1 Better it is to haue no children, and to haue vertue: for the memoriall thereof is immortal: because it is knowen with God and with men.
2 When it is present, men take example at it, and when it is gone they desire it: it weareth a crown, and triumpheth for euer, hauing gotten the victorie, striuing for vndefiled rewards.
3 But the multiplying brood of the vngodly shall not thriue, nor take deepe rooting from bastard slips, nor lay any fast foundation.
4 For though they flourish in branches for a time: yet standing not fast, they shall be shaken with the winde: and through the force of windes they shall be rooted out.
5 The vnperfect branches shall bee broken off, their fruit vnprofitable, not ripe to eate: yea meet for nothing.
6 For children begotten of vnlawfull beds, are witnesses of wickednes against their parents in their triall.
7 But though the righteous be preuented with death: yet shal he be in rest.
8 For honourable age is not that which standeth in length of time, nor that is measured by number of yeeres.
9 But wisedome is the gray haire vnto men, & an vnspotted life is old age.
10 He pleased God, and was beloued of him: so that liuing amongst sinners, he was translated.
11 Yea, speedily was he taken away, lest that wickednes should alter his vnderstanding, or deceit beguile his soule.
12 For the bewitching of naughtines doth obscure things that are honest: and the wandring of concupiscence, doth vndermine the simple mind.
13 He being made perfect in a short time, fulfilled a long time.
14 For his soule pleased the Lord: therefore hasted he to take him away, from among the wicked.
15 This the people saw, and vnderstood it not: neither laid they vp this in their mindes, That his grace and mercie is with his Saints, and that he hath respect vnto his chosen.
16 Thus the righteous that is dead, shall condemne the vngodly, which are liuing, and youth that is soone perfected, the many yeeres and old age of the vnrighteous.
17 For they shall see the end of the wise, & shall not vnderstand what God in his counsell hath decreed of him, and to what end the Lord hath set him in safetie.
18 They shal see him and despise him, but God shall laugh them to scorne, and they shal hereafter be a vile carkeis, and a reproch among the dead for euermore.
19 For he shall rend them, and cast them downe headlong, that they shalbe speechles: and he shal shake them from the foundation: and they shall bee vtterly laid waste, and be in sorow: and their memoriall shall perish.
20 And when they cast vp the accounts of their sinnes, they shall come with feare: and their owne iniquities shall conuince them to their face.
Chap 5
1 Then shal the righteous man stand in great boldnesse, before the face of such as haue afflicted him, and made no account of his labours.
2 When they see it, they shalbe troubled with terrible feare, & shall be amazed at the strangenesse of his saluation, so farre beyond all that they looked for.
3 And they repenting, and groning for anguish of spirit, shall say within themselues, This was he whom wee had sometimes in derision, and a prouerbe of reproch.
4 We fooles accounted his life madnes, and his end to be without honour.
5 How is hee numbred among the children of God, and his lot is among the Saints?
6 Therefore haue wee erred from the way of trueth, and the light of righteousnesse hath not shined vnto vs, and the Sunne of righteousnesse rose not vpon vs.
7 We wearied ourselues in the way of wickednesse, and destruction: yea, we haue gone through deserts, where there lay no way: but as for the way of the Lord, we haue not knowen it.
8 What hath pride profited vs? or what good hath riches with our vaunting brought vs?
9 All those things are passed away like a shadow, and as a Poste that hasted by.
10 And as a ship that passeth ouer the waues of the water, which when it is gone by, the trace thereof cannot bee found: neither the path way of the keele in the waues.
11 Or as when a bird hath flowen thorow the aire, there is no token of her way to be found, but the light aire being beaten with the stroke of her wings, and parted with the violent noise and motion of them, is passed thorow, and therin afterwards no signe where she went, is to be found.
12 Or like as when an arrow is shot at a marke, it parteth the aire, which immediatly commeth together againe: so that a man cannot know where it went thorow:
13 Euen so we in like maner, assoone as we were borne, began to draw to our end, and had no signe of vertue to shew: but were consumed in our owne wickednesse.
14 For the hope of the vngodly is like dust that is blowen away with þe wind, like a thinne froth that is driuen away with þe storme: like as the smoke which is dispersed here and there with a tempest, and passeth away as the remembrance of a guest that tarieth but a day.
15 But þe righteous liue for euermore, their reward also is with the Lord, and the care of them is with the most High.
16 Therfore shall they receiue a glorious kingdome, & a beautiful crowne from the Lords hande: for with his right hand shall he couer them, and with his arme shall he protect them.
17 He shall take to him his ielousie for cōplete armour, & make the creature his weapon for the reuenge of his enemies.
18 He shal put on righteousnesse as a brestplate, and true iudgement in stead of an helmet.
19 He shall take holinesse for an inuincible shield.
20 His seuere wrath shall he sharpen for a sword, and the world shall fight with him against the vnwise.
21 Then shal the right-aiming thunder bolts goe abroad, and from the cloudes, as from a well-drawen bow, shall they flie to the marke.
22 And hailestones full of wrath shal be cast as out of a stonebow, and the water of the Sea shall rage against them, & the floods shall cruelly drowne them.
23 Yea a mightie wind shall stand vp against them, & like a storme shall blow them away: thus iniquity shal lay wast the whole earth, and ill dealing shall ouerthrow the thrones of the mightie.
All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, reproof, correction, and instruction in righteousness (2 Timothy 3:16).