Wisdom 4:10-20

10 Once there was a man named Enoch who pleased God, and God loved him. While Enoch was still living among sinners, God took him away, 1
11 so that evil and falsehood could not corrupt his mind and soul. (%0
12 We all know that people can be so fascinated by evil that they cannot recognize what is good even when they are looking right at it. Innocent people can be so corrupted with desire that they can think of nothing but what they want.)
13 This man Enoch achieved in a few years' time a perfection that other people could never attain in a complete lifetime.
14 The Lord was pleased with Enoch's life and quickly took him out of this wicked world. People were aware of his departure but didn't understand. They never seemed to learn the lesson
15 that God is kind and merciful to his own people; he protects those whom he has chosen.
16 Even when righteous people are dead and gone, they put to shame the wicked people who live on after them. In their old age the wicked will be disgraced by young people who have already achieved perfection.
17 The wise may die young, but the wicked will never understand that this is the Lord's way of taking them off to safety.
18 They make light of a wise person's death, but the Lord will soon be laughing at them. When they die, they will not be given an honorable burial. Even the dead will hold them in scorn and disgust forever.
19 God will throw them to the ground and make them speechless. Like buildings shaken from their foundations, they will be reduced to piles of ruins. They will be in torment. People will soon forget all about them.
20 They will come in fear to the Judgment, where their sins will be counted; they will stand condemned by their own lawless actions.

Cross References 1

  • 1. 4.10-14Genesis 5.21-24;Ben Sira 44.16;Hebrews 11.5.
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.