world is plunged in primæval silence for seven days; then comes the Resurrection, a bodily resurrection, in which all men, Gentile and Jew, ungodly and godly, partake; this is immediately followed by the Judgement which ushers in the New Age. Turning now to the Book of Wisdom we note that there is no resurrection of body taught here; this follows naturally from the writer’s doctrine of the inherent evil of matter. The only immortality is that of the soul, and this is gained through “kinship unto wisdom”: When I considered these things in myself, And took thought in my heart how that in kinship unto wisdom is immortality, And in her friendship is good delight.... I went about seeking how to take her unto myself (viii. 17, 18); so that immortality begins on this earth. The Judgement takes place immediately after death; the writer describes fully the lot in the future life reserved respectively for the righteous and the ungodly; in the beautiful and well-known passage (iii. 1-9) the blessedness of the righteous is described in this way: But the souls of the righteous are in the hands of God, And no torment shall touch them ... But they are in peace. For though in the sight of men they be punished, Their hope is full of immortality ... (iii. 1-9). Of the ungodly it is said, on the other hand: But the ungodly shall be requited even as they reasoned, They which lightly regarded the righteous man, and revolted from the Lord ... And void is their hope, and their toils unprofitable, And useless are their works ... (iii. 10 ff.). And again in chapter v. the contrast hereafter between the righteous and the unrighteous is told in the following way: But the righteous shall live for ever, And the Lord is their reward, And the care for them with the Most High. Therefore shall they receive a glorious kingdom, And a diadem of beauty from the Lord’s hand ... (v. 15 ff.); but the ungodly, on seeing the blessedness of the righteous, will be greatly troubled: When they see it they shall be troubled with terrible fear, And shall be amazed at the marvel of His salvation ... Bitter remorse takes hold of them as they review their former godless life and see that they have now no further hope: Because the hope of the ungodly is like chaff carried off by the wind (see v. 1-14). But in regard to the Judgement the writer of Wisdom is not consistent, for in iii. 8 it is said: They [i.e. the righteous] shall judge nations, and have dominion over peoples; And the Lord shall reign over them for evermore. On the other hand, in v. 17-23, there is an entirely different eschatological conception: