om 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