The Wisdom of King Solomon – 3:1-9

Is not my choice.  I’m not convinced it would be hers, and having googled the verse I’m sure the translation we are using is wrong, or at least fluffified.  Given our family background the inclusion of the “holocaust” seems like an unfortunate wording, no matter if it means something different when used in this context.

The souls of the virtuous are in the hands of God, no torment shall ever touch them.  In the eyes of the unwise, they did appear to die, their going looked like a disaster, their leaving us like annihilation; but they are at peace.  If they exerienced punishment as men see it, their hope was rich with immortality; slight was their affliction, great will their blessings be.  God has put them to the test and proved them worthy to be with him; he has tested them like gold in a furnace, and accepted them as a holocaust.  They who trust in him will understand he truth, those who are faithful will live with him in love; for grace and mercy await those he has chosen.

But it’s too late to change it now.  I can only hope my voice is strong enough to carry the meaning of the words to all present.  I wish I could read the rest of it, it goes on to rant about the evils of premarital sex and ends with the delightful:

And if they live long, they shall be nothing regarded, and their last old age shall be without honour.  And if they die quickly, they shall have no hope, nor speech of comfort in the day of trial, for dreadful are the ends of a wicked race.

Which, personally, I think is far more fitting and oddly poetic, given the cicumstanes.