1Better to have no children and to be virtuous. People like this are highly considered by God and by mortals. The memory of their life will never end.
2When virtue is present we imitate it; when it is absent we long for it; it is crowned in eternity for having triumphed in the blameless struggle.
3The numerous progeny of the wicked will be of no use. Offspring of doubtful plants, they will not have deep roots or lay solid foundations. 4For a time they may produce, but their weak branches shaken by the wind will be uprooted by the storm. 5Their twigs will be broken off before grown, their fruit useless, unripe for eating and good for nothing. 6Children born of unlawful intercourse witness, when God examines them, to the wrongdoing of their parents.
7 ① The upright, even if he dies before his time, will be at rest. 8Honorable age does not depend on length of days, nor is the number of years a true measure of life.
9A man’s gray hair is understanding, and a spotless life is ripe old age.
10The upright was pleasing to God, who loved him, and since he was living among sinners, he was taken up. 11God removed him lest evil impair his understanding and treachery seduce his soul. 12For the fascination of evil obscures true values and restless desire undermines a simple heart.
13Though his life soon ended, he traveled far. 14Because his soul was precious to the Lord, he was quickly removed from the wickedness around him.
15People saw but did not understand, and it did not occur to them that God’s grace and mercy are with his chosen ones, his protection is for the holy.
16The righteous who dies will condemn the ungodly who survives. A life fulfilled early in youth condemns the endless days of the wicked.
17They may see the death of the wise, but they will not understand God’s design for him and why he has taken him to safety. 18They may see and sneer at him, but the Lord will also laugh at them 19when they have become a useless corpse, a loathsome and dead thing forever.
The Lord will dash them to the ground, voiceless, shaking them from their foundations; they will wither and suffer anguish; even their memory will fade.
20They will come trembling for the reckoning of their sins and they will be confounded when confronted with their wickedness.
- Wis 4,7 Why did God take him? My husband was such a good man. A word that is often heard. No mortal accident can prevent God from giving all that he wished to each one. God has given some of us the grace to grow more quickly and to reach in a few years the perfection that others only achieve after many years. The upright was pleasing to God who loved him. The wife or the son whom God took did not belong to us. A strong bond of love between them and us developed with countless circumstances and memories, but a stronger love united them to the Lord who reserved them for himself. Since he was living among sinners, God took him (see Gen 5:24). This is another answer to the premature death of our children: Who knows what they would have done with their lives? God knows best what suits everyone.
