> ‎Wis 4‎ > ‎Wis 5‎ > ‎Wis 6‎ > ‎Wis 7‎ > ‎Wis 8‎ > ‎Wis 9‎ > ‎Wis 10‎ > ‎Wis 11‎ > ‎Wis 12‎ > ‎Wis 13‎ > ‎Wis 14‎ > ‎Wis 15‎ > ‎Wis 16‎ > ‎Wis 17‎ > ‎Wis 18‎ > ‎Wis 19‎ >    

 

 

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 has tried them, and found them worthy of himself. 6 As gold in the furnace he has proved them, and as a victim of a holocaust he has 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 rejects 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 has not known bed in sin: she shall have fruit in the visitation of holy souls. 14 And the eunuch, that has 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 fails. 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.

 

 

3:1 torment of death: namely, eternal death. (Interlinear Gloss) 3:2 God provides such grace to the Christian faith that death, that stands as something contrary to life, might become a means by which one crosses to life. (St. Augustine Cit God 13.4) 3:3 That is, in the reckoning of the wicked because they think the palm of martyrdom is a trouble and destruction; they think that for the soul it is a going away into nothing, for they think the soul is reduced to nothing. (Rabanus Maurus) 3:5 Just as gold is not destroyed in a furnace, but tested, so the Martyrs do not fail but are prepared for glory. (Rabanus Maurus) We ought not before the appointed time to desire to live with those alone who are holy and righteous, so that, by patience, we may deserve to receive this blessedness in its proper time. (St. Augustine Ep CLXXXIX) 3:8 The expression "to judge" is used equivalently, so to say; for consent to an action is considered equivalent to doing it. Wherefore those who will consent with Christ the Judge, by approving His sentence, will be said to judge. In this sense it will belong to all the elect to judge. (St. Thomas Aquinas Sum Theo 89.1) 3:9 shall rest in him: Because in the future they shall not be able to be torn from his company whom already they held here in faith and hope. (Rabanus Maurus)

3:10 When the just shall enter into rest, the wicked shall go to eternal punishment. (Rabanus Maurus) 3:11 unprofitable: This means without fruit of eternal reward, because they do not merit a heavenly home. (Rabanus Maurus) 3:12 children are wicked: because they are imitators of paternal crime. (St. Bonaventure) 3:13 their offspring is cursed: not in general, but theirs, in so far as they are misused. (St. Bonaventure) visitation of holy souls: On the day of judgment, when God will visit holy souls to reward them and they shall visit God in contemplation. (Rabanus Maurus) 3:17 That is, for all eternity their memory shall be without blessing. (Rabanus Maurus) 3:18 day of trial: namely, the hour of the universal judgment, when the elect recognized by their judge shall be invited to possess the kingdom; but the wicked shall be consoled by no hope of restoration, but shall be expelled from the sight of the supreme king to be tortured forever. (Rabanus Maurus) 3:19 wicked race: that is, workers or imitators of iniquity. (St. Bonaventure)