Wisdom of Solomon 6

So listen, you kings, and understand. Learn, you who act as judges to the ends of the earth.

1Hear therefore, O ye kings, and understand; learn, ye that be judges of the ends of the earth.

NoteThe book is written in Greek but speaks throughout in the voice of Solomon, the king remembered for wisdom, addressing his fellow rulers. "Kings" and "judges" are not two groups but one: in the ancient world the ruler was also the highest court, so to rule and to judge were the same office.

2Pay attention, you who rule over peoples and take pride in ruling many nations.

2Give ear, ye that rule the people, and glory in the multitude of nations.

3Your power was given to you by the Lord, and your right to rule came from the Most High. He will examine what you have done and search out your plans.

3For power is given you of the Lord, and sovereignty from the Highest, who shall try your works, and search out your counsels.

4You are officers in his kingdom, yet you have not judged rightly, or kept the law, or lived by God's counsel.

4Because, being ministers of his kingdom, ye have not judged aright, nor kept the law, nor walked after the counsel of God;

Note"Ministers" in 1611 meant servants or officers of a ruler and carried no religious sense. The Greek word behind it is the ordinary term for royal administrators, the officials who carry out a king's orders.

5He will come upon you in a terrible way, and quickly, because a harsh judgment falls on those in high places.

5Horribly and speedily shall he come upon you: for a sharp judgment shall be to them that be in high places.

Note"High places" here simply means high office. Elsewhere in the King James Bible the same phrase usually means hilltop shrines, but the Greek word here has nothing to do with worship sites; it refers to people set up above others.

6The lowest person may be pardoned in mercy, but powerful people will be powerfully put to the test.

6For mercy will soon pardon the meanest: but mighty men shall be mightily tormented.

Note"The meanest" does not mean the cruelest. In 1611 "mean" meant low in rank or standing, so "the meanest" is the person of lowest station, the one with no power at all.

7The one who is Lord over all will not be swayed by anyone's importance, and will not be impressed by anyone's greatness. He made both the small and the great, and he cares for them all alike.

7For he which is Lord over all shall fear no man’s person, neither shall he stand in awe of any man’s greatness: for he hath made the small and great, and careth for all alike.

Note"Shall fear no man's person" is an old English rendering of a biblical idiom about faces: to receive, lift up or regard a person's face meant to be swayed by who they were rather than by what was true. The phrase is about impartiality in a judge, not about courage.

8But a severe examination is coming to the powerful.

8But a sore trial shall come upon the mighty.

9So it is to you, kings, that I speak, so that you may learn wisdom and not fall away.

9Unto you therefore, O kings, do I speak, that ye may learn wisdom, and not fall away.

10Those who have kept holy things in a holy way will be judged holy, and those who have been taught such things will know what to say in their defense.

10For they that keep holiness holily shall be judged holy: and they that have learned such things shall find what to answer.

Note"Find what to answer" is courtroom language. The Greek word is the one used for a defense made by an accused person, so the picture is of standing at a trial and having something to say.

11So set your heart on my words. Long for them, and you will be taught.

11Wherefore set your affection upon my words; desire them, and ye shall be instructed.

Note"Set your affection" is stronger than warm feeling. In 1611 "affection" meant the direction in which a person's desire leans, so the command is to aim one's wanting at these words.

12Wisdom shines and never fades. She is easily seen by those who love her, and found by those who look for her.

12Wisdom is glorious, and never fadeth away: yea, she is easily seen of them that love her, and found of such as seek her.

NoteWisdom is "she" throughout this book partly as a matter of grammar: the Greek noun sophia is feminine, as the Hebrew hokmah is in Proverbs. The writer also develops the grammar into a full portrait of a woman who searches, appears, waits and welcomes, following the personified Wisdom of Proverbs 8 and 9.

13She goes ahead of those who desire her, making herself known to them first.

13She preventeth them that desire her, in making herself first known unto them.

Note"Preventeth" in 1611 meant to come before or to get there first, the opposite of its modern sense of hindering. Wisdom arrives ahead of the person looking for her.

14Whoever gets up early to look for her will have no great trouble, because he will find her sitting at his doors.

14Whoso seeketh her early shall have no great travail: for he shall find her sitting at his doors.

Note"Seeketh her early" translates a Greek verb meaning to get up at dawn, an image of eagerness rather than of youth. Sitting at his doors is likewise concrete: a city's gateway was where judges sat and public business was done, so Wisdom is already waiting at the place he was on his way to.

15So thinking about her is wisdom brought to completion, and whoever keeps watch for her will soon be free from worry.

15To think therefore upon her is perfection of wisdom: and whoso watcheth for her shall quickly be without care.

Note"Without care" means free from anxiety, not careless. In 1611 "care" ordinarily meant worry or burden.

16She goes about looking for those who are worthy of her. She shows herself kindly to them along their paths, and meets them in every thought.

16For she goeth about seeking such as are worthy of her, sheweth herself favourably unto them in the ways, and meeteth them in every thought.

Note"Meeteth them in every thought" renders a Greek word that can mean a thought, an intention or a plan, so the line can be read either as Wisdom meeting the seeker in each thought he has or as meeting him at every turn of whatever he sets out to do. The ambiguity is in the original.

17The true beginning of wisdom is the desire to be taught, and caring about being taught is love.

17For the very true beginning of her is the desire of discipline; and the care of discipline is love;

Note"Discipline" here is the Greek paideia, which covers the whole business of education and upbringing, the training that forms a person. It does not mean punishment, which is how the English word now usually sounds.

18And love is keeping her laws; and paying attention to her laws makes you sure of a life that cannot decay.

18And love is the keeping of her laws; and the giving heed unto her laws is the assurance of incorruption;

Note"Incorruption" translates a Greek word meaning the state of not decaying, used of things that do not perish and so, of persons, of deathlessness. "Assurance" renders a legal and commercial word meaning a confirmation or guarantee.

19And a life that cannot decay brings us near to God.

19And incorruption maketh us near unto God:

20So the desire for wisdom leads up to a kingdom.

20Therefore the desire of wisdom bringeth to a kingdom.

NoteVerses 17 to 20 form a sorites, a chain argument in which the end of each step becomes the beginning of the next, a device familiar from Greek rhetoric and schoolroom logic. Desire for instruction leads by links to a kingdom, which lands the argument back on the kings addressed in verse 1.

21If your delight, then, is in thrones and scepters, you kings of the peoples, honor wisdom, so that you may reign forever.

21If your delight be then in thrones and sceptres, O ye kings of the people, honour wisdom, that ye may reign for evermore.

Note"Thrones and sceptres" is a stock pair standing for royal office itself. A scepter was the ornamented staff a ruler held in public as the visible sign of the authority to command.

22As for wisdom, what she is and how she came to be, I will tell you. I will not hide hidden things from you. I will trace her out from the very beginning of her birth, bring the knowledge of her into the light, and not pass by the truth.

22As for wisdom, what she is, and how she came up, I will tell you, and will not hide mysteries from you: but will seek her out from the beginning of her nativity, and bring the knowledge of her into light, and will not pass over the truth.

Note"Mysteries" translates mysteria, the Greek word for the secrets disclosed only to those formally initiated into a cult such as the rites at Eleusis. The writer borrows the term to promise the opposite of secrecy: nothing will be kept back. "Nativity" is simply birth or origin.

23I will not travel in the company of consuming envy, because a person like that will have no share in wisdom.

23Neither will I go with consuming envy; for such a man shall have no fellowship with wisdom.

Note"Consuming envy" renders phthonos, which in Greek covers not only resenting what another has but grudging what one has oneself and refusing to share it. Ancient writers commonly said that the divine and the truly wise are "without envy," meaning open handed with what they know, which is the claim being made here.

24But a great number of wise people is the wellbeing of the world, and a wise king holds up his people.

24But the multitude of the wise is the welfare of the world: and a wise king is the upholding of the people.

Note"Welfare" translates a Greek word meaning safety, preservation or deliverance, the condition of a city that has been kept from ruin. "Upholding" renders a word for stability, what keeps a structure standing.

25So take in the teaching my words give, and it will do you good.

25Receive therefore instruction through my words, and it shall do you good.