Wisdom 4:8-18

8 Those who are old aren't honorable simply because time has passed. Old age isn't measured by counting up a person's years.
9 Wisdom and a spotless life are the marks of honorable maturity.
10 These people please God, are loved by God, and are taken away from living in the midst of sinners.
11 They are snatched away so that evil doesn't pervert their understanding and so that deception doesn't corrupt their souls.
12 Envying what is worthless blinds people to what is good, and the whirlwind of desire undermines an innocent mind.
13 Those who do what's right are quickly perfected and live a long life in a short span of time.
14 They are whisked away from the wickedness that surrounds them because their whole beings are pleasing to the Lord. People around them see this, but they don't understand. It doesn't sink in
15 that favor and mercy rest upon God's chosen ones, and that God watches over his holy ones.
16 So the dead who did what's right will condemn the ungodly who are still alive, and someone who dies young will condemn the old person who has lived many years but hasn't done what is right.
17 People will see the death of the wise, but they won't understand the Lord's purposes for them, nor to what end the Lord kept them safe.
18 Instead, they will laugh at what they see. In the end, however, the Lord will have the last laugh on them.
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