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| [1]O howe faire is a chaste generation with vertue? the memoriall therof is immortall: for it is knowen with God and with men. |
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| [2]When it is present, men take example at it, & if it go away, yet they desire it: it is crowned and euer triumpheth, when it hath wunne the rewarde of the vndefiled battayles. |
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| [3]But the multitude of the vngodly aboundyng in children, shall profite nothyng, nor geue deepe roote by the seede of adulterie, nor lay any fast foundatio. |
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| [4]For though they budde foorth in the braunches for a tyme, yet shall they be shaken with the wynde, for they stande not fast: and through the vehemencie of the wynde they shalbe rooted out. |
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| [5]The vnperfect braunches shalbe broken, their fruite shalbe vnprofitable, & sowre to eate, yea meete for nothyng. |
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| [6]And why? all the children that are borne of the wicked bed, must beare recorde of the wickednesse agaynst their fathers and mothers when they be asked: |
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| [7]But though the ryghteous be ouertaken with death, yet shall he be in rest. |
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| [8]For honorable age is not that which standeth in length of tyme, nor that that is measured by number of yeres: |
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| [9]But a mans wisdome is the gray heere, and an vndefiled lyfe is the olde age. |
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| [10]He pleased God and was beloued of hym, so that wheras he lyued among sinners, he translated hym. |
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| [11]Yea spedyly was he taken away, to the intent that wickednesse shoulde not alter his vnderstandyng, and that deceipt shoulde not beguile his soule. |
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| [12]For wickednesse with bewitchyng doth darken the honest thynges: and the lyghtnesse of voluptuous desire turneth asyde the single mynde. |
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| [13]Though he was soone dead, yet fulfylled he much tyme: |
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| [14]For his soule pleased God, therfore hasted he to take hym away from among the wicked. |
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| [15]This the people see, and vnderstande it not, they lay not vp such thynges in their heartes, howe that the louyng fauour and mercie [of God] is vpon his saintes, and that he hath respect vnto his chosen. |
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| [16]Thus the ryghteous that is dead, condemneth the vngodly which are liuing: and the youth that is soone brought to an ende, the long life of the vnrighteous. |
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| [17]For they see the ende of the wyse: but they vnderstande not what God hath deuised for him, and wherfore the Lord hath taken him away to be in safetie. |
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| [18]And why? they see hym and dispise hym, therfore shall God also laugh them to scorne. |
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| [19]So that they them selues shall dye hereafter without honour, yea in shame among the dead for euermore: For without any voyce shall he burst those that be puft vp, and shake them from the foundations, so that they shalbe layde as vtterly wasted: they shalbe in sorowe, and their memoriall perishe. |
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| [20]So they shall come afrayde in remembraunce of their sinnes, and their owne iniquities before their face shal conuince them. |
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