Wisdom

Wisdom · Deuterocanon · Traditionally King Solomon · c. 100–30 BCE

The Book of Wisdom, also known as the Wisdom of Solomon, is a Greek-language Jewish work that encourages faithfulness to traditional Judaism within a Hellenistic environment. It praises the divine personification of Wisdom and explores her role in creation and history. The text also addresses the immortality of the righteous soul and concludes with a poetic midrash on the Exodus.

19 chapters

• 1Wisdom 1The author exhorts rulers to seek righteousness, warning that wisdom flees wickedness and that God did not create death.
• 2Wisdom 2The wicked, believing life is short and lacks afterlife, plot to oppress and kill the righteous man who exposes their sins.
• 3Wisdom 3The righteous dead find peace and immortality in God's hand, while the wicked and their corrupt descendants face divine judgment.
• 4Wisdom 4Virtue outshines wicked descendants, and the righteous who die young are rescued by God, contrasting with the doom of the wicked.
• 5Wisdom 5The wicked regret their foolishness upon seeing the salvation of the righteous, while God prepares cosmic weapons to destroy his enemies.
• 6Wisdom 6The author warns kings that they face severe judgment from God and exhorts them to seek personified wisdom for successful rule.
• 7Wisdom 7Solomon describes his mortal origins, how he prayed for and valued wisdom above all else, and outlines her divine attributes.
• 8Wisdom 8Desiring wisdom as his spiritual spouse, Solomon praises her virtues and decides to pray to God to obtain her.
• 9Wisdom 9Solomon prays for God to send wisdom from heaven to guide him, acknowledging that human beings cannot understand God's will alone.
• 10Wisdom 10The author recounts how personified wisdom protected righteous biblical figures, from Adam to Moses, while punishing the wicked.
• 11Wisdom 11God uses the same elements to bless Israel and punish Egypt, demonstrating His ultimate power and mercy over all creation.
• 12Wisdom 12God judged the ancient Canaanites gradually to offer opportunities for repentance, illustrating His sovereign justice, patience, and mercy.
• 13Wisdom 13The author critiques nature worship and exposes the foolishness of artisans who craft lifeless idols from leftover scraps of wood.
• 14Wisdom 14The origins of idolatry are traced to grief and political flattery, leading to widespread moral decay and spiritual corruption.
• 15Wisdom 15Contrast is drawn between Israel's true God and the foolishness of clay-potters who make lifeless idols from mortal materials.
• 16Wisdom 16God contrasts the plague of beasts on the Egyptians with His merciful provision of healing and heavenly manna for Israel.
• 17Wisdom 17The Egyptians suffer intense psychological torment and terrifying fear while imprisoned in a miraculous, heavy darkness that paralyzes them.
• 18Wisdom 18God's almighty word brings death to Egypt's firstborn while Israel is guided by a pillar of fire and spared by intercession.
• 19Wisdom 19Nature miraculously alters its elements to safely lead Israel through the Red Sea while drowning their inhospitable, pursuing Egyptian oppressors.