they groan, This was he whom aforetime we had in derision, and made a parable of reproach:

We fools accounted his life madness, and his end without honour:

How was he numbered among sons of God? and how is his lot among saints?

Verily we went astray from the way of truth, and the light of righteousness shined not for us, and the sun rose not for us.

We took our fill of the paths of lawlessness and destruction, and we journeyed through trackless deserts, but the way of the Lord we knew not.

What did our arrogancy profit us? and what good have riches and vaunting brought us?

Those things all passed away as a shadow, and as a message that runneth by:

As a ship passing through the billowy water, whereof, when it is gone by, there is no trace to be found, neither pathway of its keel in the billows:

Or as when a bird flieth through the air, no token of her passage is found, but the light wind, lashed with the stroke of her pinions, and rent asunder with the violent rush of the moving wings, is passed through, and afterwards no sign of her coming is found therein:

Or as when an arrow is shot at a mark, the air disparted closeth up again immediately, so that men know not where it passed through:

So we also, as soon as we were born, ceased to be: and of virtue we had no sign to shew, but in our wickedness we were utterly consumed.

Because the hope of the ungodly man is as chaff carried by the wind, and as foam vanishing before a tempest; and is scattered as smoke is scattered by the wind, and passeth by as the remembrance of a guest that tarrieth but a day.

* * * * *

But the righteous live for ever, and in the Lord is their reward, and the care for them with the Most High.

Therefore shall they receive the crown of royal dignity and the diadem of beauty from the Lord’s hand; because with his right hand shall he cover them, and with his arm shall he shield them.

He shall take his jealousy as complete armour, and shall make the whole creation his weapons for vengeance on his enemies:

He shall put on righteousness as a breastplate, and shall array himself with judgement unfeigned as with a helmet;

He shall take holiness as an invincible shield,

And he shall sharpen stern wrath for a sword: and the world shall go forth with him to fight against his insensate foes.

Shafts of lightning shall fly with true aim, and from the clouds, as from a well drawn bow, shall they leap to the mark.

And as from an engine of war shall be hurled hailstones full of wrath; the water of the sea shall be angered against them, and rivers shall sternly overwhelm them;

A mighty blast shall encounter them, and as a tempest shall it winnow them away: and so shall lawlessness make all the land desolate, and their evil-doing shall overturn the thrones of princes.

* * * * *

=6= Hear therefore, ye kings, and understand; learn, ye judges of the ends of the earth:

Give ear, ye that have dominion over much people, and make your boast in multitudes of nations.

Because your dominion was given you from the Lord, and your sovereignty from the Most High; who shall search out your works, and shall make inquisition of your counsels:

Because being officers of his kingdom ye did not judge aright, neither kept ye law, nor walked after the counsel of God.

Awfully and swiftly shall he come upon you; because a stern judgement befalleth them that be in high place:

For the man of low estate may be pardoned in mercy, but mighty men shall be searched out mightily.

For the Sovereign Lord of all will not refrain himself for any man’s person, neither will he reverence greatness; because it is he that made both small and great, and alike he taketh thought for all;

But strict is the scrutiny that cometh upon the powerful.

Unto you, therefore, O princes, are my words, that ye may learn wisdom and fall not from the right way.

For they that have kept holily the things that are holy shall themselves be hallowed; and they that have been taught them shall find what to answer;

Set your desire therefore on my words; long for them, and ye shall be trained by their discipline.

* * * * *

Wisdom is radiant and fadeth not away; and easily is she beheld of them that love her, and found of them that seek her.

She forestalleth them that desire to know her, making herself first known.

He that riseth up early to seek her shall have no toil, for he shall find her sitting at his gates.

For to think upon her is perfectness of understanding, and he that watcheth for her sake shall quickly be free from care.

Because she goeth about, herself seeking them that are worthy of her, and in their paths she appeareth unto them graciously, and in every purpose she meeteth them.

For her true beginning is desire of discipline; and the care for discipline is love of her;

And love of her is observance of her laws; and to give heed to her laws confirmeth incorruption;

And incorruption bringeth near unto God;

So then desire of wisdom promoteth to a kingdom.

If therefore ye delight in thrones and sceptres, ye princes of peoples, honour wisdom, that ye may reign for ever.

But what wisdom is, and how she came into being, I will declare, and I will not hide mysteries from you; but I will trace her out from the beginning of creation, and bring the knowledge of her into clear light, and I will not pass by the truth;

Neither indeed will I take pining envy for my companion in the way, because envy shall have no fellowship with wisdom.

But a multitude of wise men is salvation to the world, and an understanding king is tranquillity to his people.

Wherefore be disciplined by my words, and thereby shall ye profit.

* * * * *

=7= I myself also am mortal, like to all, and am sprung from one born of the earth, the man first formed,

And in the womb of a mother was I moulded into flesh in the time of ten months, being compacted in blood of the seed of man and pleasure that came with sleep.

And I also, when I was born, drew in the common air, and fell upon the kindred earth, uttering, like all, for my first voice, the selfsame wail:

In swaddling clothes was I nursed, and with watchful cares.

For no king had any other first beginning;

But all men have one entrance into life, and a like departure.

For this cause I prayed, and understanding was given me: I called upon God, and there came to me a spirit of wisdom.

I preferred her before sceptres and thrones, and riches I esteemed nothing in comparison of her.

Neither did I liken to her any priceless gem, because all the gold of the earth in her presence is a little sand, and silver shall be accounted as clay before her.

Above health and comeliness I loved her, and I chose to have her rather than light, because her bright shining is never laid to sleep.

But with her there came to me all good things together, and in her hands innumerable riches:

And I rejoiced over them all because wisdom leadeth them; though I knew not that she was the mother of them.

As I learned without guile, I impart without grudging; I do not hide her riches.

For she is unto men a treasure that faileth not, and they that use it obtain friendship with God, commended to him by the gifts which they through discipline present to him.

* * * * *

But to me may God give to speak with judgement, and to conceive thoughts worthy of what hath been given me; because himself is one that guideth even wisdom and that correcteth the wise.

For in his hand are both we and our words; all understanding, and all acquaintance with divers crafts.

For himself gave me an unerring knowledge of the things that are, to know the constitution of the world, and the operation of the elements;

The beginning and end and middle of times, the alternations of the solstices and the changes of seasons,

The circuits of years and the positions of stars;

The natures of living creatures and the ragings of wild beasts, the violences of winds and the thoughts of men, the diversities of plants and the virtues of roots:

All things that are either secret or manifest I learned,

For she that is the artificer of all things taught me, even wisdom.

* * * * *

For there is in her a spirit quick of understanding, holy, alone in kind, manifold, subtil, freely moving, clear in utterance, unpolluted, distinct, unharmed, loving what is good, keen, unhindered,

Beneficent, loving toward man, steadfast, sure, free from care, all-powerful, all-surveying, and penetrating through all spirits that are quick of understanding, pure, most subtil:

For wisdom is more mobile than any motion; yea, she pervadeth and penetrateth all things by reason of her pureness.

For she is a breath of the power of God, and a clear effluence of the glory of the Almighty; therefore can nothing defiled find entrance into her.

For she is an effulgence from everlasting light, and an unspotted mirror of the working of God, and an image of his goodness.

And she, being one, hath power to do all things; and remaining in herself, reneweth all things: and from generation to generation passing into holy souls she maketh men friends of God and prophets.

For nothing doth God love save him that dwelleth with wisdom.

For she is fairer than the sun, and above all the constellations of the stars: being compared with light, she is found to be before it;

For to the light of day succeedeth night, but against wisdom evil doth not prevail;

=8= But she reacheth from one end of the world to the other with full strength, and ordereth all things graciously.

* * * * *

Her I loved and sought out from my youth, and I sought to take her for my bride, and I became enamoured of her beauty.

She glorifieth her noble birth in that it is given her to live with God, and the Sovereign Lord of all loved her.

For she is initiated into the knowledge of God, and she chooseth out for him his works.

But if riches are a desired possession in life, what is richer than wisdom, which worketh all things?

And if understanding worketh, who more than wisdom is an artificer of the things that are?

And if a man loveth righteousness, the fruits of wisdom’s labour are virtues, for she teacheth soberness and understanding, righteousness and courage; and there is nothing in life for men more profitable than these.

And if a man longeth even for much experience, she knoweth the things of old, and divineth the things to come: she understandeth subtilties of speeches and interpretations of dark sayings: she foreseeth signs and wonders, and the issues of seasons and times.

I determined therefore to take her unto me to live with me, knowing that she is one who would give me good thoughts for counsel, and encourage me in cares and grief.

Because of her I shall have glory among multitudes, and honour in the sight of elders, though I be young.

I shall be found of a quick conceit when I give judgement, and in the presence of princes I shall be admired.

When I am silent, they shall wait for me; and when I open my lips, they shall give heed unto me; and if I continue speaking, they shall lay their hand upon their mouth.

Because of her I shall have immortality, and leave behind an eternal memory to them that come after me.

I shall govern peoples, and nations shall be subjected to me.

Dread princes shall fear me when they hear of me: among my people I shall shew myself a good ruler, and in war courageous.

When I am come into my house, I shall find rest with her; for converse with her hath no bitterness, and to live with her hath no pain, but gladness and joy.

When I considered these things in myself, and took thought in my heart how that in kinship unto wisdom is immortality,

And in her friendship is good delight, and in the labours of her hands is wealth that faileth not, and in assiduous communing with her is understanding, and great renown in having fellowship with her words, I went about seeking how to take her unto myself.

Now I was a child of parts, and a good soul fell to my lot;

Nay rather, being good, I came into a body undefiled.

But perceiving that I could not otherwise possess wisdom except God gave her me (yea and to know by whom the grace is given, this too came of understanding), I pleaded with the Lord and besought him, and with my whole heart I said,

* * * * *

=9= O God of the fathers, and Lord who keepest thy mercy, who madest all things by thy word;

And by thy wisdom thou formedst man, that he should have dominion over the creatures that were made by thee,

And rule the world in holiness and righteousness, and execute judgement in uprightness of soul;

Give me wisdom, her that sitteth by thee on thy throne; and reject me not from among thy servants:

Because I am thy bondman and the son of thy handmaid, a man weak and short-lived, and of small power to understand judgement and laws.

For even if a man be perfect among the sons of men, yet if the wisdom that cometh from thee be not with him, he shall be held in no account.

Thou didst choose me before my brethren to be king of thy people, and to do judgement for thy sons and daughters.

Thou gavest command to build a sanctuary in thy holy mountain, and an altar in the city of thy habitation, a copy of the holy tabernacle which thou preparedst aforehand from the beginning.

And with thee is wisdom, which knoweth thy works, and was present when thou wast making the world, and which understandeth what is pleasing in thine eyes, and what is right according to thy commandments.

Send her forth out of the holy heavens, and from the throne of thy glory bid her come, that being present with me she may toil with me, and that I may learn what is well-pleasing before thee.

For she knoweth all things and hath understanding thereof, and in my doings she shall guide me in ways of soberness, and she shall guard me in her glory.

And so shall my works be acceptable, and I shall judge thy people righteously, and I shall be worthy of my father’s throne.

For what man shall know the counsel of God? or who shall conceive what the Lord willeth?

For the thoughts of mortals are timorous, and our devices are prone to fail.

For a corruptible body weigheth down the soul, and the earthly frame lieth heavy on a mind that is full of cares.

And hardly do we divine the things that are on earth, and the things that are close at hand we find with labour; but the things that are in the heavens who ever yet traced out?

And who ever gained knowledge of thy counsel, except thou gavest wisdom, and sentest thy holy spirit from on high?

And it was thus that the ways of them which are on earth were corrected, and men were taught the things that are pleasing unto thee; and through wisdom were they saved.

THE WISDOM OF JESUS THE SON OF SIRACH

OR

ECCLESIASTICUS

=1= All wisdom cometh from the Lord, and is with him for ever.

The sand of the seas, and the drops of rain, and the days of eternity, who shall number?

The height of the heaven, and the breadth of the earth, and the deep, and wisdom, who shall search them out?

Wisdom hath been created before all things, and the understanding of prudence from everlasting.

To whom hath the root of wisdom been revealed? and who hath known her shrewd counsels?

There is one wise, greatly to be feared, the Lord sitting upon his throne:

He created her, and saw, and numbered her, and poured her out upon all his works.

She is with all flesh according to his gift; and he gave her freely to them that love him.

The fear of the Lord is glory, and exultation, and gladness, and a crown of rejoicing.

The fear of the Lord shall delight the heart, and shall give gladness, and joy, and length of days.