Chapter 4 _{9 But wisdom is the gray hair unto men, and an unspotted life is old age.10 He pleased God, and was beloved of him: so that living among sinners he was translated.11 Yea speedily was he taken away, lest that wickedness should alter his understanding, or deceit beguile his soul.12 For the bewitching of naughtiness doth obscure things that are honest; and the wandering of concupiscence doth undermine the simple mind.13 He, being made perfect in a short time, fulfilled a long time:14 For his soul pleased the Lord: therefore hasted he to take him away from among the wicked.15 This the people saw, and understood it not, neither laid they up this in their minds, That his grace and mercy is with his saints, and that he hath respect unto his chosen.16 Thus the righteous that is dead shall condemn the ungodly which are living; and youth that is soon perfected the many years and old age of the unrighteous.17 For they shall see the end of the wise, and shall not understand what God in his counsel hath decreed of him, and to what end the Lord hath set him in safety.18 They shall see him, and despise him; but God shall laugh them to scorn: and they shall hereafter be a vile carcase, and a reproach among the dead for evermore.19 For he shall rend them, and cast them down headlong, that they shall be speechless; and he shall shake them from the foundation; and they shall be utterly laid waste, and be in sorrow; and their memorial shall perish.20 And when they cast up the accounts of their sins, they shall come with fear: and their own iniquities shall convince them to their face.}

Chapter 5 _{1 Then shall the righteous man stand in great boldness before the face of such as have afflicted him, and made no account of his labours.2 When they see it, they shall be troubled with terrible fear, and shall be amazed at the strangeness of his salvation, so far beyond all that they looked for.3 And they repenting and groaning for anguish of spirit shall say within themselves, This was he, whom we had sometimes in derision, and a proverb of reproach:4 We fools accounted his life madness, and his end to be without honour:5 How is he numbered among the children of God, and his lot is among the saints!6 Therefore have we erred from the way of truth, and the light of righteousness hath not shined unto us, and the sun of righteousness rose not upon us.7 We wearied ourselves in the way of wickedness and destruction: yea, we have gone through deserts, where there lay no way: but as for the way of the Lord, we have not known it.8 What hath pride profited us? or what good hath riches with our vaunting brought us?9 All those things are passed away like a shadow, and as a post that hasted by;10 And as a ship that passeth over the waves of the water, which when it is gone by, the trace thereof cannot be found, neither the pathway of the keel in the waves;11 Or as when a bird hath flown through the air, there is no token of her way to be found, but the light air being beaten with the stroke of her wings and parted with the violent noise and motion of them, is passed through, and therein afterwards no sign where she went is to be found;12 Or like as when an arrow is shot at a mark, it parteth the air, which immediately cometh together again, so that a man cannot know where it went through:13 Even so we in like manner, as soon as we were born, began to draw to our end, and had no sign of virtue to shew; but were consumed in our own wickedness.}