And immortality brings one near to God: The picture here is of a person who has the privilege of appearing before a king; compare Est 1.14. Here the king is God (see verse 4).

An alternative model for this verse is:

• And if you are immortal [or, live after death], you will be close to God.

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.