Anonymous (Septuagint) · a new plain-English translation from the original language
1| Love righteousness, you who judge the earth; think of the Lord in goodness, and seek him in simplicity of heart.
2| For he is found by those who do not put him to the test, and he shows himself to those who do not distrust him.
3| For crooked reasonings separate a person from God, and his power, when tested, exposes the foolish.
4| For wisdom will not enter a soul that devises evil, nor dwell in a body enslaved to sin.
5| For the holy spirit of instruction will flee deceit, and will withdraw from thoughts without understanding, and will be put to shame when injustice comes upon it.
6| For wisdom is a spirit that loves mankind, yet she will not hold a blasphemer guiltless for the words of his lips; for God witnesses his inmost parts, truly surveys the depths of his mind, and listens closely to what his tongue speaks.
7| For the spirit of the Lord has filled the world, and that which holds all things together has knowledge of every voice.
8| Therefore no one who utters injustice will go unnoticed, nor will justice, when it convicts, pass him by.
9| For inquiry will be made into the schemes of the ungodly, and the report of his words will come to the Lord, to convict him of his lawless deeds.
10| For a jealous ear listens to everything that happens, and no whispered grumbling stays concealed from it.
11| Guard, then, against profitless grumbling, and keep your tongue from slander; for no secret word travels for nothing, and a mouth that lies destroys the soul.
12| Do not court death by the error of your life, nor draw down destruction by the works of your hands.
13| For God did not make death, nor does he delight in the destruction of the living.
14| For he brought everything into being so that it might exist, and the generative forces of the world bring no harm, and within them lies no destructive venom, nor does the kingdom of Hades hold sway upon the earth.
15| For righteousness is immortal.
16| But the ungodly summoned death by their hands and their words; considering him a friend, they pined for him, and made a covenant with him, because they are worthy to belong to his portion.