This Book is called the Canticle of Canticles, that is to say, the most excellent of all canticles: because it is full of high mysteries, relating to the happy union of Christ and his spouse: which is here begun by love; and is to be eternal in heaven. The spouse of Christ is the church: more especially as to the happiest part of it, viz., perfect souls, every one of which is his beloved, but, above all others, the immaculate and ever blessed virgin mother.
Canticle of Canticles Chapter 1
The spouse aspires to an union with Christ, their mutual love for one another.
1:1. Let him kiss me with the kiss of his mouth: for thy breasts are better than wine,
Let him kiss me... The church, the spouse of Christ, prays that he may love and have peace with her, which the spouse prefers to every thing delicious: and therefore expresses (ver. 2) that young maidens, that is the souls of the faithful, have loved thee.
1:2. Smelling sweet of the best ointments. Thy name is as oil poured out: therefore young maidens have loved thee.
1:3. Draw me: we will run after thee to the odour of thy ointments. The king hath brought me into his storerooms: we will be glad and rejoice in thee, remembering thy breasts more than wine: the rightous love thee.
Draw me... That is, with thy grace: otherwise I should not be able to come to thee. This metaphor shews that we cannot of ourselves come to Christ our Lord, unless he draws us by his grace, which is laid up in his storerooms: that is, in the mysteries of Faith, which God in his goodness and love for mankind hath revealed, first by his servant Moses in the Old Law in figure only, and afterwards in reality by his only begotten Son Jesus Christ.
1:4. I am black but beautiful, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of Cedar, as the curtains of Solomon.
I am black but beautiful... That is, the church of Christ founded in humility appearing outwardly afflicted, and as it were black and contemptible; but inwardly, that is, in its doctrine and morality, fair and beautiful.
1:5. Do not consider me that I am brown, because the sun hath altered my colour: the sons of my mother have fought against me, they have made me the keeper in the vineyards: my vineyard I have not kept.
1:6. Shew me, O thou whom my soul loveth, where thou feedest, where thou liest in the midday, lest I begin to wander after the flocks of thy companions.
1:7. If thou know not thyself, O fairest among women, go forth, and follow after the steps of the flocks, and feed thy kids beside the tents of the shepherds.
If thou know not thyself, etc... Christ encourages his spouse to follow and watch her flock: and though she know not entirely the power at hand to assist her, he tells her, ver. 8, my company of horsemen, that is, his angels, are always watching and protecting her. And in the following verses he reminds her of the virtues and gifts with which he has endowed her.
1:8. To my company of horsemen, in Pharao's chariots, have I likened thee, O my love.
1:9. Thy cheeks are beautiful as the turtledove's, thy neck as jewels.
1:10. We will make thee chains of gold, inlaid with silver.
1:11. While the king was at his repose, my spikenard sent forth the odour thereof.
1:12. A bundle of myrrh is my beloved to me, he shall abide between my breasts.
1:13. A cluster of cypress my love is to me, in the vineyards of Engaddi.
1:14. Behold thou are fair, O my love, behold thou are fair, thy eyes are as those of doves.
1:15. Behold thou art fair, my beloved, and comely. Our bed is flourishing.
1:16. The beams of our houses are of cedar, our rafters of cypress trees.
Canticle of Canticles Chapter 2
Christ caresses his spouse: he invites her to him.
2:1. I am the flower of the field, and the lily of the valleys.
I am the flower of the field... Christ professes himself the flower of mankind, yea, the Lord of all creatures: and, ver. 2, declares the excellence of his spouse, the true church above all other societies, which are to be considered as thorns.
2:2. As the lily among thorns, so is my love among the daughters.
2:3. As the apple tree among the trees of the woods, so is my beloved among the sons. I sat down under his shadow, whom I desired: and his fruit was sweet to my palate.
2:4. He brought me into the cellar of wine, he set in order charity in me.
2:5. Stay me up with flowers, compass me about with apples: because I languish with love.
2:6. His left hand is under my head, and his right hand shall embrace me.
2:7. I adjure you, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes, and the harts of the field, that you stir not up, nor make the beloved to awake, till she please.
2:8. The voice of my beloved, behold he cometh leaping upon the mountains, skipping over the hills.
The voice of my beloved: that is, the preaching of the gospel surmounting difficulties figuratively here expressed by mountains and little hills.
2:9. My beloved is like a roe, or a young hart. Behold he standeth behind our wall, looking through the windows, looking through the lattices.
2:10. Behold my beloved speaketh to me: Arise, make haste, my love, my dove, my beautiful one, and come.
2:11. For winter is now past, the rain is over and gone.
2:12. The flowers have appeared in our land, the time of pruning is come: the voice of the turtle is heard in our land:
2:13. The fig tree hath put forth her green figs: the vines in flower yield their sweet smell. Arise, my love, my beautiful one, and come:
2:14. My dove in the clefts of the rock, in the hollow places of the wall, shew me thy face, let thy voice sound in my ears: for thy voice is sweet, and thy face comely.
2:15. Catch us the little foxes that destroy the vines: for our vineyard hath flourished.
Catch us the little foxes... Christ commands his pastors to catch false teachers, by holding forth their fallacy and erroneous doctrine, which like foxes would bite and destroy the vines.
2:16. My beloved to me, and I to him who feedeth among the lilies,
2:17. Till the day break, and the shadows retire. Return: be like, my beloved, to a roe, or to a young hart upon the mountains of Bether.
Canticle of Canticles Chapter 3
The spouse seeks Christ. The glory of his humanity.
3:1. In my bed by night I sought him whom my soul loveth: I sought him, and found him not.
In my bed by night, etc... The Gentiles as in the dark, and seeking in heathen delusion what they could not find, the true God, until Christ revealed his doctrine to them by his watchmen, (ver. 3,) that is, by the apostles, and teachers by whom they were converted to the true faith; and holding that faith firmly, the spouse (the Catholic Church) declares, ver. 4, That she will not let him go, till she bring him into her mother's house, etc., that is, till at last, the Jews also shall find him.
3:2. I will rise, and will go about the city: in the streets and the broad ways I will seek him whom my soul loveth: I sought him, and I found him not.
3:3. The watchmen who keep the city, found me: Have you seen him, whom my soul loveth?
3:4. When I had a little passed by them, I found him whom my soul loveth: I held him: and I will not let him go, till I bring him into my mother's house, and into the chamber of her that bore me.
3:5. I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes and the harts of the fields, that you stir not up, nor awake my beloved, till she please.
3:6. Who is she that goeth up by the desert, as a pillar of smoke of aromatical spices, of myrrh, and frankincense, and of all the powders of the perfumer?
3:7. Behold threescore valiant ones of the most valiant of Israel, surrounded the bed of Solomon?
3:8. All holding swords, and most expert in war: every man's sword upon his thigh, because of fears in the night.
3:9. King Solomon hath made him a litter of the wood of Libanus:
3:10. The pillars thereof he made of silver, the seat of gold, the going up of purple: the midst he covered with charity for the daughters of Jerusalem.
3:11. Go forth, ye daughters of Sion, and see king Solomon in the diadem, wherewith his mother crowned him in the day of the joy of his heart.
Canticle of Canticles Chapter 4
Christ sets forth the graces of his spouse: and declares his love for her.
4:1. How beautiful art thou, my love, how beautiful art thou! thy eyes are doves' eyes, besides what is hid within. Thy hair is as flocks of goats, which come up from mount Galaad.
How beautiful art thou... Christ again praises the beauties of his church, which through the whole of this chapter are exemplified by a variety of metaphors, setting forth her purity, her simplicity, and her stability.
4:2. Thy teeth as flocks of sheep, that are shorn, which come up from the washing, all with twins, and there is none barren among them.
4:3. Thy lips are as a scarlet lace: and thy speech sweet. Thy cheeks are as a piece of a pomegranate, besides that which lieth hid within.
4:4. Thy neck, is as the tower of David, which is built with bulwarks: a thousand bucklers hang upon it, all the armour of valiant men.
4:5. Thy two breasts like two young roes that are twins, which feed among the lilies.
Thy two breasts, etc... Mystically to be understood: the love of God and the love of our neighbour, which are so united as twins which feed among the lilies: that is, the love of God and our neighbour, feeds on the divine mysteries and the holy sacraments, left by Christ to his spouse to feed and nourish her children.
4:6. Till the day break, and the shadows retire, I will go to the mountain of myrrh, and to the hill of frankincense.
4:7. Thou art all fair, O my love, and there is not a spot in thee.
4:8. Come from Libanus, my spouse, come from Libanus, come: thou shalt be crowned from the top of Amana, from the top of Sanir and Hermon, from the dens of the lions, from the mountains of the leopards.
4:9. Thou hast wounded my heart, my sister, my spouse, thou hast wounded my heart with one of thy eyes, and with one hair of thy neck.
4:10. How beautiful are thy breasts, my sister, my spouse! thy breasts are more beautiful than wine, and the sweet smell of thy ointments above all aromatical spices.
4:11. Thy lips, my spouse, are as a dropping honeycomb, honey and milk are under thy tongue; and the smell of thy garments, as the smell of frankincense.
4:12. My sister, my spouse, is a garden enclosed, a garden enclosed, a fountain sealed up.
My sister, etc., a garden enclosed... Figuratively the church is enclosed, containing only the faithful. A fountain sealed up... That none can drink of its waters, that is, the graces and spiritual benefits of the holy sacraments, but those who are within its walls.
4:13. Thy plants are a paradise of pomegranates with the fruits of the orchard. Cypress with spikenard.
4:14. Spikenard and saffron, sweet cane and cinnamon, with all the trees of Libanus, myrrh and aloes with all the chief perfumes.
4:15. The fountain of gardens: the well of living waters, which run with a strong stream from Libanus.
4:16. Arise, O north wind, and come, O south wind, blow through my garden, and let the aromatical spices thereof flow.
Canticle of Canticles Chapter 5
Christ calls his spouse: she languishes with love: and describes him by his graces.
5:1. Let my beloved come into his garden, and eat the fruit of his apple trees. I am come into my garden, O my sister, my spouse, I have gathered my myrrh, with my aromatical spices: I have eaten the honeycomb with my honey, I have drunk my wine with my milk: eat, O friends, and drink, and be inebriated, my dearly beloved.
Let my beloved come into his garden, etc... Garden, mystically the church of Christ, abounding with fruit, that is, the good works of the elect.
5:2. I sleep, and my heart watcheth: the voice of my beloved knocking: Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled: for my head is full of dew, and my locks of the drops of the nights.
5:3. I have put off my garment, how shall I put it on? I have washed my feet, how shall I defile them?
5:4. My beloved put his hand through the key hole, and my bowels were moved at his touch.
My beloved put his hand through the key hole, etc... The spouse of Christ, his church, at times as it were penned up by its persecutors, and in fears, expecting the divine assistance, here signified by his hand: and ver. 6, but he had turned aside and was gone, that is, Christ permitting a further trial of suffering: and again, ver. 7, the keepers, etc., signifying the violent and cruel persecutors of the church taking her veil, despoiling the church of its places of worship and ornaments for the divine service.
5:5. I arose up to open to my beloved: my hands dropped with myrrh, and my fingers were full of the choicest myrrh.
5:6. I opened the bolt of my door to my beloved: but he had turned aside, and was gone. My soul melted when he spoke: I sought him, and found him not: I called, and he did not answer me.
5:7. The keepers that go about the city found me: they struck me: and wounded me: the keepers of the walls took away my veil from me.
5:8. I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if you find my beloved, that you tell him that I languish with love.
5:9. What manner of one is thy beloved of the beloved, O thou most beautiful among women? what manner of one is thy beloved of the beloved, that thou hast so adjured us?
5:10. My beloved is white and ruddy, chosen out of thousands.
My beloved, etc... In this and the following verses, the church mystically describes Christ to those who know him not, that is, to infidels in order to convert them to the true faith.
5:11. His head is as the finest gold: his locks as branches of palm trees, black as a raven.
5:12. His eyes as doves upon brooks of waters, which are washed with milk, and sit beside the plentiful streams.
5:13. His cheeks are as beds of aromatical spices set by the perfumers. His lips are as lilies dropping choice myrrh.
5:14. His hands are turned and as of gold, full of hyacinths. His belly as of ivory, set with sapphires.
5:15. His legs as pillars of marble, that are set upon bases of gold. His form as of Libanus, excellent as the cedars.
5:16. His throat most sweet, and he is all lovely: such is my beloved, and he is my friend, O ye daughters of Jerusalem.
5:17. Whither is thy beloved gone, O thou most beautiful among women? whither is thy beloved turned aside, and we will seek him with thee?
Canticle of Canticles Chapter 6
The spouse of Christ is but one: she is fair and terrible.
6:1. My beloved is gone down into his garden, to the bed of aromatical spices, to feed in the gardens, and to gather lilies.
My beloved is gone down into his garden... Christ, pleased with the good works of his holy and devout servants labouring in his garden, is always present with them: but the words is gone down, are to be understood, that after trying his Church by permitting persecution, he comes to her assistance and she rejoices at his coming.
6:2. I to my beloved, and my beloved to me, who feedeth among the lilies.
6:3. Thou art beautiful, O my love, sweet and comely as Jerusalem terrible as an army set in array.
6:4. Turn away thy eyes from me, for they have made me flee away. Thy hair is as a flock of goats, that appear from Galaad.
6:5. Thy teeth as a flock of sheep, which come up from the washing, all with twins, and there is none barren among them.
6:6. Thy cheeks are as the bark of a pomegranate, beside what is hidden within thee.
6:7. There are threescore queens, and fourscore concubines, and young maidens without number.
6:8. One is my dove, my perfect one is but one, she is the only one of her mother, the chosen of her that bore her. The daughters saw her, and declared her most blessed: the queens and concubines, and they praised her.
One is my dove, etc... That is, my church is one, and she only is perfect and blessed.
6:9. Who is she that cometh forth as the morning rising, fair as the moon, bright as the sun, terrible as an army set in array?
Who is she, etc... Here is a beautiful metaphor describing the church from the beginning. As, the morning rising, signifying the church before the written law; fair as the moon, shewing her under the light of the gospel: and terrible as an army, the power of Christ's church against its enemies.
6:10. I went down into the garden of nuts, to see the fruits of the valleys, and to look if the vineyard had flourished, and the pomegranates budded.
6:11. I knew not: my soul troubled me for the chariots of Aminadab.
6:12. Return, return, O Sulamitess: return, return that we may behold thee.
Canticle of Canticles Chapter 7
A further description of the graces of the church the spouse of Christ.
7:1. What shalt thou see in the Sulamitess but the companies of camps? How beautiful are thy steps in shoes, O prince's daughter! The joints of thy thighs are like jewels, that are made by the hand of a skilful workman.
How beautiful are thy steps, etc... By these metaphors are signified the power and mission of the church in propagating the true faith.
7:2. Thy navel is like a round bowl never wanting cups. Thy belly is like a heap of wheat, set about with lilies.
7:3. Thy two breasts are like two young roes that are twins.
7:4. Thy neck as a tower of ivory. Thy eyes like the fishpools in Hesebon, which are in the gate of the daughter of the multitude. Thy nose is as the tower of Libanus, that looketh toward Damascus.
7:5. Thy head is like Carmel: and the hairs of thy head as the purple of the king bound in the channels.
Thy head is like Carmel... Christ, the invisible head of his church, is here signified.
7:6. How beautiful art thou, and how comely, my dearest, in delights!
7:7. Thy stature is like to a palm tree, and thy breasts to clusters of grapes.
7:8. I said: I will go up into the palm tree, and will take hold of the fruit thereof: and thy breasts shall be as the clusters of the vine: and the odour of thy mouth like apples.
7:9. Thy throat like the best wine, worthy for my beloved to drink, and for his lips and his teeth to ruminate.
7:10. I to my beloved, and his turning is towards me.
7:11. Come, my beloved, let us go forth into the field, let us abide in the villages.
7:12. Let us get up early to the vineyards, let us see if the vineyard flourish, if the flowers be ready to bring forth fruits, if the pomegranates flourish: there will I give thee my breasts.
7:13. The mandrakes give a smell. In our gates are all fruits: the new and the old, my beloved, I have kept for thee.
Canticle of Canticles Chapter 8
The love of the church to Christ: his love to her.
8:1. Who shall give thee to me for my brother, sucking the breasts of my mother, that I may find thee without, and kiss thee, and now no man may despise me?
8:2. I will take hold of thee, and bring thee into my mother's house: there thou shalt teach me, and I will give thee a cup of spiced wine and new wine of my pomegranates.
8:3. His left hand under my head, and his right hand shall embrace me.
His left hand, etc... Words of the church to Christ. His left hand, signifying the Old Testament, and his right hand, the New.
8:4. I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, that you stir not up, nor awake my love till she please.
8:5. Who is this that cometh up from the desert, flowing with delights, leaning upon her beloved? Under the apple tree I raised thee up: there thy mother was corrupted, there she was defloured that bore thee.
Who is this, etc... The angels with admiration behold the Gentiles converted to the faith: coming up from the desert, that is, coming from heathenism and false worship: flowing with delights, that is, abounding with good works which are pleasing to God: leaning on her beloved, on the promise of Christ to his Church, that the gates of hell should not prevail against it; and supported by his grace conferred by the sacraments. Under the apple tree I raised thee up; that is, that Christ redeemed the Gentiles at the foot of the cross, where the synagogue of the Jews (the mother church) was corrupted by their denying him, and crucifying him.
8:6. Put me as a seal upon thy heart, as a seal upon thy arm, for love is strong as death, jealousy as hard as hell, the lamps thereof are fire and flames.
8:7. Many waters cannot quench charity, neither can the floods drown it: if a man should give all the substance of his house for love, he shall despise it as nothing.
8:8. Our sister is little, and hath no breasts. What shall we do to our sister in the day when she is to be spoken to?
Our sister is little, etc... Mystically signifies the Jews, who are to be spoken to: that is, converted towards the end of the world: and then shall become a wall, that is, a part of the building, the church of Christ.
8:9. If she be a wall: let us build upon it bulwarks of silver: if she be a door, let us join it together with boards of cedar.
8:10. I am a wall: and my breasts are as a tower since I am become in his presence as one finding peace.
8:11. The peaceable had a vineyard, in that which hath people: he let out the same to keepers, every man bringeth for the fruit thereof a thousand pieces of silver.
8:12. My vineyard is before me. A thousand are for thee, the peaceable, and two hundred for them that keep the fruit thereof.
8:13. Thou that dwellest in the gardens, the friends hearken: make me hear thy voice.
8:14. Flee away, O my beloved, and be like to the roe, and to the young hart upon the mountains of aromatical spices.
This Book is so called, because it treats of the excellence of WISDOM, the means to obtain it, and the happy fruits it produces. It is written in the person of Solomon, and contains his sentiments. But it is uncertain who was the writer. It abounds with instructions and exhortations to kings and all magistrates to minister justice in the commonwealth, teaching all kinds of virtues under the general names of justice and wisdom. It contains also many prophecies of Christ's coming, passion, resurrection, and other Christian mysteries. The whole may be divided into three parts. In the first six chapters, the author admonishes all superiors to love and exercise justice and wisdom. In the next three, he teacheth that wisdom proceedeth only from God, and is procured by prayer and a good life. In the other ten chapters, he sheweth the excellent effects and utility of wisdom and justice.
Wisdom Chapter 1
An exhortation to seek God sincerely, who cannot be deceived, and desireth not our death.
1:1. Love justice, you that are the judges of the earth. Think of the Lord in goodness, and seek him in simplicity of heart:
1:2. For he is found by them that tempt him not: and he sheweth himself to them that have faith in him.
1:3. For perverse thoughts separate from God: and his power, when it is tried, reproveth the unwise:
1:4. For wisdom will not enter into a malicious soul, nor dwell in a body subject to sins.
1:5. For the Holy Spirit of discipline will flee from the deceitful, and will withdraw himself from thoughts that are without understanding, and he shall not abide when iniquity cometh in.
1:6. For the spirit of wisdom is benevolent, and will not acquit the evil speaker from his lips: for God is witness of his reins, and he is a true searcher of his heart, and a hearer of his tongue.
1:7. For the Spirit of the Lord hath filled the whole world: and that which containeth all things, hath knowledge of the voice.
1:8. Therefore he that speaketh unjust things, cannot be hid, neither shall the chastising judgment pass him by.
1:9. For inquisition shall be made into the thoughts of the ungodly, and the hearing of his words shall come to God, to the chastising of his iniquities.
1:10. For the ear of jealousy heareth all things, and the tumult of murmuring shall not be hid.
1:11. Keep yourselves, therefore, from murmuring, which profiteth nothing, and refrain your tongue from detraction, for an obscure speech shall not go for nought: and the mouth that belieth, killeth the soul.
1:12. Seek not death in the error of your life, neither procure ye destruction by the works of your hands.
1:13. For God made not death, neither hath he pleasure in the destruction of the living.
1:14. For he created all things that they might be: and he made the nations of the earth for health: and there is no poison of destruction in them, nor kingdom of hell upon the earth.
1:15. For justice is perpetual and immortal.
1:16. But the wicked with works and words have called it to them: and esteeming it a friend, have fallen away and have made a covenant with it: because they are worthy to be of the part thereof.
Wisdom Chapter 2
The vain reasonings of the wicked: their persecuting the just, especially the Son of God.
2:1. For they have said, reasoning with themselves, but not right: The time of our life is short and tedious, and in the end of a man there is no remedy, and no man hath been known to have returned from hell:
2:2. For we are born of nothing, and after this we shall be as if we had not been: for the breath in our nostrils is smoke: and speech a spark to move our heart,
2:3. Which being put out, our body shall be ashes, and our spirit shall be poured abroad as soft air, and our life shall pass away as the trace of a cloud, and shall be dispersed as a mist, which is driven away by the beams of the sun, and overpowered with the heat thereof:
2:4. And our name in time shall be forgotten, and no man shall have any remembrance of our works.
2:5. For our time is as the passing of a shadow, and there is no going back of our end: for it is fast sealed, and no man returneth:
2:6. Come, therefore, and let us enjoy the good things that are present, and let us speedily use the creatures as in youth.
2:7. Let us fill ourselves with costly wine, and ointments: and let not the flower of the time pass by us.
2:8. Let us crown ourselves with roses, before they be withered: let no meadow escape our riot.
2:9. Let none of us go without his part in luxury: let us every where leave tokens of joy: for this is our portion, and this our lot.
2:10. Let us oppress the poor just man, and not spare the widow, nor honour the ancient grey hairs of the aged.
2:11. But let our strength be the law of justice: for that which is feeble is found to be nothing worth.
2:12. Let us, therefore, lie in wait for the just, because he is not for our turn, and he is contrary to our doings, and upbraideth us with transgressions of the law, and divulgeth against us the sins of our way of life.
2:13. He boasteth that he hath the knowledge of God, and calleth himself the son of God.
2:14. He is become a censurer of our thoughts.
2:15. He is grievous unto us, even to behold: for his life is not like other men's, and his ways are very different.
2:16. We are esteemed by him as triflers, and he abstaineth from our ways as from filthiness, and he preferreth the latter end of the just, and glorieth that he hath God for his father.
2:17. Let us see then if his words be true, and let us prove what shall happen to him, and we shall know what his end shall be.
2:18. For if he be the true son of God, he will defend him, and will deliver him from the hands of his enemies.
2:19. Let us examine him by outrages and tortures, that we may know his meekness, and try his patience.
2:20. Let us condemn him to a most shameful death: for there shall be respect had unto him by his words.
2:21. These things they thought, and were deceived: for their own malice blinded them.
2:22. And they knew not the secrets of God, nor hoped for the wages of justice, nor esteemed the honour of holy souls.
2:23. For God created man incorruptible, and to the image of his own likeness he made him.
2:24. But by the envy of the devil, death came into the world:
2:25. And they follow him that are of his side.
Wisdom Chapter 3
The happiness of the just: and the unhappiness of the wicked.
3:1. But the souls of the just are in the hand of God, and the torment of death shall not touch them.
3:2. In the sight of the unwise they seemed to die: and their departure was taken for misery:
3:3. And their going away from us, for utter destruction: but they are in peace.
3:4. And though in the sight of men they suffered torments, their hope is full of immortality.
3:5. Afflicted in few things, in many they shall be well rewarded: because God hath tried them, and found them worthy of himself.
3:6. 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.
3:7. The just shall shine, and shall run to and fro like sparks among the reeds.
3:8. They shall judge nations, and rule over people, and their Lord shall reign for ever.
3:9. They that trust in him shall understand the truth: and they that are faithful in love, shall rest in him: for grace and peace are to his elect.
3:10. But the wicked shall be punished according to their own devices: who have neglected the just, and have revolted from the Lord.
3:11. For he that rejecteth wisdom, and discipline, is unhappy: and their hope is vain, and their labours without fruit, and their works unprofitable.
3:12. Their wives are foolish, and their children wicked.
3:13. 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.
3:14. 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.
3:15. For the fruit of good labours is glorious, and the root of wisdom never faileth.
3:16. But the children of adulterers shall not come to perfection, and the seed of the unlawful bed shall be rooted out.
3:17. And if they live long, they shall be nothing regarded, and their last old age shall be without honour.
3:18. And if they die quickly, they shall have no hope, nor speech of comfort in the day of trial.
3:19. For dreadful are the ends of a wicked race.
Wisdom Chapter 4
The difference between the chaste and the adulterous generations: and between the death of the just and the wicked.
4:1. How beautiful is the chaste generation with glory: for the memory thereof is immortal: because it is known both with God and with men.
4:2. When it is present, they imitate it: and they desire it, when it hath withdrawn itself, and it triumpheth crowned for ever, winning the reward of undefiled conflicts.
4:3. But the multiplied brood of the wicked shall not thrive, and bastard slips shall not take deep root, nor any fast foundation.
4:4. And if they flourish in branches for a time, yet standing not fast, they shall be shaken with the wind, and through the force of winds they shall be rooted out.
4:5. For the branches not being perfect, shall be broken, and their fruits shall be unprofitable, and sour to eat, and fit for nothing.
4:6. For the children that are born of unlawful beds, are witnesses of wickedness against their parents in their trial.
4:7. But the just man, if he be prevented with death, shall be in rest.
4:8. For venerable old age is not that of long time, nor counted by the number of years: but the understanding of a man is grey hairs.
4:9. And a spotless life is old age.
4:10. He pleased God, and was beloved, and living among sinners, he was translated.
4:11. He was taken away, lest wickedness should alter his understanding, or deceit beguile his soul.
4:12. For the bewitching of vanity obscureth good things, and the wandering of concupiscence overturneth the innocent mind.
4:13. Being made perfect in a short space, he fulfilled a long time.
4:14. For his soul pleased God: therefore he hastened to bring him out of the midst of iniquities: but the people see this, and understand not, nor lay up such things in their hearts:
4:15. That the grace of God, and his mercy is with his saints, and that he hath respect to his chosen.
4:16. But the just that is dead, condemneth the wicked that are living, and youth soon ended, the long life of the unjust.
4:17. For they shall see the end of the wise man, and shall not understand what God hath designed for him, and why the Lord hath set him in safety.
4:18. They shall see him, and shall despise him: but the Lord shall laugh them to scorn.
4:19. And they shall fall after this without honour, and be a reproach among the dead for ever: for he shall burst them puffed up and speechless, and shall shake them from the foundations, and they shall be utterly laid waste: they shall be in sorrow, and their memory shall perish.
4:20. They shall come with fear at the thought of their sins, and their iniquities shall stand against them to convict them.
Wisdom Chapter 5
The fruitless repentance of the wicked in another world: the reward of the just.
5:1. Then shall the just stand with great constancy against those that have afflicted them, and taken away their labours.
5:2. These seeing it, shall be troubled with terrible fear, and shall be amazed at the suddenness of their unexpected salvation,
5:3. Saying within themselves, repenting, and groaning for anguish of spirit: These are they, whom we had sometime in derision, and for a parable of reproach.
5:4. We fools esteemed their life madness, and their end without honour.
5:5. Behold, how they are numbered among the children of God, and their lot is among the saints.
5:6. Therefore we have erred from the way of truth, and the light of justice hath not shined unto us, and the sun of understanding hath not risen upon us.
5:7. We wearied ourselves in the way of iniquity and destruction, and have walked through hard ways, but the way of the Lord we have not known.
5:8. What hath pride profited us? or what advantage hath the boasting of riches brought us?
5:9. All those things are passed away like a shadow, and like a post that runneth on,
5:10. And as a ship, that passeth through the waves: whereof when it is gone by, the trace cannot be found nor the path of its keel in the waters:
5:11. Or as when a bird flieth through the air, of the passage of which no mark can be found, but only the sound of the wings beating the light air, and parting it by the force of her flight: she moved her wings, and hath flown through, and there is no mark found afterwards of her way:
5:12. Or as when an arrow is shot at a mark, the divided air quickly cometh together again, so that the passage thereof is not known:
5:13. So we also being born, forthwith ceased to be: and have been able to shew no mark of virtue: but are consumed in our wickedness.
5:14. Such things as these the sinners said in hell:
5:15. For the hope of the wicked is as dust, which is blown away with the wind, and as a thin froth which is dispersed by the storm: and a smoke that is scattered abroad by the wind: and as the remembrance of a guest of one day that passeth by.
5:16. But the just shall live for evermore: and their reward is with the Lord, and the care of them with the most High.
5:17. Therefore shall they receive a kingdom of glory, and a crown of beauty at the hand of the Lord: for with his right hand he will cover them, and with his holy arm he will defend them.
5:18. And his zeal will take armour, and he will arm the creature for the revenge of his enemies.
5:19. He will put on justice as a breastplate, and will take true judgment instead of a helmet:
5:20. He will take equity for an invincible shield:
5:21. And he will sharpen his severe wrath for a spear, and the whole world shall fight with him against the unwise.
5:22. Then shafts of lightning shall go directly from the clouds, as from a bow well bent, they shall be shot out, and shall fly to the mark.
5:23. And thick hail shall be cast upon them from the stone casting wrath: the water of the sea shall rage against them, and the rivers shall run together in a terrible manner.
5:24. A mighty wind shall stand up against them, and as a whirlwind shall divide them: and their iniquity shall bring all the earth to a desert, and wickedness shall overthrow the thrones of the mighty.
Wisdom Chapter 6
An address to princes to seek after wisdom: she is easily found by those that seek her.
6:1. Wisdom is better than strength: and a wise man is better than a strong man.
6:2. Hear, therefore, ye kings, and understand, learn ye that are judges of the ends of the earth.
6:3. Give ear, you that rule the people, and that please yourselves in multitudes of nations:
6:4. For power is given you by the Lord, and strength by the most High, who will examine your works: and search out your thoughts:
6:6. Because being ministers of his kingdom, you have not judged rightly, nor kept the law of justice, nor walked according to the will of God.
6:6. Horribly and speedily will he appear to you: for a most severe judgment shall be for them that bear rule.
6:7. For to him that is little, mercy is granted: but the mighty shall be mightily tormented.
6:8. For God will not except any man's person, neither will he stand in awe of any man's greatness: for he made the little and the great, and he hath equally care of all.
6:9. But a greater punishment is ready for the more mighty.
6:10. To you, therefore, O kings, are these my words, that you may learn wisdom, and not fall from it.
6:11. For they that have kept just things justly, shall be justified: and they that have learned these things, shall find what to answer.
6:12. Covet ye, therefore, my words, and love them, and you shall have instruction.
6:13. Wisdom is glorious, and never fadeth away, and is easily seen by them that love her, and is found by them that seek her.
6:14. She preventeth them that covet her, so that she first sheweth herself unto them.
6:15. He that awaketh early to seek her, shall not labour: for he shall find her sitting at his door.
6:16. To think, therefore, upon her, is perfect understanding: and he that watcheth for her, shall quickly be secure.
6:17. For she goeth about seeking such as are worthy of her, and she sheweth herself to them cheerfully in the ways, and meeteth them with all providence.
6:18. For the beginning of her is the most true desire of discipline.
6:19. And the care of discipline is love: and love is the keeping of her laws: and the keeping of her laws is the firm foundation of incorruption:
6:20. And incorruption bringeth near to God.
6:21. Therefore the desire of wisdom bringeth to the everlasting kingdom.
6:22. If then your delight be in thrones, and sceptres, O ye kings of the people, love wisdom, that you may reign for ever.
6:23. Love the light of wisdom, all ye that bear rule over peoples.
6:24. Now what wisdom is, and what was her origin, I will declare: and I will not hide from you the mysteries of God, but will seek her out from the beginning of her birth, and bring the knowledge of her to light, and will not pass over the truth:
6:25. Neither will I go with consuming envy: for such a man shall not be partaker of wisdom.
6:26. Now the multitude of the wise is the welfare of the whole world: and a wise king is the upholding of the people.
6:27. Receive, therefore, instruction by my words, and it shall be profitable to you.
Wisdom Chapter 7
The excellence of wisdom: how she is to be found.
7:1. I myself am a mortal man, like all others, and of the race of him, that was first made of the earth, and in the womb of my mother I was fashioned to be flesh.
7:2. In the time of ten months I was compacted in blood, of the seed of man, and the pleasure of sleep concurring.
7:3. And being born, I drew in the common air, and fell upon the earth, that is made alike, and the first voice which I uttered was crying, as all others do.
7:4. I was nursed in swaddling clothes, and with great cares.
7:5. For none of the kings had any other beginning of birth.
7:6. For all men have one entrance into life, and the like going out.
7:7. Wherefore I wished, and understanding was given me: and I called upon God, and the spirit of wisdom came upon me:
7:8. And I preferred her before kingdoms and thrones, and esteemed riches nothing in comparison of her.
7:9. Neither did I compare unto her any precious stone: for all gold, in comparison of her, is as a little sand; and silver, in respect to her, shall be counted as clay.
7:10. I loved her above health and beauty, and chose to have her instead of light: for her light cannot be put out.
7:11. Now all good things came to me together with her, and innumerable riches through her hands,
7:12. And I rejoiced in all these: for this wisdom went before me, and I knew not that she was the mother of them all.
7:13. Which I have learned without guile, and communicate without envy, and her riches I hide not.
7:14. For she is an infinite treasure to men: which they that use, become the friends of God, being commended for the gifts of discipline.
7:15. And God hath given to me to speak as I would, and to conceive thoughts worthy of those things that are given me: because he is the guide of wisdom, and the director of the wise:
7:16. For in his hand are both we, and our words, and all wisdom, and the knowledge and skill of works.
7:17. For he hath given me the true knowledge of the things that are: to know the disposition of the whole world, and the virtues of the elements,
7:18. The beginning, and ending, and midst of the times, the alterations of their courses, and the changes of seasons,
7:19. The revolutions of the year, and the dispositions of the stars,
7:20. The natures of living creatures, and rage of wild beasts, the force of winds, and reasonings of men, the diversities of plants, and the virtues of roots,
7:21. And all such things as are hid, and not foreseen, I have learned: for wisdom, which is the worker of all things, taught me.
7:22. For in her is the spirit of understanding; holy, one, manifold, subtile, eloquent, active, undefiled, sure, sweet, loving that which is good, quick, which nothing hindereth, beneficent,
7:23. Gentle, kind, steadfast, assured, secure, having all power, overseeing all things, and containing all spirits: intelligible, pure, subtile:
7:24. For wisdom is more active than all active things; and reacheth everywhere, by reason of her purity.
7:25. For she is a vapour of the power of God, and a certain pure emmanation of the glory of the Almighty God: and therefore no defiled thing cometh into her.
7:26. For she is the brightness of eternal light, and the unspotted mirror of God's majesty, and the image of his goodness.
7:27. And being but one, she can do all things: and remaining in herself the same, she reneweth all things, and through nations conveyeth herself into holy souls, she maketh the friends of God and prophets.
7:28. For God loveth none but him that dwelleth with wisdom.
7:29. For she is more beautiful than the sun, and above all the order of the stars: being compared with the light, she is found before it.
7:30. For after this cometh night, but no evil can overcome wisdom.
Wisdom Chapter 8
Further praises of wisdom: and her fruits.
8:1. She reacheth, therefore, from end to end mightily, and ordereth all things sweetly.
8:2. Her have I loved, and have sought her out from my youth, and have desired to take for my spouse, and I became a lover of her beauty.
8:3. She glorifieth her nobility by being conversant with God: yea, and the Lord of all things hath loved her.
8:4. For it is she that teacheth the knowledge of God and is the chooser of his works.
8:5. And if riches be desired in life, what is richer than wisdom, which maketh all things?
8:6. And if sense do work: who is a more artful worker than she of those things that are?
8:7. And if a man love justice: her labours have great virtues: for she teacheth temperance, and prudence, and justice, and fortitude, which are such things as men can have nothing more profitable in life.
8:8. And if a man desire much knowledge: she knoweth things past, and judgeth of things to come: she knoweth the subtilties of speeches, and the solutions of arguments: she knoweth signs and wonders before they be done, and the events of times and ages.
8:9. I purposed, therefore, to take her to me to live with me: knowing that she will communicate to me of her good things, and will be a comfort in my cares and grief.
8:10. For her sake I shall have glory among the multitude, and honour with the ancients, though I be young:
8:11. And I shall be found of a quick conceit in judgment, and shall be admired in the sight of the mighty, and the faces of princes shall wonder at me.
8:12. They shall wait for me when I hold my peace, and they shall look upon me when I speak; and if I talk much, they shall lay their hands on their mouth.
8:13. Moreover, by the means of her I shall have immortality: and shall leave behind me an everlasting memory to them that come after me.
8:14. I shall set the people in order: and nations shall be subject to me.
8:15. Terrible kings hearing, shall be afraid of me: among the multitude I shall be found good, and valiant in war.
8:16. When I go into my house, I shall repose myself with her: for her conversation hath no bitterness, nor her company any tediousness, but joy and gladness.
8:17. Thinking these things with myself, and pondering them in my heart, that to be allied to wisdom is immortality,
8:18. And that there is great delight in her friendship, and inexhaustible riches in the works of her hands, and in the exercise of conference with her, wisdom, and glory in the communication of her words: I went about seeking, that I might take her to myself.
8:19. And I was a witty child, and had received a good soul.
8:20. And whereas I was more good, I came to a body undefiled.
8:21. And as I knew that I could not otherwise be continent, except God gave it, and this also was a point of wisdom, to know whose gift it was, I went to the Lord, and besought him, and said with my whole heart:
Wisdom Chapter 9
Solomon's prayer for wisdom.
9:1. God of my fathers, and Lord of mercy, who hast made all things with thy word,
9:2. And by thy wisdom hast appointed man, that he should have dominion over the creature that was made by thee,
9:3. That he should order the world according to equity and justice, and execute justice with an upright heart:
9:4. Give me wisdom, that sitteth by thy throne, and cast me not off from among thy children:
9:5. For I am thy servant, and the son of thy handmaid, a weak man, and of short time, and falling short of the understanding of judgment and laws.
9:6. For if one be perfect among the children of men, yet if thy wisdom be not with him, he shall be nothing regarded.
9:7. Thou hast chosen me to be king of thy people, and a judge of thy sons and daughters:
9:8. And hast commanded me to build a temple on thy holy mount, and an altar in the city of thy dwelling place, a resemblance of thy holy tabernacle, which thou hast prepared from the beginning:
9:9. And thy wisdom with thee, which knoweth thy works, which then also was present when thou madest the world, and knew what was agreeable to thy eyes, and what was right in thy commandments.
9:10. Send her out of thy holy heaven, and from the throne of thy majesty, that she may be with me, and may labour with me, that I may know what is acceptable with thee:
9:11. For she knoweth and understandeth all things, and shall lead me soberly in my works, and shall preserve me by her power.
9:12. So shall my works be acceptable, and I shall govern thy people justly, and shall be worthy of the throne of my father.
9:13. For who among men is he that can know the counsel of God? or who can think what the will of God is?
9:14. For the thoughts of mortal men are fearful, and our counsels uncertain.
9:15. For the corruptible body is a load upon the soul, and the earthly habitation presseth down the mind that museth upon many things.
9:16. And hardly do we guess aright at things that are upon earth: and with labour do we find the things that are before us. But the things that are in heaven, who shall search out?
9:17. And who shall know thy thought, except thou give wisdom, and send thy holy Spirit from above:
9:18. And so the ways of them that are upon earth may be corrected, and men may learn the things that please thee?
9:19. For by wisdom they were healed, whosoever have pleased thee, O Lord, from the beginning.
Wisdom Chapter 10
What wisdom did for Adam, Noe, Abraham, Lot, Jacob, Joseph, and the people of Israel.
10:1. She preserved him, that was first formed by God, the father of the world, when he was created alone,
10:2. And she brought him out of his sin, and gave him power to govern all things.
10:3. But when the unjust went away from her in his anger, he perished by the fury wherewith he murdered his brother.
The unjust... Cain.
10:4. For whose cause, when water destroyed the earth, wisdom healed it again, directing the course of the just by contemptible wood.