Wisdom 4

NEW JERUSALEM	CATHOLIC PUBLIC DOMAIN
1 Better to have no children yet to have virtue, since immortality perpetuates its memory; for God andhuman beings both recognise it.	1 O how beautiful is the chaste fruit of purity! For its remembrance is immortal, because it is observed both with God and with men.
2 Present, we imitate it, absent, we long for it; crowned, it holds triumph through eternity, having strivenfor untainted prizes and emerged the victor.	2 When it is present, they imitate it, and they desire it when it has withdrawn itself, and it triumphs crowned forever, winning the reward of undefiled conflicts.
3 But the offspring of the godless come to nothing, however prolific, sprung from a bastard stock, they willnever strike deep roots, never put down firm foundations.	3 But the great number of the many different kinds of the impious will not be to their advantage, and spurious seedlings will not be given deep roots, nor will they establish any firm foundation.
4 They may branch out for a time, but, on unsteady foundations, they will be rocked by the wind anduprooted by the force of the storm;	4 And if they spring forth with branches for a time, yet, being set infirmly, they will be shaken by the wind, and, by the superabundance of the winds, they will be eradicated.
5 their branches, yet unformed, wil be snapped off, their fruit be useless, too unripe to eat, fit for nothing.	5 For the incomplete branches will be broken, and their fruits will be useless, and bitter to eat, and fit for nothing.
6 For children begotten of unlawful bed witness, when put on trial, to their parents' wickedness.	6 For all the sons born from iniquity are witnesses of wickedness against their parents at their interrogation.
7 The upright, though he die before his time, will find rest.	7 But the just, if death seizes him beforehand, will be refreshed.
8 Length of days is not what makes age honourable, nor number of years the true measure of life;	8 For old age is made venerable, neither by lasting long, nor by counting the number of years; yet understanding is the gray hair of wisdom for men,
9 understanding, this is grey hairs, untarnished life, this is ripe old age.	9 and an immaculate life is a generation of sages.
10 Having won God's favour, he has been loved and, as he was living among sinners, has been takenaway.	10 Pleasing to God, having been made beloved, and living among sinners, he was transformed.
11 He has been carried off so that evil may not warp his understanding or deceitfulness seduce his soul;	11 He was quickly taken away, for malice could not alter his understanding, nor could deceit beguile his soul.
12 for the fascination of evil throws good things into the shade, and the whirlwind of desire corrupts asimple heart.	12 For fascination with entertainment obscures good things, and the unfaithfulness of desire subverts the mind without malice.
13 Having come to perfection so soon, he has lived long;	13 Completed in a short time, he fulfilled many times.
14 his soul being pleasing to the Lord, he has hurried away from the wickedness around him. Yet peoplelook on, uncomprehending; and it does not enter their heads	14 Truly his soul was pleasing to God. Because of this, he hastened to bring him out of the midst of iniquities, but the people see this and do not understand, nor do they place such things in their hearts:
15 that grace and mercy await his chosen ones and that he intervenes on behalf of his holy ones.	15 that the grace and mercy of God is with his holy ones, and he watches over his elect.
16 The upright who dies condemns the godless who survive, and youth quickly perfected condemns thelengthy old age of the wicked.	16 But the just dead will condemn the impious living, and youth hastily completed results in a long unjust life.
17 These people see the end of the wise without understanding what the Lord has in store or why he hastaken such a one to safety;	17 For they will see the end of the wise, and will neither understand, nor imagine, that he is of God, and that therefore the Lord has safeguarded him.
18 they look on and sneer, but the Lord wil laugh at them.	18 For they will see and despise him, but the Lord will ridicule them.
19 Soon they wil be corpses without honour, objects of horror among the dead for ever. For he wilshatter them and fling them headlong and dumbfounded. He wil shake them from their foundations; they wil beutterly laid waste, a prey to grief, and their memory wil perish.	19 And after this, they will fall without honor and with contempt among the dead forever. Seeing that they are puffed up and speechless, he will shatter them and will shake them from the foundations all the way to the top, to their utter desolation, and they will grieve and their remembrance will perish.
20 When the count of their sins has been drawn up, in terror they wil come, and their crimes, confrontingthem, wil accuse them.	20 They will hurry with fear at the understanding of their sins, and their iniquities will bear witness against them.