1. BVT the soules of the iust are in the hand of God, and the torment of death shal not touch them.
2. They semed in the eies of the vnwise to die: and their decease was counted affliction:
3. and that which with vs is the way, is destruction: but they are in peace.
4. And though before men they suffered torments, their hope is ful of immortalitie.
5. Vexed in few thinges, in many they shal be wel disposed of: because God hath tempted them, and hath found them worthie of him selfe.
6. As gold in the furnace he hath proued them, and as an host of holocaust he hath receiued them, and in time there shal be respect of them.
7. The iust shal shine, and as sparkes in a place of reedes they shal runne abrode.
8. They shal iudge nations, & haue dominion ouer peoples, and their Lord shal reigne for euer.
9. They that trust in him, shal vnderstand truth: and the faithful in loue shal rest in him: because rest and peace is to his elect.
10. But the impious according to the thinges which they haue thought, shal haue correption: which haue neglected the iust, & haue reuolted from our Lord.
11. For he that reiecteth wisdom, and discipline, is vnhappie: and their hope is vaine, and labours without fruite and their workes vnprofitable.
12. Their wiues are sensles, and their children most wicked.
13. Cursed is their creature: because happie is the barren woman: and the vndefiled, which hath not knowen bed in sinne, shal shal haue fruite in visitation of holie soules:
14. and the eunuch, that hath not wrought iniquitie with his hands, nor thought most wicked things against God: for the chosen gift of fayth shal be geuen to him, and a most acceptable lot in the temple of God.
15. For of good labour there is glorious fruite, and the roote of wisdom which falleth not.
16. But the children of adulterers shal be in consummation, and the sede of the vnlawful bed shal be destroyed.
17. And if certes they be of long life, they shal be reputed for nothing, & their last oldage shal be without honour.
18. And if they dye quickly they shal haue no hope, nor speach of comfort in the day of acknowledging.
19. For a wicked nation the endes are cruel.