11 Love righteousness, ye that be judges of the earth,

Think ye of the Lord with a good mind,

And in singleness of heart seek ye him;

2 Because he is found of them that tempt him not,

And is manifested to them that do not distrust him.

3 For crooked thoughts separate from God;

And the supreme Power, when it is brought to the proof, putteth to confusion the foolish:

4 Because wisdom will not enter into a soul that deviseth evil,

Nor dwell in a body held in pledge by sin.

5 For the holy spirit of discipline will flee deceit,

And will start away from thoughts that are without understanding,

And will be scared away when unrighteousness approacheth.

The sinner cannot escape punishment: his very words are known.

6 For wisdom is a spirit that loveth man,

And she will not hold a blasphemer guiltless for his lips;

Because God is witness of his reins,

And is a true overseer of his heart,

And a hearer of his tongue:

7 Because the spirit of the Lord filleth the world,

And that which holdeth all things together hath knowledge of every voice.

8 Therefore no man that uttereth unrighteous things shall be unseen;

Neither shall Justice, when it punisheth, pass him by.

9 For the counsels of the ungodly shall be searched out;

And the report of his words shall come unto the Lord

For the punishment of his lawless deeds:

10 Because there is an ear of jealousy that listeneth to all things,

And the noise of murmurings is not hid.

11 Beware then of unprofitable murmuring,

And refrain your tongue from blasphemy;

Because no secret utterance shall go forth with impunity,

And a mouth that lieth destroyeth the soul.

God does not willingly afflict men: they bring punishment and death upon themselves.

12 Court not death in the error of your life;

Neither draw upon yourselves destruction by the works of your hands:

13 Because God made not death;

Neither delighteth he when the living perish:

14 For he created all things that they might have being:

And the products of the world are healthsome,

And there is no poison of destruction in them:

Nor hath Hades royal dominion upon earth;

15 For righteousness is immortal,

〈But the gain of unrighteousness is death〉.

16 But the ungodly by their hands and words called him unto them:

Deeming him a friend they were consumed with love of him,

And they made a covenant with him,

Because they are worthy to be of his portion.

Some men even prefer the ways of death: they affirm that their souls are even as their bodies, that after this life nothing remains.