What are the Books of Wisdom and Truth?
The Books of Wisdom are Job, the Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Songs (in the ordering of the Septuagint, Job follows the Psalms). These books teach the fear of the LORD as the beginning of wisdom (Prv 9:10), wrestle honestly with suffering and the vanity of this passing age (Job; Ecclesiastes), and sing of the love between the Bridegroom and the bride, which the Church reads as the love of Christ for his people (Sng 3:11; see Q368, Q542).
The deuterocanonical books associated with this group are the Wisdom of Solomon and the Wisdom of Sirach (Ecclesiasticus). The Wisdom of Solomon contains one of the most striking prophecies of the Lord’s passion, the righteous one condemned to a shameful death by those his life reproaches (Wis 2:12–20; see Q431), and the teaching that “God did not make death” (Wis 1:13; see Q431, Q607); while Sirach, long used for the instruction of catechumens, is quoted throughout this catechism (e.g., Sir 3:8–9; 38:27; 50:20–21; see Q557).
