1But the souls of the righteous are in the hand of God,
And no torment shall touch them.

2In the eyes of the foolish they seemed to have died;
And their departure was accounted to be their hurt,

3And their journeying away from us to be their ruin:
But they are in peace.

4For even if in the sight of men they be punished,
Their hope is full of immortality;

5And having borne a little chastening, they shall receive great good;
Because God made trial of them, and found them worthy of himself.

6As gold in the furnace he proved them,
And as a whole burnt offering he accepted them.

7And in the time of their visitation they shall shine forth,
And as sparks among stubble they shall run to and fro.

8They shall judge nations, and have dominion over peoples;
And the Lord shall reign over them for evermore.

9They that trust on him shall understand truth,
And ²⁷the faithful shall abide with him in love;
Because grace and mercy are to his chosen.

10But the ungodly shall be requited even as they reasoned,
They which lightly regarded ²⁸the righteous man, and revolted from the Lord;

11(For he that setteth at nought wisdom and discipline is miserable;)
And void is their hope and their toils unprofitable,
And useless are their works:

12Their wives are foolish, and wicked are their children;

13Accursed is their begetting.
Because happy is the barren that is undefiled,
She who hath not conceived in transgression;
She shall have fruit when God visiteth souls.

14And happy is the eunuch which hath wrought no lawless deed with his hands,
Nor imagined wicked things against the Lord;
For there shall be given him for his faithfulness ²⁹a peculiar favour,
And a lot in the sanctuary of the Lord more delightsome than wife or children.

15For good labours have fruit of great renown;
And the root of understanding cannot fail.

16But children of adulterers shall not come to maturity,
And the seed of an unlawful bed shall vanish away.

17For if they live long, they shall be held in no account,
And at the last their old age shall be without honour.

18And if they die quickly, they ³⁰shall have no hope,
Nor in the day of decision shall they have consolation.

19For ³¹the end of an unrighteous generation is alway grievous.