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Wisdom 1:14-16
New Catholic Bible
Wisdom 1:14-16
New Catholic Bible
14 He created all things so that they might have existence,
and the creatures of the world engender life.
There is no deadly poison in any of them,
and the domain of the netherworld[a] is not on the earth,
15 for righteousness is immortal.[b]
Wisdom or the Meaning of Our Destiny as Human Beings[c]
The Covenant with Death
Born by Chance and Destined for Oblivion?[d]
16 But the godless by their words and deeds summoned death,
regarded it as a friend, and longed for it.
They made a covenant with it
since they deserve to be in its company.[e]
Footnotes
- Wisdom 1:14 Netherworld: this word signifies here more than simply the place where the dead are shut up without hope or future. Rather, it constitutes the hostile power of death, which seeks to disfigure the work of God. It represents the whole hideous weight of evil that fights against what God wills for the world and for human beings.
- Wisdom 1:15 The one who is righteous is assured of immortality. The Latin version adds: “but injustice acquires death.”
- Wisdom 1:16 In the terminology of the ancients, to speak of Wisdom is to seek to individualize the real destiny of human beings. Everyone desires to live and be happy; life and civilization offer possibilities and attractions, but so do illusion, error, and perversion. This first part of the Book (1:16—5:23) enables the Old Testament to advance in the reflection on the human condition, opening perspectives on eternity.
- Wisdom 1:16 The stage is now given to the blasphemer who sings the praises of nothingness. In order to avoid the responsibility of being a human being, he strives to prove the absurd, to destroy the value of life and sully the mystery of existence so that he will no longer have to be astounded and perhaps have to acknowledge a God who takes an interest in the destiny of human beings.
- Wisdom 1:16 Deserve to be in its company: literally, “deserve to belong to its portion.” In other words, the godless belong to death as Israel belongs to God (see Deut 32:9; 2 Mac 1:26; Zec 2:16) and as God belongs to those who are faithful to him (see Pss 16:5; 73:26; 142:6).
