Skip to Content
intertextual.bible
Go to Related Reading
About this book

Wisdom of Solomon

About this book

Prayer for Wisdom in Human Life

Chapter 9

1 “O God of my ancestors and Lord of mercy, who made all things by your word;⁠ 2 and by your wisdom you formed man, that he should have dominion over the creatures that were made by you, 3 and rule the world in holiness and righteousness, and execute judgment in uprightness of soul, 4 give me wisdom, her who sits by you on your thrones.⁠ Don’t reject me from among your servants,⁠ 5 because I am your servant and the son of your handmaid, a weak and short-lived man, with little power to understand judgment and laws. 6 For even if a man is perfect among the sons of men, if the wisdom that comes from you is not with him, he will count for nothing.⁠

A King’s Prayer for Wisdom

7 You chose me to be king of your people, and a judge for your sons and daughters. 8 You gave a command to build a sanctuary on your holy mountain, and an altar in the city where you live, a copy of the holy tent which you prepared from the beginning.⁠ 9 Wisdom is with you and knows your works, and was present when you were making the world,⁠ and understands what is pleasing in your eyes, and what is right according to your commandments.⁠ 10 Send her from the holy heavens, and ask her to come from the throne of your glory, that being present with me she may work, and I may learn what pleases you well. 11 For she knows all things and understands, and she will guide me prudently in my actions. She will guard me in her glory. 12 So my works will be acceptable. I will judge your people righteously, and I will be worthy of my father’s throne.

Human Limits and the Gift of Wisdom

13 For what man will know the counsel of God? Or who will conceive what the Lord wills?⁠ 14 For the thoughts of mortals are unstable, and our plans are prone to fail.⁠ 15 For a corruptible body weighs down the soul.⁠ The earthy tent burdens a mind that is full of cares.⁠ 16 We can hardly guess the things that are on earth, and we find the things that are close at hand with labor; but who has traced out the things that are in the heavens?⁠ 17 Who gained knowledge of your counsel, unless you gave wisdom, and sent your holy spirit from on high? 18 It was thus that the ways of those who are on earth were corrected, and men were taught the things that are pleasing to you. They were saved through wisdom.”

Texts in conversation

Compare Wisdom of Solomon 9:15 and 1 Corinthians 15:53

Deuterocanon · New Testament

Share:

Summary

In the Wisdom of Solomon, the body is a disposable, heavy tent that limits the soul’s ability to learn divine truth, a view common in Greek and Jewish thought. In 1 Corinthians, Paul answers this by insisting the body is not discarded but renewed.

Passages

Wisdom of Solomon 9:15

Deuterocanon
13 For what man will know the counsel of God? Or who will conceive what the Lord wills? 14 For the thoughts of mortals are unstable, and our plans are prone to fail. 15 For a corruptible body weighs down the soul. The earthy tent burdens a mind that is full of cares. 16 We can hardly guess the things that are on earth, and we find the things that are close at hand with labor; but who has traced out the things that are in the heavens? 17 Who gained knowledge of your counsel, unless you gave wisdom, and sent your holy spirit from on high? 18 It was thus that the ways of those who are on earth were corrected, and men were taught the things that are pleasing to you. They were saved through wisdom.”
50 BCE – 50 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in the Wisdom of Solomon

1 Corinthians 15:53

New Testament
50 Now this is what I am saying, brothers and sisters: Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 51 Listen, I will tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— 52 in a moment, in the blinking of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 53 For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.
55–57 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in 1 Corinthians

References

"... In [1 Corinthians] 15:1–58, Paul contends for the common Judean doctrine of an end-time resurrection, despite its absurdity to Gentiles. For Paul, an eschatological resurrection has moral consequences (6:13–14; 15:32–34, 58), as in other early Jewish defenses of eschatological judgment on moral grounds (or pagan condemnations of “immoral” Epicureans’ rejection of the afterlife). To argue for the eschatological resurrection, Paul begins in 15:1–11 with the component of that doctrine his hearers have already accepted, reinforcing the point with a list of eyewitnesses ... Educated, elite Corinthians probably followed views held by many philosophers, such as immortality of the soul after the body’s death. Many viewed the body as earthly, the soul as heavenly (Heraclitus Ep. 9; Seneca Dial. 12.11.6), including some Jews (Wisdom of Solomon 9:15–16; Sifre Deuteronomy 306.28.2). Many philosophers viewed the immortal soul as the divine part of a person; some Hellenistic Jewish thinkers concurred (Philo Creation 135). Contrary to the erroneous guesses of many NT scholars, most Jews in this period accepted this distinction between soul and body, and that the soul remained immortal after death. But most Judeans, and at least some Diaspora Jews, also accepted the doctrine of a future bodily resurrection alongside the soul’s immortality after death ..."
Craig S. Keener, 1–2 Corinthians (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005), 122.

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

Your feedback

Wisdom of Solomon 9:15 and 1 Corinthians 15:53

Leave a comment

Your questions and comments are welcome!

Comments

Glossary

Search the Library