The Wisdom of Solomon
Chapter 3
1 – But the souls of the just are in the hand of God, and the torment of death shall not touch them.
2 – In the sight of the unwise they seemed to die: and their departure was taken for misery:
3 – And their going away from us, for utter destruction: but they are in peace.
4 – And though in the sight of men they suffered torments, their hope is full of immortality.
5 – Afflicted in few things, in many they shall be well rewarded: because God hath tried them, and found them worthy of himself.
6 – As gold in the furnace he hath proved them, and as a victim of a holocaust he hath received them, and in time there shall be respect had to them.
7 – The just shall shine, and shall run to and fro like sparks among the reeds.
8 – They shall judge nations, and rule over people, and their Lord shall reign for ever.
9 – They that trust in him, shall understand the truth: and they that are faithful in love shall rest in him: for grace and peace is to his elect.
10 – But the wicked shall be punished according to their own devices: who have neglected the just, and have revolted from the Lord.
11 – For he that rejecteth wisdom, and discipline, is unhappy: and their hope is vain, and their labours without fruit, and their works unprofitable.
12 – Their wives are foolish, and their children wicked.
13 – Their offspring is cursed: for happy is the barren: and the undefiled, that hath not known bed in sin: she shall have fruit in the visitation of holy souls.
14 – And the eunuch, that hath not wrought iniquity with his hands, nor thought wicked things against God: for the precious gift of faith shall be given to him, and a most acceptable lot in the temple of God.
15 – For the fruit of good labours is glorious, and the root of wisdom never faileth.
16 – But the children of adulterers shall not come to perfection, and the seed of the unlawful bed shall be rooted out.
17 – And if they live long, they shall be nothing regarded, and their last old age shall be without honour.
18 – And if they die quickly, they shall have no hope, nor speech of comfort in the day of trial.
19 – For dreadful are the ends of a wicked race.
The Catholic Bible Online. Scriptures are from The Douay Rheims Catholic Bible 1582-1610 a.d. Version In the Public Domain. The Douay Rheims Bible is a translation of the Bible from the Latin Vulgate into English undertaken by members of the English College, Douai in the service of the Catholic Church.