Book of Wisdom

The Book of Wisdom (or Wisdom of Solomon) is a deuterocanonical book of the Old Testament — found in the Catholic and Orthodox Bibles but not in the Hebrew Bible or most Protestant editions. It celebrates divine Wisdom personified, promises the immortality of the righteous, and refutes idolatry (CCC 401).

What It Contains

The Book of Wisdom, written in Greek probably in Alexandria in the 1st century BC, addresses Jews in the diaspora who face pressure to assimilate to Hellenistic culture. It praises Wisdom as a divine attribute, promises that "the souls of the righteous are in the hand of God, and no torment will ever touch them" (Wisdom 3:1), and provides an extended critique of idolatry as the root of all moral evil (Wisdom 13–14).

Wisdom as a Type of Christ

The personification of Wisdom in books like Proverbs and Wisdom — Wisdom as God's companion in creation, the one who invites humanity to her banquet — is an important background for the New Testament's identification of Jesus as the Wisdom of God (1 Corinthians 1:24) and the prologue of John's Gospel ("In the beginning was the Word..."; CCC 721).

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is the Book of Wisdom not in Protestant Bibles? The Protestant Reformation adopted the Hebrew canon of Scripture (the 39 books of the Old Testament), which does not include the deuterocanonical books. The Catholic Church, following the tradition of the ancient Church and the Septuagint (the Greek Bible used by the Apostles), retains all 46 books of the Old Testament (CCC 120).