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4:1 [O quam pulchra est casta generatio, cum claritate ! immortalis est enim memoria illius, quoniam et apud Deum nota est, et apud homines.
*H How beautiful is the chaste generation with glory: for the memory thereof is immortal: because it is known both with God and with men.


Ver. 1. Glory. The offspring of the chaste is happy, (C.) and honourable: (H.) very different from that of adulterers. C. — Bodily chastity is a great virtue; but purity of faith is more requisite to please God, being the foundation of all virtues. W.

4:2 Cum praesens est, imitantur illam, et desiderant eam cum se eduxerit ; et in perpetuum coronata triumphat, incoinquinatorum certaminum praemium vincens.
*H When it is present, they imitate it: and they desire it, when it hath withdrawn itself, and it triumpheth crowned for ever, winning the reward of undefiled conflicts.


Ver. 2. Itself. Virtue extorts the esteem even of worldlings. Antiochus wept for Onias. 2 Mac. iv. 37. C. — Sublatum ex oculis quærimus invidi. Hor. iii. od. 24. — Conflicts. In the cause of continence. C.

4:3 Multigena autem impiorum multitudo non erit utilis, et spuria vitulamina non dabunt radices altas, nec stabile firmamentum collocabunt.
*H But the multiplied brood of the wicked shall not thrive, and bastard slips shall not take deep root, nor any fast foundation.


Ver. 3. Slips. Vitulamina, a word, to which the people were so habituated, that it could not be altered. S. Aug. de Doct. xii. — Yet some read better (C.) plantationes. S. Bonav. Lyran. — The offspring of the unchaste will not prosper. C. iii. 16.

4:4 Etsi in ramis in tempore germinaverint, infirmiter posita, a vento commovebuntur, et a nimietate ventorum eradicabuntur.
And if they flourish in branches for a time, yet standing not fast, they shall be shaken with the wind, and through the force of winds they shall be rooted out.
* Footnote * Jeremias 17 : 6 For he shall be like tamaric in the desert, and he shall not see when good shall come: but he shall dwell in dryness in the desert in a salt land, and not inhabited.
* Footnote * Matthew 7 : 27 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell, and great was the fall thereof.
4:5 Confringentur enim rami inconsummati ; et fructus illorum inutiles et acerbi ad manducandum, et ad nihilum apti.
For the branches not being perfect, shall be broken, and their fruits shall be unprofitable, and sour to eat, and fit for nothing.
4:6 Ex iniquis enim somnis filii qui nascuntur, testes sunt nequitiae adversus parentes in interrogatione sua.
*H For the children that are born of unlawful beds, are witnesses of wickedness against their parents in their trial.


Ver. 6. Beds. Lit. "sleep," somnis, υπνων. C. vii. 2. H. — Whether the children live or die, they are a reproach to their parents, as those who see them enquire about their birth.

4:7 Justus autem si morte praeoccupatus fuerit, in refrigerio erit ;
*H But the just man, if he be prevented with death, shall be in rest.


Ver. 7. Death. He is always ready; but dies in his youth. C. — Whenever death comes, it is for his advantage, and if he depart in his youth, his immaculate life is to be preferred before the old age of the wicked. v. 16. W.

4:8 senectus enim venerabilis est non diuturna, neque annorum numero computata : cani autem sunt sensus hominis,
For venerable old age is not that of long time, nor counted by the number of years: but the understanding of a man is grey hairs.
4:9 et aetas senectutis vita immaculata.
And a spotless life is old age.
4:10 Placens Deo factus est dilectus, et vivens inter peccatores translatus est.
He pleased God, and was beloved, and living among sinners, he was translated.
* Footnote * Hebrews 11 : 5 By faith Henoch was translated that he should not see death: and he was not found because God had translated him. For before his translation he had testimony that he pleased God.
4:11 Raptus est, ne malitia mutaret intellectum ejus, aut ne fictio deciperet animam illius.
*H He was taken away, lest wickedness should alter his understanding, or deceit beguile his soul.


Ver. 11. Away. Like Henoch. Gen. v. 24. Heb. xi. 5. C. — "Bad conversations corrupt the best manners." 1 Cor. xv. 33. Is. lvii. 1. But could not God have supported the just under temptation? Undoubtedly. His judgments are unsearchable. S. Aug. de Præd. xiv. C. — The holy doctor thence proves, that those who die in a just state, might have forfeited it, if they had lived longer. God knew this possibility, and that it would not take place, and his foreknowledge agrees with man's free-will, which some, inclining to Pelagianism, would controvert. They objected to this authority: and he was therefore obliged to prove that the book of Wisdom is canonical. Ib. W.

4:12 Fascinatio enim nugacitatis obscurat bona, et inconstantia concupiscentiae transvertit sensum sine malitia.
*H For the bewitching of vanity obscureth good things, and the wandering of concupiscence overturneth the innocent mind.


Ver. 12. Bewitching. Thus the pleasures and goods of the world are well described. For as fascination consists in a delusion of the people, who suppose that their senses are deceived by vain appearances; so it is the mistake of worldlings to believe that the objects of their desires are real goods, and contain no danger.

4:13 Consummatus in brevi, explevit tempora multa ;
Being made perfect in a short space, he fulfilled a long time.
4:14 placita enim erat Deo anima illius : propter hoc properavit educere illum de medio iniquitatum. Populi autem videntes, et non intelligentes, nec ponentes in praecordiis talia,
For his soul pleased God: therefore he hastened to bring him out of the midst of iniquities: but the people see this, and understand not, nor lay up such things in their hearts:
4:15 quoniam gratia Dei et misericordia est in sanctos ejus, et respectus in electos illius.
That the grace of God, and his mercy is with his saints, and that he hath respect to his chosen.
4:16 Condemnat autem justus mortuus vivos impios, et juventus celerius consummata longam vitam injusti.
But the just that is dead, condemneth the wicked that are living, and youth soon ended, the long life of the unjust.
4:17 Videbunt enim finem sapientis, et non intelligent quid cogitaverit de illo Deus, et quare munierit illum Dominus.
For they shall see the end of the wise man, and it shall not understand what God hath designed for him, and why the Lord hath set him in safety.
4:18 Videbunt, et contemnent eum ; illos autem Dominus irridebit.
They shall see him, and shall despise him: but the Lord shall laugh them to scorn.
4:19 Et erunt post haec decidentes sine honore, et in contumelia inter mortuos in perpetuum : quoniam disrumpet illos inflatos sine voce, et commovebit illos a fundamentis, et usque ad supremum desolabuntur, et erunt gementes, et memoria illorum peribit.
*H And they shall fall after this without honour, and be a reproach among the dead for ever: for he shall burst them puffed up and speechless, and shall shake them from the foundations, and they shall be utterly laid waste: they shall be in sorrow, and their memory shall perish.


Ver. 19. Speechless. The damned shall have no excuse, being condemned by their own conscience, (W.) which shall be instead of a thousand witnesses. M. — In three words, three different punishments are specified.

4:20 Venient in cogitatione peccatorum suorum timidi, et traducent illos ex adverso iniquitates ipsorum.]
*H They shall come with fear at the thought of their sins, and their iniquities shall stand against them to convict them.


Ver. 20. Against. Conscience will condemn or acquit those who have no other law. Rom. ii. 15. C.

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