I've been dipping back into my Coptic reading materials recently, since I've forgotten half of it (trying to do the Hebrew and Syriac thing recently) and I started reading the really beautiful Coptic translation of The Wisdom of Solomon.  I was always really struck by it, especially with the central characterization of wisdom as being a quality not only of discernment and intellect but of compassion and righteousness.  It has a lot of really nice Platonic ideas coupled with some beautiful poetic imagery that recalls a lot of the great Jewish literature. 

Anyway, I decided to try to translate some of it just for fun.  I don't normally try to translate things, since I think it's a kind of vain exercise, but here it is.  The first part, anyway, I'm slowly working on the rest.  I also have to note that I was looking strictly at the Coptic, and didn't compare it to the Greek or any other versions, so any and all silly mistranslations are my own.

The Wisdom of Solomon

I

Love righteousness, you who judge the earth;    

Give thought to the Lord in goodness,

And you will find Him in the simplicity of your hearts.

For those who do not tempt Him will come to find Him;

He is revealed unto those who believe in Him.

The thought which is evil separates from God,

And His power in its revelation rebukes all thoughtlessness.

For Wisdom does not come into a soul which is evil;

Nor does it reside in a body given to sin.

For the spirit which is holy, the spirit of Wisdom, flies from deceit,

And it is distant from thoughts of evil,

And it reviles every essence of violence.

For the spirit of Wisdom loves man,

And will not justify the blasphemer;

For God is the witness of the inner self,

And he who seeks will find love in his heart, and he who listens will hear His words.

For the spirit of the Lord filled the world,

And he who accepts the whole of the world will understand its voice.

For this reason no one who speaks in violence will be concealed;

Nor will he escape the judgment which is forthcoming.

For the words of the unbeliever will be uncovered,

And the Lord will listen to his every word in revelation of his lawlessness. 

For the ear of His envy listens to every work,

And the voice of those who mutter in anger will not be hidden.

Watch that you mutter not in emptiness,

And restrain your lips from slander.

For no word which is vain will be hidden;

A tongue which spreads lies will destroy the soul. 

Do not envy, and perish, in the deception of your life,

Nor draw yourselves into destruction in the work of your hands.

For the God our God did not create death,

Nor does He rejoice in the destruction of what is living.

He created all things so that they might persist for all time;

And that they might be whole, the creations of the cosmos.

The poison of death is not in their hearts,

Nor is the kingdom of Hell upon the face of the earth.

But those without faith choose it in their works, and in their speech;

They take it to themselves as a fellow, they set it free,

They build upon it a covenant,

For they are worthy of the lot which is theirs.