Verses 1-2 repeat the thought of 3.13-15.

Better than this is childlessness with virtue: Jewish society believed children to be a great blessing, but this author claims that it would be better to have no children than to be without virtue, than to be unrighteous in terms of the Law. Compare Sir 16.1-3. Good News Translation translates the line well: “It is better to have virtue, even if it means having no children.” Contemporary English Version is also good with “Living right is better than having children.” Another possible model is “Being a good person is better than….”

For in the memory of virtue is immortality: One reason children were highly prized is that when people died, their children lived on, preserving the memory of the parents. The author argues here, as in 3.15, that when someone dies, that person’s reputation for virtue has a life of its own and perpetuates the memory of the righteous dead among the living.

Because it is known both by God and by men: But virtue assures not only immortality in the sense that people will be remembered in their community after they die, but that God, who rewards virtue, assures the righteous of eternal life with him. See 3.9.

A possible model for this verse is:

• Being a good person is better than having children. Both God and people will always remember the good things [or, the goodness] that such people have done.

Quoted with permission from Bullard, Roger A. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on The Wisdom of Solomon. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2004. For this and other handbooks for translators see here.