Wisdom of Solomon 5

Then the righteous man will stand with great boldness in front of those who treated him badly and who counted his hard work as nothing.

1Then shall the righteous man stand in great boldness before the face of such as have afflicted him, and made no account of his labours.

NoteThis is a scene of judgment after death, and the righteous man is the one whose persecution was described in chapter 2, where the wicked plotted to test and kill him. "Boldness" translates a Greek word (parrhesia) for the frank, confident speech of someone who has a right to be heard, not mere daring.

2When they see it, they will be shaken with terrible fear. They will be amazed that he was saved, far beyond anything they had expected.

2When they see it, they shall be troubled with terrible fear, and shall be amazed at the strangeness of his salvation, so far beyond all that they looked for.

Note"Strangeness" in 1611 English meant unexpectedness, not oddness, and "salvation" here means rescue or deliverance. They are astonished that the man they destroyed was brought through safely.

3Full of regret, and groaning because of the pain in their spirits, they will say among themselves, "This is the man we once laughed at, the one we made into a saying of scorn.

3And they repenting and groaning for anguish of spirit shall say within themselves, This was he, whom we had sometimes in derision, and a proverb of reproach:

Note"Sometimes" in 1611 English means "formerly, at one time," not "occasionally." A "proverb of reproach" is a byword: a person whose name becomes the standard example of failure, quoted in jokes and insults.

4We were fools. We counted his life as madness, and his end as having no honor.

4We fools accounted his life madness, and his end to be without honour:

Note"His end to be without honour" means more than an unhappy death. In this culture a life was judged by whether its ending came with public respect, surviving children and an honorable burial; a shameful end was taken as proof that the whole life had been worthless.

5How is it that he is counted among the children of God? How is it that his place is among the holy ones?

5How is he numbered among the children of God, and his lot is among the saints!

Note"The children of God" and "the saints" render "sons of God" and "holy ones," phrases that in Jewish writing of this period usually name the heavenly court, the angelic beings around God, rather than a group of humans. "His lot" is his allotted place or share, the word used for a portion of land assigned by casting lots.

6So we wandered off the road of truth. The light of what is right never shone on us, and the sun never rose for us.

6Therefore have we erred from the way of truth, and the light of righteousness hath not shined unto us, and the sun of righteousness rose not upon us.

NoteThe Greek of the second line reads simply "the sun did not rise for us." Some manuscripts, and the King James following them, repeat "of righteousness" there, which is why the King James says the phrase twice and the plain rendering only once.

7We wore ourselves out on the road of wickedness and ruin. Yes, we crossed deserts where there was no road at all. But the way of the Lord we never knew.

7We wearied ourselves in the way of wickedness and destruction: yea, we have gone through deserts, where there lay no way: but as for the way of the Lord, we have not known it.

NoteThe Greek verb can mean either "we wore ourselves out on" or "we glutted ourselves with" these paths; translators divide between the two, and the King James chose the first.

8What did our pride gain us? What good did our riches and our bragging bring us?

8What hath pride profited us? or what good hath riches with our vaunting brought us?

9All those things have passed away like a shadow, and like a message that runs quickly past,

9All those things are passed away like a shadow, and as a post that hasted by;

NoteA "post" in 1611 English was a courier: a messenger riding fast from relay station to relay station with news. The image is of something seen for a moment and already gone.

10and like a ship that sails across the waves of the water. Once it has gone by, no trace of it can be found, and no path of its keel is left in the waves.

10And as a ship that passeth over the waves of the water, which when it is gone by, the trace thereof cannot be found, neither the pathway of the keel in the waves;

NoteThe keel is the long timber running the length of a ship's bottom, the part that cuts the water. A furrow in a field stays; the furrow a keel cuts closes behind it.

11Or it is like a bird that has flown through the air, and no mark of its way can be found. The light air is struck by the beat of its wings and split by their rushing noise and motion, and the bird passes through it. Afterward no sign of where it went can be found.

11Or as when a bird hath flown through the air, there is no token of her way to be found, but the light air being beaten with the stroke of her wings and parted with the violent noise and motion of them, is passed through, and therein afterwards no sign where she went is to be found;

Note"Token" in 1611 English means a sign or piece of evidence, not a keepsake.

12Or it is like an arrow shot at a target. It splits the air, and the air comes together again at once, so that no one can tell where it passed through.

12Or like as when an arrow is shot at a mark, it parteth the air, which immediately cometh together again, so that a man cannot know where it went through:

13In the same way, we too, as soon as we were born, began to come to our end. We had no sign of goodness to show, but we were used up in our own wickedness."

13Even so we in like manner, as soon as we were born, began to draw to our end, and had no sign of virtue to shew; but were consumed in our own wickedness.

NoteThe Greek says literally that as soon as we were born we ceased to be. The King James softens this into "began to draw to our end." Both readings are defensible, and either way the claim is that their whole life amounted to nothing but a passage toward death.

14For the hope of the person who lives without God is like dust blown away by the wind, like thin foam driven off by a storm, like smoke scattered here and there by a gale. It passes away like the memory of a guest who stays only one day.

14For the hope of the ungodly is like dust that is blown away with the wind; like a thin froth that is driven away with the storm; like as the smoke which is dispersed here and there with a tempest, and passeth away as the remembrance of a guest that tarrieth but a day.

NoteThe word behind "dust" is the fine chaff that drifts away when threshed grain is tossed into the air, an image that returns in verse 23. The guest "that tarrieth but a day" is a lodger who stays one night and is never thought of again.

15But the righteous live forever. Their reward is with the Lord, and the Most High takes care of them.

15But the righteous live for evermore; their reward also is with the Lord, and the care of them is with the most High.

16So they will receive the splendid royal crown and the beautiful crown of a king from the Lord's hand. He will cover them with his right hand, and with his arm he will shield them.

16Therefore shall they receive a glorious kingdom, and a beautiful crown from the Lord’s hand: for with his right hand shall he cover them, and with his arm shall he protect them.

NoteThe Greek uses two royal words. The first can mean either royal rule or the royal crown, which is why the King James reads "a glorious kingdom" where other translators read "crown." The second is a diadem, originally a band of cloth tied around the head, the ordinary mark of a king in the Greek-speaking world.

17He will take up his jealousy as his full armor, and he will make all creation his weapon to pay back his enemies.

17He shall take to him his jealousy for complete armour, and make the creature his weapon for the revenge of his enemies.

Note"Jealousy" translates a Greek word for burning zeal. Applied to God in Jewish scripture it means fierce protectiveness of what belongs to him, not petty envy. "Creature" in 1611 English means anything created, so "the creature" is the whole created world, not an animal.

18He will put on doing what is right as a breastplate, and he will wear honest judgment as a helmet.

18He shall put on righteousness as a breastplate, and true judgment instead of an helmet.

NoteA breastplate is the armor covering the chest. From verse 17 to verse 20 the picture is of a soldier arming himself piece by piece, in the order a Greek soldier actually did it. "True judgment" renders a phrase meaning judgment without pretense: verdicts that cannot be bought or faked.

19He will take up holiness as a shield that cannot be beaten.

19He shall take holiness for an invincible shield.

20He will sharpen his stern anger into a sword, and the world will go into battle beside him against those who have no sense.

20His severe wrath shall he sharpen for a sword, and the world shall fight with him against the unwise.

Note"The world" here is the Greek kosmos, the whole ordered universe, picking up verse 17: creation itself becomes the weapon. "The unwise" are not merely uninformed; the Greek word describes people out of their senses, acting like madmen.

21Then bolts of lightning that aim straight will go out. They will fly from the clouds to the target as from a bow drawn tight.

21Then shall the right aiming thunderbolts go abroad; and from the clouds, as from a well drawn bow, shall they fly to the mark.

NoteA "thunderbolt" in 1611 English is a lightning strike imagined as a missile hurled down from the sky. "Go abroad" means go out widely, not go overseas.

22Hailstones full of wrath will be hurled as from a catapult. The water of the sea will rage against them, and the rivers will sweep over them without mercy.

22And hailstones full of wrath shall be cast as out of a stone bow, and the water of the sea shall rage against them, and the floods shall cruelly drown them.

NoteA "stone bow" is a catapult, the siege engine that hurled stones at walls. "The floods" in 1611 English means rivers, not floodwater in general.

23Yes, a mighty wind will rise up against them and blow them away like a storm. So wrongdoing will leave the whole earth a wasteland, and evil dealing will overturn the thrones of the powerful.

23Yea, a mighty wind shall stand up against them, and like a storm shall blow them away: thus iniquity shall lay waste the whole earth, and ill dealing shall overthrow the thrones of the mighty.

NoteThe wind image is winnowing: at harvest the threshed grain was thrown into the air with a fork so the breeze carried off the light chaff and left the heavy grain on the floor. The last sentence is ambiguous in the Greek and the King James keeps the ambiguity. It can be read as saying that lawlessness is itself what turns the earth into a wasteland and topples rulers, so the wicked destroy the world they governed, or as a description of what the storm does to the lawless.