Weighing virtue against long life, the fourth chapter teaches that it is better to be childless with integrity than to abound in the offspring of the wicked, and that honorable age is measured not by years but by understanding. The righteous man who dies early is at rest, for 'being made perfect in a short time, he fulfilled a long time'; God took him quickly lest wickedness alter his heart. His early death rises up in judgment against the aged ungodly, whose gray hairs bring no honor. Reframing what counts as a blessed life, the chapter carries forward the book's claim that God's reckoning outlasts the visible span of days.