Wisdom, Chapter 4 in the KJV, says “Better it is to have no children, and to have virtue: for the memorial thereof is immortal: because it is known with God, and with men. ”

Whereas in the Revised Version, Wisdom says ” Better than this is childishness with virtue; For in the memory of virtue is immortality: Because it is recognised both before God and before men.”

These are very different meanings. In the authorized version, one finds a comfort for having virtue if they lacked children. In the Revised Version they find an admonishment toward playfullness. Stepping further backward to chapter three, we find that the discussion relates to the unfortunate children of adultery. Chapter 3 of the book Wisdom always gave me great discomfort. It seems the KJV implies that one is better to not have children and to possess virtue rather than to have unrighteous children via adultery. The RV implies either that children should be virtous, or that a virtous person ought to remain in touch with their inner child.

The Geneva Bible agrees with the KJV by using the word barreness. “Better is barrenness with virtue: for the memorial therof is immortal: for it is know with God & with men”

I was looking up the world childish to see how many references there might be to it in addition to the one in 1 Corinithians 13, which says “When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.”

There are two instances of the word childish in the KJV. The RV shows only one since they used childishness in Wisdom chapter 4.

This is the Textus Receptus, also called the received text.

There are some differences in received text versions, some which are significant such as without where with should be and vice versa. [1]

Sumatra PDF reader (Local mirror of 3.5.2 64-bit) works wonderfully for viewing these kind of books. The following screenshot was taken with “Book View” on, and “Scroll Pages Continuously” activated. Librera is excellent for Android.

1. “Which Edition of the Received Text Should We Use?” Accessed July 12, 2025. https://www.wayoflife.org/reports/which_edition_of_received_text_should_we_use.html.