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About this book

Wisdom of Solomon

About this book

Justice and the Gift of Life

Chapter 1

1 Love righteousness, all you who are judges of the earth. Think of the Lord with a good mind. Seek him in singleness of heart, 2 because he is found by those who don’t put him to the test, and is manifested to those who trust him. 3 for crooked thoughts separate from God. His Power convicts when it is tested, and exposes the foolish; 4 because wisdom will not enter into a soul that devises evil,⁠ nor dwell in a body that is enslaved by sin.⁠ 5 For a holy spirit of discipline will flee deceit, and will depart from thoughts that are without understanding, and will be ashamed when unrighteousness has come in.⁠ 6 For wisdom is a spirit who loves man, and she will not hold a blasphemer guiltless for his lips, because God is witness of his inmost self,⁠ and is a true overseer of his heart, and a hearer of his tongue. 7 Because the spirit of the Lord has filled the world,⁠ and that which holds all things together knows what is said.⁠ 8 Therefore no one who utters unrighteous things will be unseen; neither will Justice, when it convicts, pass him by. 9 For in his counsels the ungodly will be searched out,⁠ and the sound of his words will come to the Lord to bring his lawless deeds to conviction; 10 because a jealous ear listens to all things, and the noise of murmurings is not hidden. 11 Beware then of unprofitable murmuring, and keep your tongue from slander; because no secret utterance will go on its way void, and a lying mouth destroys a soul.⁠ 12 Don’t court death in the error of your life. Don’t draw destruction upon yourselves by the works of your hands; 13 because God didn’t make death, neither does he delight when the living perish.⁠ 14 For he created all things that they might have being. The generative powers of the world are wholesome, and there is no poison of destruction in them, nor has Hades royal dominion upon earth;⁠ 15 for righteousness is immortal,

The Wicked Choose Death

16 but ungodly men by their hands and their words summoned death; deeming him a friend they pined away. They made a covenant with him, because they are worthy to belong with him.⁠

Texts in conversation

Compare Wisdom of Solomon 1:14 and Methodius, Discourse on the Resurrection 1:10

Deuterocanon · Early Christian

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Summary

The Christian theologian Methodius uses the Wisdom of Solomon as an authoritative source for teaching, repeating its claim that all creation was made for life and with goodness and that death is a result of human sin.

Passages

Wisdom of Solomon 1:14

Deuterocanon
12 Don’t court death in the error of your life. Don’t draw destruction upon yourselves by the works of your hands; 13 because God didn’t make death, neither does he delight when the living perish. 14 For he created all things that they might have being. The generative powers of the world are wholesome, and there is no poison of destruction in them, nor has Hades royal dominion upon earth; 15 for righteousness is immortal, 16 but ungodly men by their hands and their words summoned death; deeming him a friend they pined away. They made a covenant with him, because they are worthy to belong with him.
50 BCE – 50 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in the Wisdom of Solomon

Methodius, Discourse on the Resurrection 1:10

Early Christian
But it is not satisfactory to say that the universe will be utterly destroyed, and sea and air and sky will be no longer. For the whole world will be deluged with fire from heaven, and burnt for the purpose of purification and renewal; it will not, however, come to complete ruin and corruption. For if it were better for the world not to be than to be, why did God, in making the world, take the worse course? But God did not work in vain, or do that which was worst. God therefore ordered the creation with a view to its existence and continuance, as also the Book of Wisdom confirms, saying, For God created all things that they might have their being; and the generations of the world were healthful, and there is no poison of destruction in them. And Paul clearly testifies this, saying, For the earnest expectation of the creature waits for the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him that subjected the same in hope: because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For the creation was made subject to vanity, he says, and he expects that it will be set free from such servitude, as he intends to call this world by the name of creation. For it is not what is unseen but what is seen that is subject to corruption
270–310 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Methodius, Discourse on the Resurrection

References

"... Turning to the Western Church, the earliest evidence comes from Irenaeus (died 202), who, although he never quotes from the Book of Sirach, includes quotations from Baruch and the Additions to Daniel in his Against Heresies. He cites these as the works of 'Jeremiah the prophet' and 'Daniel the prophet,' respectively, and also quotes from the Wisdom of Solomon. This suggests that he likely considered the books of the Apocrypha as canonical. Tertullian (died 220) also quotes from our book in works such as Against the Gnostics and On the Exhortation of Chastity, using the same formula, "as it is written," that he employs for the Hebrew Canon. Cyprian (died 258), in his Testimonies and letters, frequently quotes from the Book of Sirach and introduces them with phrases like "as it is written" or "Divine Scripture says." Methodius (circa 311), bishop of Lycia and later Tyre, freely quotes from the Book of Sirach, the Wisdom of Solomon, and Baruch, treating them as 'Scripture.' Hilary of Poitiers (died 368) lists the books of the Old Testament in his Prologue to the Book of Psalms, including only the Epistle of Jeremiah from the Apocrypha but adds that some also count the Book of Tobit and the Book of Judith, totaling 24 books to align with the number of Greek letters. Nonetheless, he cites Ecclesiasticus and the Wisdom of Solomon as 'prophets,' implying his belief in their canonicity ..."
R. H. Charles, The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament (Oxford University Press, 1913), 302.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Wisdom of Solomon 1:14 and Methodius, Discourse on the Resurrection 1:10

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