Wisdom 3:2 kjva — In the sight of the unwise they seemed to die: and their departure is taken for misery,

Wisdom 3:2 in the King James Version with Apocrypha reads: “In the sight of the unwise they seemed to die: and their departure is taken for misery,”

Wisdom 3:2 is found in the Apocrypha, in the book of Wisdom, chapter 3, verse 2.

Wisdom is traditionally attributed to Anonymous Hellenistic Jewish sage (pseudonymously Solomon). Written in elegant Greek; the author casts himself in Solomon's voice as a literary convention common in Jewish wisdom literature. It was written c. 50 BC – AD 50.

The Wisdom of Solomon is a meditation in three movements: the destinies of the righteous and the wicked (chs. 1–5), an extended hymn to personified Wisdom (chs. 6–10), and a retelling of the Exodus showing God's mercy and judgment in salvation history (chs. 11–19). It defends Israel's faith against idolatry, articulates an explicit hope of immortality, and presents Wisdom as a divine attribute "more beautiful than the sun" — language later echoed in New Testament Christology.

Wisdom explores themes including Wisdom, Immortality, Righteousness, Providence, Idolatry. These themes shape the meaning and context of Wisdom 3:2.

Wisdom 3:2 is available on GodsGoodBook in the King James Version (KJV), American Standard Version (ASV), World English Bible (WEB), NET Bible, Young's Literal Translation, Darby Bible, Douay-Rheims Bible, and the Bible in Basic English. Each translation reflects different translation philosophies — use the translation picker on this page to compare them, or browse our full translations directory.

Wisdom 3:2 reads (KJVA): “In the sight of the unwise they seemed to die: and their departure is taken for misery,” Read it aloud, break it into short phrases, repeat each phrase three times before adding the next, then put the phrases together. Reading it in multiple translations (above) often helps the meaning settle.