1 - But the souls of the just are in the hand of God, and the torment of death shall not touch them.
2 - In the sight of the unwise they seemed to die: and their departure was taken for misery:
3 - And their going away from us, for utter destruction: but they are in peace.
4 - And though in the sight of men they suffered torments, their hope is full of immortality.
5 - Afflicted in few things, in many they shall be well rewarded: because God hath tried them, and found them worthy of himself.
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.
7 - The just shall shine, and shall run to and fro like sparks among the reeds.
8 - They shall judge nations, and rule over people, and their Lord shall reign for ever.
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.
10 - But the wicked shall be punished according to their own devices: who have neglected the just, and have revolted from the Lord.
11 - For he that rejecteth wisdom, and discipline, is unhappy: and their hope is vain, and their labours without fruit, and their works unprofitable.
12 - Their wives are foolish, and their children wicked.
13 - Their offspring is cursed, for happy is the barren: and the undefiled, that hath not known bed in sin, she shall have fruit in the visitation of holy souls.
14 - And the eunuch, that hath not wrought iniquity with his hands, nor thought wicked things against God for the precious gift of faith shall be given to him, and a most acceptable lot in the temple of God.
15 - For the fruit of good labours is glorious, and the root of wisdom never faileth.
16 - But the children of adulterers shall not come to perfection, and the seed of the unlawful bed shall be rooted out.
17 - And if they live long, they shall be nothing regarded, and their last old age shall be without honour.
18 - And if they die quickly, they shall have no hope, nor speech of comfort in the day of trial.
19 - For dreadful are the ends of a wicked race.
