Help interpreting this passage in the Book of Wisdom

[SimonArizona]

12 Court not death by your erring way of life, nor draw to yourselves destruction by the works of your hands.
13 Because God did not make death, nor does he rejoice in the destruction of the living.
14 For he fashioned all things that they might have being; and the creatures of the world are wholesome, And there is not a destructive drug among them nor any domain of the nether world on earth,
15 For justice is undying.
16 It was the wicked who with hands and words invited death, considered it a friend, and pined for it, and made a covenant with it, Because they deserve to be in its possession,

Can someone explain to me what the underlined means?

 

[misericordia]

re; ‘drug’, everything is ok without excess. no ‘thing’ is intrinsically evil. It’s what we do (with it) that counts.

just a guess.

 

[PaulDupre]

The New Living Translation - Catholic Reference Edition renders it:

12 Do not court death by living a life of error; do not destroy yourself by your own actions.

13 God did not make death, and he takes no pleasure in the destruction of the living.

14 He created all things so that they could exist, and everything he created is inclined toward wellness. There is no destructive poison in them [in the things God created]. The grave has no power on earth,

15 for righteousness is immortal.

16 But the wicked invite death by their deeds and words. They consider death a friend, so they long for him. They have made a covenant with him because they belong together.

• Wisdom 1:12-16

Blue commentary mine. Everything that God originally created was good and intended for man’s happiness (see Gen 1:31). It is man’s misuse of God’s creation for wicked purposes that brings misery and death. Hope this helps.

Paul

 

[SimonArizona]

The New Living Translation - Catholic Reference Edition renders it:

Blue commentary mine. Everything that God originally created was good and intended for man’s happiness (see Gen 1:31). It is man’s misuse of God’s creation for wicked purposes that brings misery and death. Hope this helps.

Paul

it does, its just the word drug threw me off, because drugs are everywhere.

 

[PraRFLEsEkHm]

Hi

Just like everything else on earth there is a positive and a negative. There are positive uses for a lot of addictive drugs…sometimes we humans have found or refined them into destructive things - like crack and heroin.

But the opiates found in the poppy plants are also pain killers and surgical pre-op meds as well. Cocaine is used as a stimulant in certain combinations and to speed up the intake of certain meds.

Certain poisons also have medicinal uses when refined and separated into their compounds - I’m assuming that a lot more will be discovered and put to good use - maybe as a cure for cancer.

Time will tell. But nothing God has put here on earth, by itself, is evil - it’s what we put it to use for.

Peace

John

 

[tobinatorstark]

Try this from the Haydock Bible Commentary and see if it helps any

Ver. 12. Seek not with such eagerness (zelare) your own ruin, (Calmet) by an evil life, (Worthington) or rather thrown not the blame on death, as if you were necessitated to sin. God created man to be immortal.

Ver. 14. Health. Good, Genesis i. 31. (Calmet) — Poison, or medicine, (Worthington) medicamentum. (Worthington) — Poison and wild beasts become noxious to man only after sin. It is this which infects the veins. All may derive an antidote from Jesus Christ.

Ver. 16. It. Septuagint, Greek: auton. — Death. The wicked strive (Menochius) to draw upon themselves the second death (Calmet) as they will not repent. (Worthington) (Isaias xxviii. 15.) (Haydock)