1406 lines
139 KiB
HTML
1406 lines
139 KiB
HTML
<title>Wisdom — World English Bible Updated</title>
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<article class="book" data-template="book" id="WIS" data-book="WIS" data-name="Wisdom" data-section="deuterocanon">
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<header class="book-header">
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<h1><span class="mt">The Wisdom of Solomon</span></h1>
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</header>
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<div class="chapters">
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<section class="chapter" id="ch1" data-chapter="1">
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<h2 class="chapter-number">1</h2>
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<p class="ip">The <cite class="bk">Wisdom of Solomon</cite> is recognized as Deuterocanonical Scripture by the Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox, and Russian Orthodox Churches.</p>
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<div class="poetry">
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<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v1_1">1</span> Love righteousness, all you who are judges of the earth.</p>
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<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">Think of the Lord<a class="noteref" id="fnref1_1" href="#fn1_1"><sup>*</sup></a> with a good mind.</p>
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<p class="q line" data-indent="1">Seek him in singleness of heart,</p>
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<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2"><span class="v" id="v1_2">2</span> because he is found by those who don’t put him to the test,</p>
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<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and is manifested to those who trust him.</p>
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<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v1_3">3</span> for crooked thoughts separate from God.</p>
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<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">His Power convicts when it is tested,</p>
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<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and exposes the foolish;</p>
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<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v1_4">4</span> because wisdom will not enter into a soul that devises evil,</p>
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<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">nor dwell in a body that is enslaved by sin.</p>
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<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v1_5">5</span> For a holy spirit of discipline will flee deceit,</p>
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<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and will depart from thoughts that are without understanding,</p>
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<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and will be ashamed when unrighteousness has come in.</p>
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</div>
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<div class="poetry">
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<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v1_6">6</span> For<a class="noteref" id="fnref1_2" href="#fn1_2"><sup>†</sup></a> wisdom is a spirit who loves man,</p>
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<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and she will not hold a<a class="noteref" id="fnref1_3" href="#fn1_3"><sup>‡</sup></a> blasphemer guiltless for his lips,</p>
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<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">because God is witness of his inmost self,</p>
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<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and is a true overseer of his heart,</p>
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<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and a hearer of his tongue.</p>
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<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v1_7">7</span> Because the spirit of the Lord has filled<a class="noteref" id="fnref1_4" href="#fn1_4"><sup>§</sup></a> the world,</p>
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<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and that which holds all things together knows what is said.</p>
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<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v1_8">8</span> Therefore no one who utters unrighteous things will be unseen;</p>
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<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">neither will Justice, when it convicts, pass him by.</p>
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<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v1_9">9</span> For in his counsels the ungodly will be searched out,</p>
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<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and the sound of his words will come to the Lord to bring his lawless deeds to conviction;</p>
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<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v1_10">10</span> because a jealous ear listens to all things,</p>
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<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and the noise of murmurings is not hidden.</p>
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<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v1_11">11</span> Beware then of unprofitable murmuring,</p>
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<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and keep your tongue from slander;</p>
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<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">because no secret utterance will go on its way void,</p>
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<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and a lying mouth destroys a soul.</p>
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<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v1_12">12</span> Don’t court death in the error of your life.</p>
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<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">Don’t draw destruction upon yourselves by the works of your hands;</p>
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<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2"><span class="v" id="v1_13">13</span> because God didn’t make death,</p>
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<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">neither does he delight when the living perish.</p>
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<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v1_14">14</span> For he created all things that they might have being.</p>
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<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">The generative powers of the world are wholesome,</p>
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<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and there is no poison of destruction in them,</p>
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<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">nor has Hades<a class="noteref" id="fnref1_5" href="#fn1_5"><sup>*</sup></a> royal dominion upon earth;</p>
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<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v1_15">15</span> for righteousness is immortal,</p>
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<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2"><span class="v" id="v1_16">16</span> but ungodly men by their hands and their words summon death;</p>
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<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">deeming him a friend they<a class="noteref" id="fnref1_6" href="#fn1_6"><sup>†</sup></a> pined away.</p>
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<p class="q line" data-indent="1">They made a covenant with him,</p>
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<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">because they are worthy to belong with him.</p>
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</div>
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<section class="footnotes">
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<h4 class="footnotes-title">Notes</h4>
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<ol>
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<li class="note" id="fn1_1" data-kind="footnote"><span class="marker">*</span> <a class="backref" href="#fnref1_1">1:1</a> <span class="ft">Gr. <span class="fqa">in goodness.</span></span></li>
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<li class="note" id="fn1_2" data-kind="footnote"><span class="marker">†</span> <a class="backref" href="#fnref1_2">1:6</a> <span class="ft">Some authorities read <span class="fqa">the spirit of wisdom is loving to man.</span></span></li>
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<li class="note" id="fn1_3" data-kind="footnote"><span class="marker">‡</span> <a class="backref" href="#fnref1_3">1:6</a> <span class="ft">Or, <span class="fqa">reviler</span></span></li>
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<li class="note" id="fn1_4" data-kind="footnote"><span class="marker">§</span> <a class="backref" href="#fnref1_4">1:7</a> <span class="ft">Gr. <span class="fqa">the inhabited earth.</span></span></li>
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<li class="note" id="fn1_5" data-kind="footnote"><span class="marker">*</span> <a class="backref" href="#fnref1_5">1:14</a> <span class="ft">Or, <span class="fqa">a royal house</span></span></li>
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<li class="note" id="fn1_6" data-kind="footnote"><span class="marker">†</span> <a class="backref" href="#fnref1_6">1:16</a> <span class="ft">Or, <span class="fqa">were consumed </span>with love of him</span></li>
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</ol>
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</section>
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</section>
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<section class="chapter" id="ch2" data-chapter="2">
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<h2 class="chapter-number">2</h2>
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<div class="poetry">
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<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v2_1">1</span> For they said<a class="noteref" id="fnref2_1" href="#fn2_1"><sup>*</sup></a> within themselves, with unsound reasoning,</p>
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<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">“Our life is short and sorrowful.</p>
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<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">There is no healing when a man comes to his end,</p>
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<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and no one was ever known who<a class="noteref" id="fnref2_2" href="#fn2_2"><sup>†</sup></a> was released from Hades.</p>
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<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v2_2">2</span> Because we were born by mere chance,</p>
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<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and hereafter we will be as though we had never been,</p>
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<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">because the breath in our nostrils is smoke,</p>
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<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and reason is a spark kindled by the beating of our heart,</p>
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<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v2_3">3</span> which being extinguished, the body will be turned into ashes,</p>
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<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and the spirit will be dispersed as thin air.</p>
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<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v2_4">4</span> Our name will be forgotten in time.</p>
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<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">No one will remember our works.</p>
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<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">Our life will pass away as the traces of a cloud,</p>
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<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and will be scattered as is a mist,</p>
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<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">when it is chased by the rays of the sun,</p>
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<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and<a class="noteref" id="fnref2_3" href="#fn2_3"><sup>‡</sup></a> overcome by its heat.</p>
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<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v2_5">5</span> For our allotted time is the passing of a shadow,</p>
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<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and our end doesn’t retreat,</p>
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<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">because it is securely sealed, and no one<a class="noteref" id="fnref2_4" href="#fn2_4"><sup>§</sup></a> turns it back.</p>
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</div>
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<div class="poetry">
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<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v2_6">6</span> “Come therefore and let’s enjoy the good things that exist.</p>
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<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">Let’s use the creation earnestly as in our youth.</p>
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<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v2_7">7</span> Let’s fill ourselves with costly wine and perfumes,</p>
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<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and let no spring flower pass us by.</p>
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<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v2_8">8</span> Let’s crown ourselves with rosebuds before they wither.</p>
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<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v2_9">9</span> Let none of us go without his share in our proud revelry.</p>
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<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">Let’s leave tokens of mirth everywhere,</p>
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<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">because this is our portion, and this is our lot.</p>
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<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v2_10">10</span> Let’s oppress the righteous poor.</p>
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<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">Let’s not spare the widow,</p>
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<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">nor regard the gray hair of the old man.</p>
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<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v2_11">11</span> But let our strength be a law of righteousness;</p>
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<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">for that which is weak is proven useless.</p>
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<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v2_12">12</span> But let’s lie in wait for the righteous man,</p>
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<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">because he annoys us,</p>
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<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">is contrary to our works,</p>
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<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">reproaches us with sins against the law,</p>
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<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and charges us with sins against our training.</p>
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<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v2_13">13</span> He professes to have knowledge of God,</p>
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<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and calls himself a child of the Lord.</p>
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<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v2_14">14</span> He became to us a reproof of our thoughts.</p>
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<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v2_15">15</span> He is grievous to us even to look at,</p>
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<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">because his life is unlike other men’s,</p>
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<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and his paths are strange.</p>
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<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v2_16">16</span> We were regarded by him as something worthless,</p>
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<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and he abstains from our ways as from uncleanness.</p>
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<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">He calls the latter end of the righteous happy.</p>
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<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">He boasts that God is his father.</p>
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<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v2_17">17</span> Let’s see if his words are true.</p>
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<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">Let’s test what will happen at the end of his life.</p>
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<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v2_18">18</span> For if the righteous man is God’s son, he will uphold him,</p>
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<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and he will deliver him out of the hand of his adversaries.</p>
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<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v2_19">19</span> Let’s test him with insult and torture,</p>
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<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">that we may find out how gentle he is,</p>
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<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and test his patience.</p>
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<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v2_20">20</span> Let’s condemn him to a shameful death,</p>
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<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">for he will be protected, according to his words.”</p>
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</div>
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<div class="poetry">
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<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v2_21">21</span> Thus they reasoned, and they were led astray;</p>
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<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">for their wickedness blinded them,</p>
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<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v2_22">22</span> and they didn’t know the mysteries of God,</p>
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<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">neither did they hope for wages of holiness,</p>
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<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">nor did they discern that there is a prize for blameless souls.</p>
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<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v2_23">23</span> Because God created man for incorruption,</p>
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<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and made him an image of his own everlastingness;</p>
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<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v2_24">24</span> but death entered into the world by the envy of the devil,</p>
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<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and those who belong to him experience it.</p>
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</div>
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<section class="footnotes">
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<h4 class="footnotes-title">Notes</h4>
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<ol>
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<li class="note" id="fn2_1" data-kind="footnote"><span class="marker">*</span> <a class="backref" href="#fnref2_1">2:1</a> <span class="ft">Or, <span class="fqa">among</span></span></li>
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<li class="note" id="fn2_2" data-kind="footnote"><span class="marker">†</span> <a class="backref" href="#fnref2_2">2:1</a> <span class="ft">Or, <span class="fqa">returned out of Hades</span></span></li>
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<li class="note" id="fn2_3" data-kind="footnote"><span class="marker">‡</span> <a class="backref" href="#fnref2_3">2:4</a> <span class="ft">Gr. <span class="fqa">weighed down.</span></span></li>
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<li class="note" id="fn2_4" data-kind="footnote"><span class="marker">§</span> <a class="backref" href="#fnref2_4">2:5</a> <span class="ft">Or, <span class="fqa">comes again</span></span></li>
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</ol>
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</section>
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</section>
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<section class="chapter" id="ch3" data-chapter="3">
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<h2 class="chapter-number">3</h2>
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<div class="poetry">
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<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v3_1">1</span> But the souls of the righteous are in the hand of God,</p>
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<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and no torment will touch them.</p>
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<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v3_2">2</span> In the eyes of the foolish they seemed to have died.</p>
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<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">Their departure was considered a disaster,</p>
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<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2"><span class="v" id="v3_3">3</span> and their travel away from us ruin,</p>
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<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">but they are in peace.</p>
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<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v3_4">4</span> For even if in the sight of men they are punished,</p>
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<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">their hope is full of immortality.</p>
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<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v3_5">5</span> Having borne a little chastening, they will receive great good;</p>
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<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">because God tested them, and found them worthy of himself.</p>
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<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v3_6">6</span> He tested them like gold in the furnace,</p>
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<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and he accepted them as a whole burnt offering.</p>
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<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v3_7">7</span> In the time of their visitation they will shine.</p>
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<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">They will run back and forth like sparks among stubble.</p>
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<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v3_8">8</span> They will judge nations and have dominion over peoples.</p>
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<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">The Lord will reign over them forever.</p>
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<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2"><span class="v" id="v3_9">9</span> Those who trust him will understand truth.</p>
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<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">The faithful will live with him in love,</p>
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<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">because grace and mercy are with his chosen ones.</p>
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</div>
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<div class="poetry">
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<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v3_10">10</span> But the ungodly will be punished even as their reasoning deserves,</p>
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<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">those who neglected righteousness and revolted from the Lord;</p>
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<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2"><span class="v" id="v3_11">11</span> for he who despises wisdom and discipline is miserable.</p>
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<p class="q line" data-indent="1">Their hope is void and their toils unprofitable.</p>
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<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">Their works are useless.</p>
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<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v3_12">12</span> Their wives are foolish and their children are wicked.</p>
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<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2"><span class="v" id="v3_13">13</span> Their descendants are cursed.</p>
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<p class="q line" data-indent="1">For the barren woman who is undefiled is happy,</p>
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<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">she who has not conceived in transgression.</p>
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<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">She will have fruit when God examines souls.</p>
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<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v3_14">14</span> So is the eunuch which has done no lawless deed with his hands,</p>
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<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">nor imagined wicked things against the Lord;</p>
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<p class="q line" data-indent="1">for a precious gift will be given to him for his faithfulness,</p>
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<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and a delightful inheritance in the Lord’s sanctuary.</p>
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<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v3_15">15</span> For good labors have fruit of great renown.</p>
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<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">The root of understanding can’t fail.</p>
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<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v3_16">16</span> But children of adulterers will not come to maturity.</p>
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<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">The seed of an unlawful union will vanish away.</p>
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<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v3_17">17</span> For if they live long, they will not be esteemed,</p>
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<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and in the end, their old age will be without honor.</p>
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<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v3_18">18</span> If they die young, they will have no hope,</p>
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<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">nor consolation in the day of judgment.</p>
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<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v3_19">19</span> For the end of an unrighteous generation is always grievous.</p>
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</div>
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</section>
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<section class="chapter" id="ch4" data-chapter="4">
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<h2 class="chapter-number">4</h2>
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<div class="poetry">
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<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v4_1">1</span> It is better to be childless with virtue,</p>
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<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">for immortality is in the memory of virtue,</p>
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<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">because it is recognized both before God and before men.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v4_2">2</span> When it is present, people imitate it.</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">They long after it when it has departed.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1">Throughout all time it marches, crowned in triumph,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">victorious in the competition for the prizes that are undefiled.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v4_3">3</span> But the multiplying brood of the ungodly will be of no profit,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and their illegitimate offshoots won’t take deep root,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">nor will they establish a sure hold.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v4_4">4</span> For even if they grow branches and flourish for a season,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">standing unsure, they will be shaken by the wind.</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">They will be uprooted by the violence of winds.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v4_5">5</span> Their branches will be broken off before they come to maturity.</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">Their fruit will be useless,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">never ripe to eat, and fit for nothing.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v4_6">6</span> For unlawfully conceived children are witnesses of wickedness</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">against parents when they are investigated.</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<div class="poetry">
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v4_7">7</span> But a righteous man, even if he dies before his time, will be at rest.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v4_8">8</span> For honorable old age is not that which stands in length of time,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">nor is its measure given by number of years,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2"><span class="v" id="v4_9">9</span> but understanding is gray hair to men,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and an unspotted life is ripe old age.</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<div class="poetry">
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v4_10">10</span> Being found well-pleasing to God, someone was loved.</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">While living among sinners he was transported.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v4_11">11</span> He was caught away, lest evil should change his understanding,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">or guile deceive his soul.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v4_12">12</span> For the fascination of wickedness obscures the things which are good,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and the whirl of desire perverts an innocent mind.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v4_13">13</span> Being made perfect quickly,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">he filled a long time;</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2"><span class="v" id="v4_14">14</span> for his soul was pleasing to the Lord.</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">Therefore he hurried out of the midst of wickedness.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v4_15">15</span> But the peoples saw and didn’t understand,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">not considering this, that grace and mercy are with his chosen,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and that he visits his holy ones;</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v4_16">16</span> but a righteous man who is dead will condemn the ungodly who are living,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and youth who is quickly perfected will condemn the many years of an unrighteous man’s old age.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v4_17">17</span> For the ungodly will see a wise man’s end,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and won’t understand what the Lord planned for him,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and why he safely kept him.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v4_18">18</span> They will see, and they will despise;</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">but the Lord will laugh them to scorn.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1">After this, they will become a dishonored carcass</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and a reproach among the dead forever;</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v4_19">19</span> because he will dash them speechless to the ground,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and will shake them from the foundations.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1">They will lie utterly waste.</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">They will be in anguish</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and their memory will perish.</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<div class="poetry">
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v4_20">20</span> They will come with coward fear when their sins are counted.</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">Their lawless deeds will convict them to their face.</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
</section>
|
||
<section class="chapter" id="ch5" data-chapter="5">
|
||
<h2 class="chapter-number">5</h2>
|
||
<div class="poetry">
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v5_1">1</span> Then the righteous man will stand in great boldness</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">before the face of those who afflicted him,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and those who make his labors of no account.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v5_2">2</span> When they see him, they will be troubled with terrible fear,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and will be amazed at the marvel of salvation.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v5_3">3</span> They will speak among themselves repenting,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and for distress of spirit they will groan,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">“This was he whom we used to hold in derision,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">as a parable of reproach.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v5_4">4</span> We fools considered his life madness,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and his end without honor.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v5_5">5</span> How was he counted among sons of God?</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">How is his lot among saints?</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v5_6">6</span> Truly we went astray from the way of truth.</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">The light of righteousness didn’t shine for us.</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">The sun didn’t rise for us.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v5_7">7</span> We<a class="noteref" id="fnref5_1" href="#fn5_1"><sup>*</sup></a> took our fill of the paths of lawlessness and destruction.</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">We traveled through trackless deserts,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">but we didn’t know the Lord’s way.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v5_8">8</span> What did our arrogance profit us?</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">What good have riches and boasting brought us?</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<div class="poetry">
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v5_9">9</span> Those things all passed away as a shadow,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">like a rumor that runs by,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2"><span class="v" id="v5_10">10</span> like a ship passing through the billowy water,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">which, when it has gone by, there is no trace to be found,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">no pathway of its keel in the waves.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v5_11">11</span> Or it is like when a bird flies through the air,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">no evidence of its passage is found,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">but the light wind, lashed with the stroke of its pinions,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and torn apart with the violent rush of the moving wings, is passed through.</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">Afterwards no sign of its coming remains.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v5_12">12</span> Or it is like when an arrow is shot at a mark,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">the air it divided closes up again immediately,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">so that men don’t know where it passed through.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v5_13">13</span> So we also, as soon as we were born, ceased to be;</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and we had no sign of virtue to show,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">but we were utterly consumed in our wickedness.”</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v5_14">14</span> Because the hope of the ungodly man is like chaff carried by the wind,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and<a class="noteref" id="fnref5_2" href="#fn5_2"><sup>†</sup></a> as<a class="noteref" id="fnref5_3" href="#fn5_3"><sup>‡</sup></a> foam vanishing before a tempest;</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and is scattered like smoke by the wind,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and passes by as the remembrance of a guest who stays just a day.</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<div class="poetry">
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v5_15">15</span> But the righteous live forever.</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">Their reward is in the Lord,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and the care for them with the Most High.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v5_16">16</span> Therefore they will receive the crown of royal dignity</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and the diadem of beauty from the Lord’s hand,</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1">because he will cover them with his right hand,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and he will shield them with his arm.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v5_17">17</span> He will take his zeal as complete armor,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and will make the whole creation his weapons to punish his enemies:</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v5_18">18</span> He will put on righteousness as a breastplate,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and will wear impartial judgment as a helmet.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v5_19">19</span> He will take holiness as an invincible shield.</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2"><span class="v" id="v5_20">20</span> He will sharpen stern wrath for a sword.</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">The universe will go with him to fight against his frenzied foes.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v5_21">21</span> Shafts of lightning will fly with true aim.</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">They will leap to the mark from the clouds, as from a well-drawn bow.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v5_22">22</span> Hailstones full of wrath will be hurled as from a catapult.</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">The water of the sea will be angered against them.</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">Rivers will sternly overwhelm them.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v5_23">23</span> A mighty wind will encounter them.</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">It will winnow them away like a tempest.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1">So lawlessness will make all the land desolate.</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">Their evil-doing will overturn the thrones of princes.</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<section class="footnotes">
|
||
<h4 class="footnotes-title">Notes</h4>
|
||
<ol>
|
||
<li class="note" id="fn5_1" data-kind="footnote"><span class="marker">*</span> <a class="backref" href="#fnref5_1">5:7</a> <span class="ft">See <a class="ref" href="PRO#v14_14">Proverbs 14:14</a>.</span></li>
|
||
<li class="note" id="fn5_2" data-kind="footnote"><span class="marker">†</span> <a class="backref" href="#fnref5_2">5:14</a> <span class="ft">Gr. <span class="fqa">like foam chased to thinness: </span>or, <span class="fqa">as thin foam chased.</span></span></li>
|
||
<li class="note" id="fn5_3" data-kind="footnote"><span class="marker">‡</span> <a class="backref" href="#fnref5_3">5:14</a> <span class="ft">Most Greek authorities read <span class="fqa">hoar frost: </span>some authorities, perhaps rightly, <span class="fqa">a spider’s web.</span></span></li>
|
||
</ol>
|
||
</section>
|
||
</section>
|
||
<section class="chapter" id="ch6" data-chapter="6">
|
||
<h2 class="chapter-number">6</h2>
|
||
<div class="poetry">
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v6_1">1</span> Hear therefore, you kings, and understand.</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">Learn, you judges of the ends of the earth.</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2"><span class="v" id="v6_2">2</span> Give ear, you rulers who have dominion over many people,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and make your boast<a class="noteref" id="fnref6_1" href="#fn6_1"><sup>*</sup></a> in multitudes of nations,</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v6_3">3</span> because your dominion was given to you from the Lord,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and your sovereignty from the Most High.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1">He will search out your works,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and will inquire about your plans,</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v6_4">4</span> because being officers of his kingdom, you didn’t judge rightly,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">nor did you keep the law,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">nor did you walk according to God’s counsel.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v6_5">5</span> He will come upon you awfully and swiftly,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">because a stern judgment comes on those who are in high places.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v6_6">6</span> For the man of low estate may be pardoned in mercy,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">but mighty men will be mightily tested.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v6_7">7</span> For the Sovereign Lord of all will not be impressed with anyone,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">neither will he show deference to greatness;</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1">because it is he who made both small and great,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and cares about them all;</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v6_8">8</span> but the scrutiny that comes upon the powerful is strict.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v6_9">9</span> Therefore, my words are to you, O princes,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">that you may learn wisdom and not fall away.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v6_10">10</span> For those who have kept the things that are holy in holiness will be made holy.</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">Those who have been taught them will find what to say in defense.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v6_11">11</span> Therefore set your desire on my words.</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">Long for them, and you princes will be instructed.</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<div class="poetry">
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v6_12">12</span> Wisdom is radiant and doesn’t fade away;</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and is easily seen by those who love her,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and found by those who seek her.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v6_13">13</span> She anticipates those who desire her, making herself known.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v6_14">14</span> He who rises up early to seek her won’t have difficulty,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">for he will find her sitting at his gates.</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2"><span class="v" id="v6_15">15</span> For to think upon her is perfection of understanding,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and he who watches for her will quickly be free from care;</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v6_16">16</span> because she herself goes around, seeking those who are worthy of her,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and in their paths she appears to them graciously,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and in every purpose she meets them.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v6_17">17</span> For her true beginning is desire for instruction;</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and desire for instruction is love.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v6_18">18</span> And love is observance of her laws.</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">To give heed to her laws confirms immortality.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v6_19">19</span> Immortality brings closeness to God.</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2"><span class="v" id="v6_20">20</span> So then desire for wisdom promotes to a kingdom.</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<div class="poetry">
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v6_21">21</span> If therefore you delight in thrones and sceptres, you princes of peoples,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">honor wisdom, that you may reign forever.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v6_22">22</span> But what wisdom is, and how she came into being, I will declare.</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">I won’t hide mysteries from you;</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">but I will explore from her first beginning,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">bring the knowledge of her into clear light,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and I will not pass by the truth.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v6_23">23</span> Indeed, I won’t travel with consuming envy,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">because envy will have no fellowship with wisdom.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v6_24">24</span> But a multitude of wise men is salvation to the world,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and an understanding king is stability for his people.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v6_25">25</span> Therefore be instructed by my words, and you will profit.</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<section class="footnotes">
|
||
<h4 class="footnotes-title">Notes</h4>
|
||
<ol>
|
||
<li class="note" id="fn6_1" data-kind="footnote"><span class="marker">*</span> <a class="backref" href="#fnref6_1">6:2</a> <span class="ft">Or, <span class="fqa">in the multitudes of your nations</span></span></li>
|
||
</ol>
|
||
</section>
|
||
</section>
|
||
<section class="chapter" id="ch7" data-chapter="7">
|
||
<h2 class="chapter-number">7</h2>
|
||
<div class="poetry">
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v7_1">1</span> I myself am also<a class="noteref" id="fnref7_1" href="#fn7_1"><sup>*</sup></a> mortal, like everyone else,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and am a descendant of one formed first and born of the earth.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v7_2">2</span> I molded into flesh in the time of ten months in my mother’s womb,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">being compacted in blood from the seed of man and pleasure of marriage.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v7_3">3</span> I also, when I was born, drew in the common air,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and fell upon the kindred earth,</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1">uttering, like all, for my first voice, the same cry.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v7_4">4</span> I was nursed with care in swaddling clothes.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v7_5">5</span> For no king had a different beginning,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2"><span class="v" id="v7_6">6</span> but all men have one entrance into life, and a common departure.</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<div class="poetry">
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v7_7">7</span> For this cause I prayed, and understanding was given to me.</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">I asked, and a spirit of wisdom came to me.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v7_8">8</span> I preferred her before sceptres and thrones.</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">I considered riches nothing in comparison to her.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v7_9">9</span> Neither did I liken to her any priceless gem,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">because all gold in her presence is a little sand,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and silver will be considered as clay before her.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v7_10">10</span> I loved her more than health and beauty,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and I chose to have her rather than light,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">because her bright shining is never laid to sleep.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v7_11">11</span> All good things came to me with her,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and innumerable riches are in her hands.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v7_12">12</span> And I rejoiced over them all because wisdom leads them;</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">although I didn’t know that she was their mother.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v7_13">13</span> As I learned without guile, I impart without grudging.</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">I don’t hide her riches.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v7_14">14</span> For she is a treasure for men that doesn’t fail,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and those who use it obtain friendship with God,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">commended by the gifts which they present through discipline.</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<div class="poetry">
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v7_15">15</span> But may God grant that I may speak his judgment,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and to conceive thoughts worthy of what has been given me;</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">because he is one who guides even wisdom and who corrects the wise.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v7_16">16</span> For both we and our words are in his hand,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">with all understanding and skill in various crafts.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v7_17">17</span> For he himself gave me an unerring knowledge of the things that are,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">to know the structure of the universe and the operation of the elements;</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2"><span class="v" id="v7_18">18</span> the beginning, end, and middle of times;</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">the alternations of the solstices and the changes of seasons;</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2"><span class="v" id="v7_19">19</span> the circuits of years and the positions of stars;</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2"><span class="v" id="v7_20">20</span> the natures of living creatures and the raging of wild beasts;</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">the violence of<a class="noteref" id="fnref7_2" href="#fn7_2"><sup>†</sup></a> winds and the thoughts of men;</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">the diversities of plants and the virtues of roots.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v7_21">21</span> All things that are either secret or manifest I learned,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2"><span class="v" id="v7_22">22</span> for wisdom, that is the architect of all things, taught me.</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<div class="poetry">
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1">For there is in her a spirit that is quick to understand, holy,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">unique, manifold, subtle, freely moving, clear in utterance, unpolluted,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">distinct, invulnerable, loving what is good, keen, unhindered,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2"><span class="v" id="v7_23">23</span> beneficent, loving toward man, steadfast, sure, free from care, all-powerful, all-surveying,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and penetrating through all spirits that are quick to understand, pure, most subtle.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v7_24">24</span> For wisdom is more mobile than any motion.</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">Yes, she pervades and penetrates all things by reason of her purity.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v7_25">25</span> For she is a breath of the power of God,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and a pure emanation of the glory of the Almighty.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1">Therefore nothing defiled can find entrance into her.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v7_26">26</span> For she is a reflection of everlasting light,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">an unspotted mirror of the working of God,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and an image of his goodness.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v7_27">27</span> Although she is one, she has power to do all things.</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">Remaining in herself, she renews all things.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1">From generation to generation passing into holy souls,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">she makes friends of God and prophets.</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2"><span class="v" id="v7_28">28</span> For God loves nothing as much as one who dwells with wisdom.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v7_29">29</span> For she is fairer than the sun,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and above all the constellations of the stars.</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">She is better than light.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v7_30">30</span> For daylight yields to night,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">but evil does not prevail against wisdom.</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<section class="footnotes">
|
||
<h4 class="footnotes-title">Notes</h4>
|
||
<ol>
|
||
<li class="note" id="fn7_1" data-kind="footnote"><span class="marker">*</span> <a class="backref" href="#fnref7_1">7:1</a> <span class="ft">Many authorities read <span class="fqa">a mortal man.</span></span></li>
|
||
<li class="note" id="fn7_2" data-kind="footnote"><span class="marker">†</span> <a class="backref" href="#fnref7_2">7:20</a> <span class="ft">Or, <span class="fqa">spirits</span></span></li>
|
||
</ol>
|
||
</section>
|
||
</section>
|
||
<section class="chapter" id="ch8" data-chapter="8">
|
||
<h2 class="chapter-number">8</h2>
|
||
<div class="poetry">
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v8_1">1</span> But she reaches from one end to the other with full strength,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and orders all things well.</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<div class="poetry">
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v8_2">2</span> I loved her and sought her from my youth.</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">I sought to take her for my bride.</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">I became enamoured by her beauty.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v8_3">3</span> She glorifies her noble birth by living with God.</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">The Sovereign Lord of all loves her.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v8_4">4</span> For she is initiated into the knowledge of God,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and she chooses his works.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v8_5">5</span> But if riches are a desired possession in life,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">what is richer than wisdom, which makes all things?</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v8_6">6</span> And if understanding is effective,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">who more than<a class="noteref" id="fnref8_1" href="#fn8_1"><sup>*</sup></a> wisdom is an architect of the things that exist?</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v8_7">7</span> If a man loves righteousness,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">the fruits of wisdom’s labor<a class="noteref" id="fnref8_2" href="#fn8_2"><sup>†</sup></a> are virtues,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">for she teaches soberness, understanding, righteousness, and courage.</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">There is nothing in life more profitable for people than these.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v8_8">8</span> And if anyone longs for wide experience,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">she knows the things of old, and infers the things to come.</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">She understands subtleties of speeches and interpretations of dark sayings.</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">She foresees signs and wonders, and the issues of seasons and times.</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<div class="poetry">
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v8_9">9</span> Therefore I determined to take her to live with me,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">knowing that she is one who would give me good counsel,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and encourage me in cares and grief.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v8_10">10</span> Because of her, I will have glory among multitudes,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and honor in the sight of elders, though I am young.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v8_11">11</span> I will be found keen when I give judgment.</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">I will be admired in the presence of rulers.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v8_12">12</span> When I am silent, they will wait for me.</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">When I open my lips, they will heed what I say.</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">If I continue speaking, they will put their hands on their mouths.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v8_13">13</span> Because of her, I will have immortality,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and leave behind an eternal memory to those who come after me.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v8_14">14</span> I will govern peoples.</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">Nations will be subjected to me.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v8_15">15</span> Dreaded monarchs will fear me when they hear of me.</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">Among the people, I will show myself to be good, and courageous in war.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v8_16">16</span> When I come into my house, I will find rest with her.</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">For conversation with her has no bitterness,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and living with her has no pain, but gladness and joy.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v8_17">17</span> When I considered these things in myself,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and thought in my heart how immortality is in kinship to wisdom,</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v8_18">18</span> and in her friendship is good delight,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and in the labors of her hands is wealth that doesn’t fail,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and understanding is in her companionship,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and great renown in having fellowship with her words,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">I went about seeking how to take her to myself.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v8_19">19</span> Now I was a clever child, and received a good soul.</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2"><span class="v" id="v8_20">20</span> Or rather, being good, I came into an undefiled body.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v8_21">21</span> But perceiving that I could not otherwise possess wisdom unless God gave her to me—</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">yes, and to know and understand by whom the grace is given—</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">I pleaded with the Lord and implored him, and with my whole heart I said:</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<section class="footnotes">
|
||
<h4 class="footnotes-title">Notes</h4>
|
||
<ol>
|
||
<li class="note" id="fn8_1" data-kind="footnote"><span class="marker">*</span> <a class="backref" href="#fnref8_1">8:6</a> <span class="ft">Gr. <span class="fqa">she.</span></span></li>
|
||
<li class="note" id="fn8_2" data-kind="footnote"><span class="marker">†</span> <a class="backref" href="#fnref8_2">8:7</a> <span class="ft">Gr. <span class="fqa">her labors</span></span></li>
|
||
</ol>
|
||
</section>
|
||
</section>
|
||
<section class="chapter" id="ch9" data-chapter="9">
|
||
<h2 class="chapter-number">9</h2>
|
||
<div class="poetry">
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v9_1">1</span> “O God of my ancestors and Lord of mercy,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">who made all things by your word;</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v9_2">2</span> and by your wisdom you formed man,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">that he should have dominion over the creatures that were made by you,</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v9_3">3</span> and rule the world in holiness and righteousness,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and execute judgment in uprightness of soul,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2"><span class="v" id="v9_4">4</span> give me wisdom, her who sits by you on your thrones.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1">Don’t reject me from among your<a class="noteref" id="fnref9_1" href="#fn9_1"><sup>*</sup></a> servants,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2"><span class="v" id="v9_5">5</span> because I am your servant and the son of your handmaid,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">a weak and short-lived man,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">with little power to understand judgment and laws.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v9_6">6</span> For even if a man is perfect among the sons of men,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">if the wisdom that comes from you is not with him, he will count for nothing.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v9_7">7</span> You chose me to be king of your people,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and a judge for your sons and daughters.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v9_8">8</span> You gave a command to build a sanctuary on your holy mountain,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and<a class="noteref" id="fnref9_2" href="#fn9_2"><sup>†</sup></a> an altar in the city where you live,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">a copy of the holy tent which you prepared from the beginning.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v9_9">9</span> Wisdom is with you and knows your works,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and was present when you were making the world,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and understands what is pleasing in your eyes,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and what is right according to your commandments.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v9_10">10</span> Send her from the holy heavens,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and ask her to come from the throne of your glory,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">that being present with me she may work,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and I may learn what pleases you well.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v9_11">11</span> For she knows all things and understands,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and she will guide me prudently in my actions.</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">She will guard me in her glory.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v9_12">12</span> So my works will be acceptible.</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">I will judge your people righteously,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and I will be worthy of my father’s<a class="noteref" id="fnref9_3" href="#fn9_3"><sup>‡</sup></a> throne.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v9_13">13</span> For what man will know the counsel of God?</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">Or who will conceive what the Lord wills?</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v9_14">14</span> For the thoughts of mortals are unstable,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and our plans are prone to fail.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v9_15">15</span> For a corruptible body weighs down the soul.</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">The earthy tent burdens a mind that is full of cares.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v9_16">16</span> We can hardly guess the things that are on earth,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and we find the things that are close at hand with labor;</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">but who has traced out the things that are in the heavens?</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v9_17">17</span> Who gained knowledge of your counsel, unless you gave wisdom,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and sent your holy spirit from on high?</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v9_18">18</span> It was thus that the ways of those who are on earth were corrected,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and men were taught the things that are pleasing to you.</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">They were saved through wisdom.”</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<section class="footnotes">
|
||
<h4 class="footnotes-title">Notes</h4>
|
||
<ol>
|
||
<li class="note" id="fn9_1" data-kind="footnote"><span class="marker">*</span> <a class="backref" href="#fnref9_1">9:4</a> <span class="ft">Or, <span class="fqa">children</span></span></li>
|
||
<li class="note" id="fn9_2" data-kind="footnote"><span class="marker">†</span> <a class="backref" href="#fnref9_2">9:8</a> <span class="ft">Or, <span class="fqa">a place of sacrifice</span></span></li>
|
||
<li class="note" id="fn9_3" data-kind="footnote"><span class="marker">‡</span> <a class="backref" href="#fnref9_3">9:12</a> <span class="ft">Gr. <span class="fqa">thrones.</span></span></li>
|
||
</ol>
|
||
</section>
|
||
</section>
|
||
<section class="chapter" id="ch10" data-chapter="10">
|
||
<h2 class="chapter-number">10</h2>
|
||
<div class="poetry">
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v10_1">1</span> Wisdom<a class="noteref" id="fnref10_1" href="#fn10_1"><sup>*</sup></a> guarded to the end the first formed father of the world, who was created alone,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and delivered him out of his own transgression,</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v10_2">2</span> and gave him strength to rule over all things.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v10_3">3</span> But when an unrighteous man fell away from her in his anger,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">he perished himself in the rage with which he killed his brother.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v10_4">4</span> When for his cause the earth was drowning with a flood,</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1">wisdom again saved it,</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1">guiding the righteous man’s course by a paltry piece of wood.</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<div class="poetry">
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v10_5">5</span> Moreover, when nations consenting together in wickedness had been confounded,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">wisdom<a class="noteref" id="fnref10_2" href="#fn10_2"><sup>†</sup></a> knew the righteous man, and preserved him blameless to God,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and kept him strong when his heart yearned toward his child.</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<div class="poetry">
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v10_6">6</span> While the ungodly were perishing, wisdom<a class="noteref" id="fnref10_3" href="#fn10_3"><sup>‡</sup></a> delivered a righteous man,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">when he fled from the fire that descended out of heaven on the five cities.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v10_7">7</span> To whose wickedness a smoking waste still witnesses,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and plants bearing fair fruit that doesn’t ripen,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">a disbelieving soul has a memorial: a standing pillar of salt.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v10_8">8</span> For having passed wisdom by,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">not only were they disabled from recognising the things which are good,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">but they also left behind them for their life a monument of their folly,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">to the end that where they stumbled, they might fail even to be unseen;</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v10_9">9</span> but wisdom delivered those who waited on her out of troubles.</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<div class="poetry">
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v10_10">10</span> When a righteous man was a fugitive from a brother’s wrath,<a class="noteref" id="fnref10_4" href="#fn10_4"><sup>§</sup></a> wisdom guided him in straight paths.</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">She showed him God’s kingdom, and gave him knowledge of holy things.</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">She prospered him in his toils, and multiplied the fruits of his labor.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v10_11">11</span> When in their covetousness men dealt harshly with him,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">she stood by him and made him rich.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v10_12">12</span> She guarded him from enemies,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and she kept him safe from those who lay in wait.</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">Over his severe conflict, she watched as judge,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">that he might know that godliness is more powerful than every one.</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<div class="poetry">
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v10_13">13</span> When a righteous man was sold,<a class="noteref" id="fnref10_5" href="#fn10_5"><sup>*</sup></a> wisdom didn’t forsake him,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">but she delivered him from sin.</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">She went down with him into a dungeon,</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v10_14">14</span> and in bonds she didn’t depart from him,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">until she brought him the sceptre of a kingdom,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and authority over those that dealt like a tyrant with him.</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">She also showed those who had mockingly accused him to be false,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and gave him eternal glory.</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<div class="poetry">
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v10_15">15</span> Wisdom<a class="noteref" id="fnref10_6" href="#fn10_6"><sup>†</sup></a> delivered a holy people and a blameless seed from a nation of oppressors.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v10_16">16</span> She entered into the soul of a servant of the Lord,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and withstood terrible kings in wonders and signs.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v10_17">17</span> She rendered to holy men a reward of their toils.</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">She guided them along a marvelous way,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and became to them a covering in the day-time,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and a starry flame through the night.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v10_18">18</span> She brought them over the Red sea,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and led them through much water;</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v10_19">19</span> but she drowned their enemies,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and she cast them up from the bottom of the deep.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v10_20">20</span> Therefore the righteous plundered the ungodly,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and they sang praise to your holy name, O Lord,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and extolled with one accord your hand that fought for them,</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v10_21">21</span> because wisdom opened the mouth of the mute,</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1">and made the tongues of babes to speak clearly.</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<section class="footnotes">
|
||
<h4 class="footnotes-title">Notes</h4>
|
||
<ol>
|
||
<li class="note" id="fn10_1" data-kind="footnote"><span class="marker">*</span> <a class="backref" href="#fnref10_1">10:1</a> <span class="ft">Gr. <span class="fqa">She.</span></span></li>
|
||
<li class="note" id="fn10_2" data-kind="footnote"><span class="marker">†</span> <a class="backref" href="#fnref10_2">10:5</a> <span class="ft">Gr. <span class="fqa">she</span></span></li>
|
||
<li class="note" id="fn10_3" data-kind="footnote"><span class="marker">‡</span> <a class="backref" href="#fnref10_3">10:6</a> <span class="ft">Gr. <span class="fqa">she</span></span></li>
|
||
<li class="note" id="fn10_4" data-kind="footnote"><span class="marker">§</span> <a class="backref" href="#fnref10_4">10:10</a> <span class="ft">Gr. <span class="fqa">she.</span></span></li>
|
||
<li class="note" id="fn10_5" data-kind="footnote"><span class="marker">*</span> <a class="backref" href="#fnref10_5">10:13</a> <span class="ft">Gr. <span class="fqa">she.</span></span></li>
|
||
<li class="note" id="fn10_6" data-kind="footnote"><span class="marker">†</span> <a class="backref" href="#fnref10_6">10:15</a> <span class="ft">Gr. <span class="fqa">she.</span></span></li>
|
||
</ol>
|
||
</section>
|
||
</section>
|
||
<section class="chapter" id="ch11" data-chapter="11">
|
||
<h2 class="chapter-number">11</h2>
|
||
<div class="poetry">
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v11_1">1</span> Wisdom prospered their works in the hand of a holy prophet.</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<div class="poetry">
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v11_2">2</span> They traveled through a desert without inhabitant,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and they pitched their tents in trackless regions.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v11_3">3</span> They withstood enemies and repelled foes.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v11_4">4</span> They thirsted, and they called upon you,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and water was given to them out of the<a class="noteref" id="fnref11_1" href="#fn11_1"><sup>*</sup></a> flinty rock,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and healing of their thirst out of the hard stone.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v11_5">5</span> For by what things their foes were punished,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">by these they in their need were benefited.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v11_6">6</span> When enemies were troubled with clotted blood</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">instead of a river’s ever-flowing fountain,</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v11_7">7</span> to rebuke the decree for the slaying of babies,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">you gave them abundant water beyond all hope,</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v11_8">8</span> having shown by the thirst which they had suffered</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">how you punished the adversaries.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v11_9">9</span> For when they were tried, although chastened in mercy,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">they learned how the ungodly were tormented, being judged with wrath.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v11_10">10</span> For you tested these as a father admonishing them;</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">but you searched out those as a stern king condemning them.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v11_11">11</span> Yes and whether they were far off or near,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">they were equally distressed;</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v11_12">12</span> for a double grief seized them,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and a groaning at the memory of things past.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v11_13">13</span> For when they heard that through their own punishments the others benefited,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">they recognized the Lord.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v11_14">14</span> For him who long before was thrown out and exposed they stopped mocking.</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">In the end of what happened, they marveled,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">having thirsted in another manner than the righteous.</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<div class="poetry">
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v11_15">15</span> But in return for the senseless imaginings of their unrighteousness,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">wherein they were led astray to worship irrational reptiles and wretched vermin,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">you sent upon them a multitude of irrational creatures to punish them,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2"><span class="v" id="v11_16">16</span> that they might learn that by what things a man sins, by these he is punished.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v11_17">17</span> For your all-powerful hand</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">that created the world out of formless matter</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">didn’t lack means to send upon them a multitude of bears, fierce lions,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2"><span class="v" id="v11_18">18</span> or newly-created and unknown wild beasts, full of rage,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">either breathing out a blast of fiery breath,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">or belching out smoke,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">or flashing dreadful sparks from their eyes;</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v11_19">19</span> which had power not only to consume them by their violence,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">but to destroy them even by the terror of their sight.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v11_20">20</span> Yes and without these they might have fallen by a single breath,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">being pursued by Justice, and scattered abroad by the breath of your power;</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">but you arranged all things by measure, number, and weight.</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<div class="poetry">
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v11_21">21</span> For to be greatly strong is yours at all times.</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">Who could withstand the might of your arm?</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v11_22">22</span> Because the whole world before you is as a grain in a balance,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and as a drop of dew that comes down upon the earth in the morning.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v11_23">23</span> But you have mercy on all men, because you have power to do all things,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and you overlook the sins of men to the end that they may repent.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v11_24">24</span> For you love all things that are,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and abhor none of the things which you made;</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">For you never would have formed anything if you hated it.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v11_25">25</span> How would anything have endured unless you had willed it?</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">Or that which was not called by you, how would it have been preserved?</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v11_26">26</span> But you spare all things, because they are yours,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">O Sovereign Lord, you who love the living.</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<section class="footnotes">
|
||
<h4 class="footnotes-title">Notes</h4>
|
||
<ol>
|
||
<li class="note" id="fn11_1" data-kind="footnote"><span class="marker">*</span> <a class="backref" href="#fnref11_1">11:4</a> <span class="ft">See <a class="ref" href="DEU#v8_15">Deuteronomy 8:15</a>; <a class="ref" href="PSA#v114_8">Psalms 114:8</a>.</span></li>
|
||
</ol>
|
||
</section>
|
||
</section>
|
||
<section class="chapter" id="ch12" data-chapter="12">
|
||
<h2 class="chapter-number">12</h2>
|
||
<div class="poetry">
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v12_1">1</span> For your incorruptible spirit is in all things.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v12_2">2</span> Therefore you convict little by little those who fall from the right way,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and, putting them in remembrance by the things wherein they sin, you admonish them,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">that escaping from their wickedness they may believe in you, O Lord.</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<div class="poetry">
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v12_3">3</span> For truly the old inhabitants of your holy land,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2"><span class="v" id="v12_4">4</span> hating them because they practiced detestable works of enchantments and unholy rites—</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2"><span class="v" id="v12_5">5</span> merciless slaughters of children</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and sacrificial banquets of men’s flesh and of blood—</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2"><span class="v" id="v12_6">6</span> allies in an impious fellowship,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and murderers of their own helpless babes,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">it was your counsel to destroy by the hands of our fathers;</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2"><span class="v" id="v12_7">7</span> that the land which in your sight is most precious of all</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">might receive a worthy colony of God’s servants.<a class="noteref" id="fnref12_1" href="#fn12_1"><sup>*</sup></a></p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v12_8">8</span> Nevertheless you even spared these as men,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and you sent hornets<a class="noteref" id="fnref12_2" href="#fn12_2"><sup>†</sup></a> as forerunners of your army,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">to cause them to perish little by little.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v12_9">9</span> Not that you were unable to subdue the ungodly under the hand of the righteous in battle,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">or by terrible beasts or by a stern word to make away with them at once,</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v12_10">10</span> but judging them little by little you gave them a chance to repent,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">not being ignorant that their nature by birth was evil,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">their wickedness inborn,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and that their manner of thought would never be changed.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v12_11">11</span> For they were a cursed seed from the beginning.</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">It wasn’t through fear of any that you left them unpunished for their sins.</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<div class="poetry">
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v12_12">12</span> For who will say, “What have you done?”</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">Or “Who will withstand your judgment?”</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1">Who will accuse you for the perishing of nations which you caused?</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">Or who will come and stand before you as an avenger for unrighteous men?</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v12_13">13</span> For there isn’t any God beside you that cares for all,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">that you might show that you didn’t judge unrighteously.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v12_14">14</span> No king or prince will be able to confront you</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">about those whom you have punished.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v12_15">15</span> But being righteous, you rule all things righteously,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">deeming it a thing alien from your power</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">to condemn one who doesn’t deserve to be punished.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v12_16">16</span> For your strength is the source of righteousness,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and your sovereignty over all makes you to forbear all.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v12_17">17</span> For when men don’t believe that you are perfect in power, you show your strength,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and in dealing with those who think this, you confuse their boldness.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v12_18">18</span> But you, being sovereign in strength, judge in gentleness,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and with great forbearance you govern us;</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">for the power is yours whenever you desire it.</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<div class="poetry">
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v12_19">19</span> But you taught your people by such works as these,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">how the righteous must be kind.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1">You made your sons to have good hope,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">because you give repentance when men have sinned.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v12_20">20</span> For if on those who were enemies of your servants<a class="noteref" id="fnref12_3" href="#fn12_3"><sup>‡</sup></a> and deserving of death,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">you took vengeance with so great deliberation and indulgence,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">giving them times and opportunities when they might escape from their wickedness,</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v12_21">21</span> with how great care you judged your sons,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">to whose fathers you gave oaths and covenants of good promises!</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v12_22">22</span> Therefore while you chasten us, you scourge our enemies ten thousand times more,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">to the intent that we may ponder your goodness when we judge,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and when we are judged may look for mercy.</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<div class="poetry">
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v12_23">23</span> Therefore also the unrighteous that lived in a life of folly,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">you tormented through their own abominations.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v12_24">24</span> For truly they went astray very far in the ways of error,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">Taking as gods those animals<a class="noteref" id="fnref12_4" href="#fn12_4"><sup>§</sup></a> which even among their enemies were held in dishonor,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">deceived like foolish babes.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v12_25">25</span> Therefore, as to unreasoning children, you sent your judgment to mock them.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v12_26">26</span> But those who would not be admonished by mild correction</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">will experience the deserved judgment of God.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v12_27">27</span> For through the sufferings they were indignant of,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">being punished in these creatures which they supposed to be gods,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">they saw and recognized as the true God him whom they previously refused to know.</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">Therefore also the result of extreme condemnation came upon them.</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<section class="footnotes">
|
||
<h4 class="footnotes-title">Notes</h4>
|
||
<ol>
|
||
<li class="note" id="fn12_1" data-kind="footnote"><span class="marker">*</span> <a class="backref" href="#fnref12_1">12:7</a> <span class="ft">Or, <span class="fqa">children</span></span></li>
|
||
<li class="note" id="fn12_2" data-kind="footnote"><span class="marker">†</span> <a class="backref" href="#fnref12_2">12:8</a> <span class="ft">Or, <span class="fqa">wasps</span></span></li>
|
||
<li class="note" id="fn12_3" data-kind="footnote"><span class="marker">‡</span> <a class="backref" href="#fnref12_3">12:20</a> <span class="ft">Or, <span class="fqa">children</span></span></li>
|
||
<li class="note" id="fn12_4" data-kind="footnote"><span class="marker">§</span> <a class="backref" href="#fnref12_4">12:24</a> <span class="ft">Gr. <span class="fqa">living creatures: </span>and so elsewhere in this book.</span></li>
|
||
</ol>
|
||
</section>
|
||
</section>
|
||
<section class="chapter" id="ch13" data-chapter="13">
|
||
<h2 class="chapter-number">13</h2>
|
||
<div class="poetry">
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v13_1">1</span> For truly all men who had no perception of God were foolish by nature,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and didn’t gain power to know him who exists from the good things that are seen.</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">They didn’t recognize the architect from his works.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v13_2">2</span> But they thought that either fire, or wind, or swift air,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">or circling stars, or raging water, or luminaries of heaven</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">were gods that rule the world.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v13_3">3</span> If it was through delight in their beauty that they took them to be gods,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">let them know how much better their Sovereign Lord is than these,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">for the first author of beauty created them.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v13_4">4</span> But if it was through astonishment at their power and influence,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">then let them understand from them how much more powerful he who formed them is.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v13_5">5</span> For from the greatness of the beauty of created things,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">mankind forms the corresponding perception of their Maker.<a class="noteref" id="fnref13_1" href="#fn13_1"><sup>*</sup></a></p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v13_6">6</span> But yet for these men there is but small blame,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">for they too perhaps go astray</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">while they are seeking God and desiring to find him.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v13_7">7</span> For they diligently search while living among his works,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and they trust their sight that the things that they look at are beautiful.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v13_8">8</span> But again even they are not to be excused.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v13_9">9</span> For if they had power to know so much,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">that they should be able to explore the world,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">how is it that they didn’t find the Sovereign Lord sooner?</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<div class="poetry">
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v13_10">10</span> But they were miserable, and their hopes were in dead things,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">who called them gods which are works of men’s hands,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">gold and silver, skillfully made, and likenesses of animals,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">or a useless stone, the work of an ancient hand.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v13_11">11</span> Yes and some<a class="noteref" id="fnref13_2" href="#fn13_2"><sup>†</sup></a> woodcutter might saw down a tree that is easily moved,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">skillfully strip away all its bark,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and fashion it in attractive form, make a useful vessel to serve his life’s needs.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v13_12">12</span> Burning the scraps from his handiwork to cook his food,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">he eats his fill.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v13_13">13</span> Taking a discarded scrap which served no purpose,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">a crooked piece of wood and full of knots,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">he carves it with the diligence of his idleness,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and shapes it by the skill of his idleness.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1">He shapes it in the image of a man,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2"><span class="v" id="v13_14">14</span> or makes it like some worthless animal,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">smearing it with something red, painting it red,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and smearing over every stain in it.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v13_15">15</span> Having made a worthy chamber for it,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">he sets it in a wall, securing it with iron.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v13_16">16</span> He plans for it that it may not fall down,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">knowing that it is unable to help itself</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">(for truly it is an image, and needs help).</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v13_17">17</span> When he makes his prayer concerning goods and his marriage and children,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">he is not ashamed to speak to that which has no life.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v13_18">18</span> Yes, for health, he calls upon that which is weak.</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">For life, he implores that which is dead.</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">For aid, he supplicates that which has no experience.</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">For a good journey, he asks that which can’t so much as move a step.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v13_19">19</span> And for profit in business and good success of his hands,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">he asks ability from that which has hands with no ability.</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<section class="footnotes">
|
||
<h4 class="footnotes-title">Notes</h4>
|
||
<ol>
|
||
<li class="note" id="fn13_1" data-kind="footnote"><span class="marker">*</span> <a class="backref" href="#fnref13_1">13:5</a> <span class="ft">Gr. <span class="fqa">is the first maker of them seen.</span></span></li>
|
||
<li class="note" id="fn13_2" data-kind="footnote"><span class="marker">†</span> <a class="backref" href="#fnref13_2">13:11</a> <span class="ft">Gr. <span class="fqa">carpenter who is a woodcutter.</span></span></li>
|
||
</ol>
|
||
</section>
|
||
</section>
|
||
<section class="chapter" id="ch14" data-chapter="14">
|
||
<h2 class="chapter-number">14</h2>
|
||
<div class="poetry">
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v14_1">1</span> Again, one preparing to sail, and about to journey over raging waves,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">calls upon a piece of wood more fragile than the vessel that carries him.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v14_2">2</span> For the hunger for profit planned it,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and wisdom was the craftsman who built it.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v14_3">3</span> Your providence, O Father, guides it along,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">because even in the sea you gave a way,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and in the waves a sure path,</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v14_4">4</span> showing that you can save out of every danger,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">that even a man without skill may put to sea.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v14_5">5</span> It is your will that the works of your wisdom should not be ineffective.</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">Therefore men also entrust their lives to a little piece of wood,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and passing through the surge on a raft come safely to land.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v14_6">6</span> For<a class="noteref" id="fnref14_1" href="#fn14_1"><sup>*</sup></a> in the old time also, when proud giants were perishing,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">the hope of the world, taking refuge on a raft,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">your hand guided the seed of generations of the race of men.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v14_7">7</span> For blessed is wood through which comes righteousness;</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2"><span class="v" id="v14_8">8</span> but the idol made with hands is accursed, itself and he that made it;</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">because his was the working, and the corruptible thing was called a god.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v14_9">9</span> For both the ungodly and his ungodliness are alike hateful to God;</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2"><span class="v" id="v14_10">10</span> for truly the deed will be punished together with him who committed it.</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2"><span class="v" id="v14_11">11</span> Therefore also there will be a visitation among the idols of the nation,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">because, though formed of things which God created, they were made an abomination,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">stumbling blocks to the souls of men,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and a snare to the feet of the foolish.</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<div class="poetry">
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v14_12">12</span> For the devising of idols was the beginning of fornication,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and the invention of them the corruption of life.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v14_13">13</span> For they didn’t exist from the beginning, and they won’t exist forever.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v14_14">14</span> For by the boastfulness of men they entered into the world,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and therefore a speedy end was planned for them.</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<div class="poetry">
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v14_15">15</span> For a father worn with untimely grief,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">making an image of the child quickly taken away,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">now honored him as a god which was then a dead human being,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and delivered to those that were under him mysteries and solemn rites.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v14_16">16</span> Afterward the ungodly custom, in process of time grown strong, was kept as a law,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and the engraved images received worship by the commandments of princes.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v14_17">17</span> And when men could not honor them in presence because they lived far off,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">imagining the likeness from afar,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">they made a visible image of the king whom they honored,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">that by their zeal they might flatter the absent as if present.</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<div class="poetry">
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v14_18">18</span> But worship was raised to a yet higher pitch, even by those who didn’t know him,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">urged forward by the ambition of the architect;</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v14_19">19</span> for he, wishing perhaps to please his ruler,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">used his art to force the likeness toward a greater beauty.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v14_20">20</span> So the multitude, allured by reason of the grace of his handiwork,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">now consider an object of devotion him that a little before was honored as a man.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v14_21">21</span> And this became an ambush,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">because men, in bondage either to calamity or to tyranny,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">invested stones and stocks with the Name that shouldn’t be shared.</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<div class="poetry">
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v14_22">22</span> Afterward it was not enough for them to go astray concerning the knowledge of God,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">but also, while they live in a great war of ignorance, they call a multitude of evils peace.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v14_23">23</span> For either slaughtering children in solemn rites, or celebrating secret mysteries,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">or holding frenzied revels of strange customs,</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v14_24">24</span> no longer do they guard either life or purity of marriage,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">but one brings upon another either death by treachery, or anguish by adultery.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v14_25">25</span> And all things confusedly are filled with blood and murder, theft and deceit,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">corruption, faithlessness, tumult, perjury,</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v14_26">26</span> confusion about what is good, forgetfulness of favors,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">ingratitude for benefits,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">defiling of souls, confusion of sex,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">disorder in marriage, adultery and wantonness.</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2"><span class="v" id="v14_27">27</span> For the worship of idols that may not be named <a class="noteref" id="fnref14_2" href="#fn14_2"><sup>✡︎</sup></a></p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">is a beginning and cause and end of every evil.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v14_28">28</span> For their worshipers either make merry to madness, or prophesy lies,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">or live unrighteously, or lightly commit perjury.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v14_29">29</span> For putting their trust in lifeless idols,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">when they have sworn a wicked oath, they expect not to suffer harm.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v14_30">30</span> But on both counts, the just doom will pursue them,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">because they had evil thoughts of God by giving heed to idols,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and swore unrighteously in deceit through contempt for holiness.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v14_31">31</span> For it is not the power of things by which men swear,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">but it is the just penalty for those who sin</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">that always visits the transgression of the unrighteous.</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<section class="footnotes">
|
||
<h4 class="footnotes-title">Notes</h4>
|
||
<ol>
|
||
<li class="note" id="fn14_1" data-kind="footnote"><span class="marker">*</span> <a class="backref" href="#fnref14_1">14:6</a> <span class="ft">The Greek text here may be corrupt.</span></li>
|
||
<li class="note" id="fn14_2" data-kind="xref"><span class="marker">✡︎</span> <a class="backref" href="#fnref14_2">14:27</a> <span class="ft"><span class="xt"><a class="ref" href="EXO#v23_13">Exodus 23:13</a>; <a class="ref" href="PSA#v16_4">Psalms 16:4</a>; <a class="ref" href="HOS#v2_17">Hosea 2:17</a>; <a class="ref" href="#v14_21">Wisdom 14:21</a></span></span></li>
|
||
</ol>
|
||
</section>
|
||
</section>
|
||
<section class="chapter" id="ch15" data-chapter="15">
|
||
<h2 class="chapter-number">15</h2>
|
||
<div class="poetry">
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v15_1">1</span> But you, our God, are gracious and true,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">patient, and in mercy ordering all things.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v15_2">2</span> For even if we sin, we are yours, knowing your dominion;</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">but we will not sin, knowing that we have been accounted yours.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v15_3">3</span> For to be acquainted with you is<a class="noteref" id="fnref15_1" href="#fn15_1"><sup>*</sup></a> perfect righteousness,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and to know your dominion is the root of immortality.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v15_4">4</span> For we weren’t led astray by any evil plan of men’s,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">nor yet by painters’ fruitless labor,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">a form stained with varied colors,</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v15_5">5</span> the sight of which leads fools into<a class="noteref" id="fnref15_2" href="#fn15_2"><sup>†</sup></a> lust.</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">Their desire is for the breathless form of a dead image.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v15_6">6</span> Lovers of evil things, and worthy of such hopes,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">are those who make, desire, and worship them.</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<div class="poetry">
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v15_7">7</span> For a potter, kneading soft earth,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">laboriously molds each article for our service.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1">He fashions out of the same clay</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">both the vessels that minister to clean uses, and those of a contrary sort,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">all in like manner.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1">What shall be the use of each article of either sort,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">the potter is the judge.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v15_8">8</span> Also, laboring to an evil end, he molds a vain god out of the same clay,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">he who, having but a little before been made of earth,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">after a short space goes his way to the earth out of which he was taken,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">when he is required to give back the<a class="noteref" id="fnref15_3" href="#fn15_3"><sup>‡</sup></a> soul which was lent him.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v15_9">9</span> However he has anxious care,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">not because his powers must fail,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">nor because his span of life is short;</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1">But he compares himself with goldsmiths and silversmiths,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and he imitates molders in<a class="noteref" id="fnref15_4" href="#fn15_4"><sup>§</sup></a> brass,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and considers it great that he molds counterfeit gods.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v15_10">10</span> His heart is ashes.</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">His hope is of less value than earth.</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">His life is of less honor than clay,</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v15_11">11</span> because he was ignorant of him who molded him,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and of him that inspired into him<a class="noteref" id="fnref15_5" href="#fn15_5"><sup>*</sup></a> an active<a class="noteref" id="fnref15_6" href="#fn15_6"><sup>†</sup></a> soul,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and breathed into him a vital spirit.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v15_12">12</span> But<a class="noteref" id="fnref15_7" href="#fn15_7"><sup>‡</sup></a> he accounted our life to be a game,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and our<a class="noteref" id="fnref15_8" href="#fn15_8"><sup>§</sup></a> lifetime a festival for profit;</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1">for, he says, one must get gain however one can, even if it is by evil.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v15_13">13</span> For this man, beyond all others, knows that he sins,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">out of earthy matter making brittle vessels and engraved images.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v15_14">14</span> But most foolish and more miserable than a baby,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">are the enemies of your people, who oppressed them;</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v15_15">15</span> because they even considered all the idols of the nations to be gods,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">which have neither the use of eyes for seeing,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">nor nostrils for drawing breath,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">nor ears to hear,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">nor fingers for handling,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and their feet are helpless for walking.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v15_16">16</span> For a man made them,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and one whose own spirit is borrowed molded them;</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">for no one has power as a man to mold a god like himself.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v15_17">17</span> But, being mortal, he makes a dead thing by the work of lawless hands;</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">for he is better than the objects of his worship,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">since he indeed had life, but they never did.</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<div class="poetry">
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v15_18">18</span> Yes, and they worship the creatures that are most hateful,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">for, being compared as to lack of sense, these are worse than all others;</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v15_19">19</span> Neither, as seen beside other creatures, are they beautiful, so that one should desire them,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">but they have escaped both the praise of God and his blessing.</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<section class="footnotes">
|
||
<h4 class="footnotes-title">Notes</h4>
|
||
<ol>
|
||
<li class="note" id="fn15_1" data-kind="footnote"><span class="marker">*</span> <a class="backref" href="#fnref15_1">15:3</a> <span class="ft">Gr. <span class="fqa">entire.</span></span></li>
|
||
<li class="note" id="fn15_2" data-kind="footnote"><span class="marker">†</span> <a class="backref" href="#fnref15_2">15:5</a> <span class="ft">Some authorities read <span class="fqa">reproach.</span></span></li>
|
||
<li class="note" id="fn15_3" data-kind="footnote"><span class="marker">‡</span> <a class="backref" href="#fnref15_3">15:8</a> <span class="ft">Or, <span class="fqa">life</span></span></li>
|
||
<li class="note" id="fn15_4" data-kind="footnote"><span class="marker">§</span> <a class="backref" href="#fnref15_4">15:9</a> <span class="ft">Or, <span class="fqa">copper</span></span></li>
|
||
<li class="note" id="fn15_5" data-kind="footnote"><span class="marker">*</span> <a class="backref" href="#fnref15_5">15:11</a> <span class="ft">Gr. <span class="fqa">a soul that moves to activity.</span></span></li>
|
||
<li class="note" id="fn15_6" data-kind="footnote"><span class="marker">†</span> <a class="backref" href="#fnref15_6">15:11</a> <span class="ft">Or, <span class="fqa">life</span></span></li>
|
||
<li class="note" id="fn15_7" data-kind="footnote"><span class="marker">‡</span> <a class="backref" href="#fnref15_7">15:12</a> <span class="ft">Some authorities read <span class="fqa">they accounted.</span></span></li>
|
||
<li class="note" id="fn15_8" data-kind="footnote"><span class="marker">§</span> <a class="backref" href="#fnref15_8">15:12</a> <span class="ft">Or, <span class="fqa">way of life</span></span></li>
|
||
</ol>
|
||
</section>
|
||
</section>
|
||
<section class="chapter" id="ch16" data-chapter="16">
|
||
<h2 class="chapter-number">16</h2>
|
||
<div class="poetry">
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v16_1">1</span> For this cause, they were deservedly punished through creatures like those which they worship,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and tormented through a multitude of vermin.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v16_2">2</span> Instead of this punishment, you, giving benefits to your people,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">prepared quails for food,</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1">a delicacy to satisfy the desire of their appetite,</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v16_3">3</span> to the end that your enemies, desiring food,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">might for the hideousness of the creatures sent among them,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">loathe even the necessary appetite;</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1">but these, your people, having for a short time suffered lack,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">might even partake of delicacies.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v16_4">4</span> For it was necessary that inescapable lack should come upon those oppressors,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">but that to these it should only be showed how their enemies were tormented.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v16_5">5</span> For even when terrible raging of wild beasts came upon your people,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and they were perishing by the bites of crooked serpents,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">your wrath didn’t continue to the uttermost;</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v16_6">6</span> but for admonition were they troubled for a short time,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">having a token of salvation</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">to put them in remembrance of the commandment of your law;</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<div class="poetry">
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v16_7">7</span> for he who turned toward it was not saved because of that which was seen,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">but because of you, the Savior of all.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v16_8">8</span> Yes, and in this you persuaded our enemies</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">that you are he who delivers out of every evil.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v16_9">9</span> For the bites of locusts and flies truly killed them.</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">No healing for their life was found,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">because they were worthy to be punished by such things.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v16_10">10</span> But your children weren’t overcome by the very fangs of venomous dragons,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">for your mercy passed by where they were and healed them.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v16_11">11</span> For they were bitten to put them in remembrance of your oracles,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and were quickly saved, lest, falling into deep forgetfulness,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">they should become unable to respond to your kindness.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v16_12">12</span> For truly it was neither herb nor poultice that cured them,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">but your word, O Lord, which heals all people.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v16_13">13</span> For you have authority over life and death,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and you lead down to the gates of Hades, and lead up again.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v16_14">14</span> But though a man kills by his wickedness,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">he can’t retrieve the spirit that has departed</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">or release the imprisoned soul.</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<div class="poetry">
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v16_15">15</span> But it is not possible to escape your hand;</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v16_16">16</span> for ungodly men, refusing to know you, were scourged in the strength of your arm,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">pursued with strange rains and hails and relentless storms,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and utterly consumed with fire.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v16_17">17</span> For, what was most marvelous,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">in the water which quenches all things, the fire burned hotter;</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">for the world fights for the righteous.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v16_18">18</span> For at one time the flame was restrained,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">that it might not burn up the creatures sent against the ungodly,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">but that these themselves as they looked might see that they were chased by the judgment of God.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v16_19">19</span> At another time even in the midst of water it burns more intensely than fire,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">that it may destroy the produce of an unrighteous land.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v16_20">20</span> Instead of these things, you gave your people angels’ food to eat,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and you provided ready-to-eat bread for them from heaven without toil,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">having the virtue of every pleasant flavor,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and agreeable to every taste.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v16_21">21</span> For your nature showed your sweetness toward your children,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">while that bread, serving the desire of the eater,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">changed itself according to every man’s choice.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v16_22">22</span> But snow and ice endured fire, and didn’t melt,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">that people might know that fire was destroying the fruits of the enemies,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">burning in the hail and flashing in the rains;</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v16_23">23</span> and that this fire, again, in order that righteous people may be nourished,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">has even forgotten its own power.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v16_24">24</span> For the creation, ministering to you, its maker,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">strains its force against the unrighteous for punishment</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and in kindness, slackens it on behalf of those who trust in you.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v16_25">25</span> Therefore at that time also, converting itself into all forms,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">it ministered to your all-nourishing bounty,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">according to the desire of those who had need,</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v16_26">26</span> that your children, whom you loved, O Lord, might learn</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">that it is not the growth of crops that nourishes a man,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">but that your word preserves those who trust you.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v16_27">27</span> For that which was not destroyed by fire,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">melted away when it was simply warmed by a faint sunbeam,</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v16_28">28</span> that it might be known that we must rise before the sun to give you thanks,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and must pray to you at the dawning of the light;</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v16_29">29</span> for the hope of the unthankful will melt as the winter’s hoar frost,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and will flow away as water that has no use.</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
</section>
|
||
<section class="chapter" id="ch17" data-chapter="17">
|
||
<h2 class="chapter-number">17</h2>
|
||
<div class="poetry">
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v17_1">1</span> For your judgments are great, and hard to interpret;</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">therefore undisciplined souls went astray.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v17_2">2</span> For when lawless men had supposed that they held a holy nation in their power,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">they, prisoners of darkness, and bound in the fetters of a long night,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">kept close beneath their roofs,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">lay exiled from the eternal providence.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v17_3">3</span> For while they thought that they were unseen in their secret sins,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">they were divided from one another by a dark curtain of forgetfulness,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">stricken with terrible awe, and very troubled by apparitions.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v17_4">4</span> For neither did the dark recesses that held them guard them from fears,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">but terrifying sounds rang around them,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and dismal phantoms appeared with unsmiling faces.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v17_5">5</span> And no power of fire prevailed to give light,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">neither were the brightest flames of the stars strong enough to illuminate that gloomy night;</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v17_6">6</span> but only the glimmering of a self-kindled fire appeared to them, full of fear.</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">In terror, they considered the things which they saw</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">to be worse than that sight, on which they could not gaze.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v17_7">7</span> The mockeries of their magic arts were powerless, now,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and a shameful rebuke of their boasted understanding:</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v17_8">8</span> For those who promised to drive away terrors and disorders from a sick soul,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">these were sick with a ludicrous fearfulness.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v17_9">9</span> For even if no troubling thing frighted them,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">yet, scared with the creeping of vermin and hissing of serpents,</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v17_10">10</span> they perished trembling in fear,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">refusing even to look at the air, which could not be escaped on any side.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v17_11">11</span> For wickedness, condemned by a witness within, is a coward thing,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and, being pressed hard by conscience, always has added forecasts of the worst.</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2"><span class="v" id="v17_12">12</span> For fear is nothing else but a surrender of the help which reason offers;</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2"><span class="v" id="v17_13">13</span> and from within, the expectation of being less</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">prefers ignorance of the cause that brings the torment.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v17_14">14</span> But they, all through the night which was powerless indeed,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and which came upon them out of the recesses of powerless Hades,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">sleeping the same sleep,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2"><span class="v" id="v17_15">15</span> now were haunted by monstrous apparitions,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and now were paralyzed by their soul’s surrendering;</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">for sudden and unexpected fear came upon them.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v17_16">16</span> So then whoever it might be, sinking down in his place,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">was kept captive, shut up in that prison which was not barred with iron;</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v17_17">17</span> for whether he was a farmer, or a shepherd,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">or a laborer whose toils were in the wilderness,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">he was overtaken, and endured that inescapable sentence;</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">for they were all bound with one chain of darkness.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v17_18">18</span> Whether there was a whistling wind,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">or a melodious sound of birds among the spreading branches,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">or a measured fall of water running violently,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2"><span class="v" id="v17_19">19</span> or a harsh crashing of rocks hurled down,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">or the swift course of animals bounding along unseen,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">or the voice of wild beasts harshly roaring,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">or an echo rebounding from the hollows of the mountains,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">all these things paralyzed them with terror.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v17_20">20</span> For the whole world was illuminated with clear light,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and was occupied with unhindered works,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2"><span class="v" id="v17_21">21</span> while over them alone was spread a heavy night,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">an image of the darkness that should afterward receive them;</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">but to themselves, they were heavier than darkness.</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
</section>
|
||
<section class="chapter" id="ch18" data-chapter="18">
|
||
<h2 class="chapter-number">18</h2>
|
||
<div class="poetry">
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v18_1">1</span> But for your holy ones there was great light.</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">Their enemies, hearing their voice but not seeing their form,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">counted it a happy thing that they too had suffered,</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v18_2">2</span> yet for that they do not hurt them, though wronged by them before, they are thankful;</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and because they had been at variance with them, they begged for pardon.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v18_3">3</span> Therefore you provided a burning pillar of fire,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">to be a guide for your people’s unknown journey,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and a harmless sun for their glorious exile.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v18_4">4</span> For the Egyptians well deserved to be deprived of light and imprisoned by darkness,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">they who had imprisoned your children,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">through whom the incorruptible light of the law was to be given to the race of men.</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<div class="poetry">
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v18_5">5</span> After they had taken counsel to kill the babes of the holy ones,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and when a single child had been abandoned and saved to convict them of their sin,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">you took away from them their multitude of children,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and destroyed all their army together in a mighty flood.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v18_6">6</span> Our fathers were made aware of that night beforehand,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">that, having sure knowledge, they might be cheered by the oaths which they had trusted.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v18_7">7</span> Salvation of the righteous and destruction of the enemies was expected by your people.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v18_8">8</span> For as you took vengeance on the adversaries,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">by the same means, calling us to yourself, you glorified us.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v18_9">9</span> For holy children of good men offered sacrifice in secret,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and with one consent they agreed to the covenant of the divine law,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">that they would partake alike in the same good things and the same perils,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">the fathers already leading the sacred songs of praise.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v18_10">10</span> But the discordant cry of the enemies echoed back,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and a pitiful voice of lamentation for children was spread abroad.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v18_11">11</span> Both servant and master were punished with the same just doom,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and the commoner suffering the same as king;</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v18_12">12</span> Yes, they all together, under one form of death,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">had corpses without number.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1">For the living were not sufficient even to bury them,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">Since at a single stroke, their most cherished offspring was consumed.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v18_13">13</span> For while they were disbelieving all things by reason of the enchantments,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">upon the destruction of the firstborn they confessed the people to be God’s children.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v18_14">14</span> For while peaceful silence wrapped all things,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and night in her own swiftness was half spent,</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v18_15">15</span> your all-powerful word leaped from heaven, from the royal throne,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">a stern warrior, into the midst of the doomed land,</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v18_16">16</span> bearing as a sharp sword your authentic commandment,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and standing, it filled all things with death,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and while it touched the sky it stood upon the earth.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v18_17">17</span> Then immediately apparitions in dreams terribly troubled them,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and unexpected fears came upon them.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v18_18">18</span> And each, one thrown here half dead, another there,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">made known why he was dying;</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v18_19">19</span> for the dreams, disturbing them, forewarned them of this,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">that they might not perish without knowing why they were afflicted.</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<div class="poetry">
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v18_20">20</span> The experience of death also touched the righteous,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and a multitude were destroyed in the wilderness,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">but the wrath didn’t last long.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v18_21">21</span> For a blameless man hurried to be their champion,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">bringing the weapon of his own ministry,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">prayer, and the atoning sacrifice of incense.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1">He withstood the indignation and set an end to the calamity,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">showing that he was your servant.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v18_22">22</span> And he overcame the anger,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">not by strength of body, not by force of weapons,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">but by his word, he subdued the avenger</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">by bringing to remembrance oaths and covenants made with the fathers.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v18_23">23</span> For when the dead had already fallen in heaps one upon another,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">he intervened and stopped the wrath,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and cut off its way to the living.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v18_24">24</span> For the whole world was pictured on his long robe,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and the glories of the fathers were upon the engraving of the four rows of precious stones,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and your majesty was upon the diadem on his head.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v18_25">25</span> The destroyer yielded to these, and they feared;</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">for it was enough only to test the wrath.</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
</section>
|
||
<section class="chapter" id="ch19" data-chapter="19">
|
||
<h2 class="chapter-number">19</h2>
|
||
<div class="poetry">
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v19_1">1</span> But indignation without mercy came upon the ungodly to the end;</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">for God also foreknew their future,</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v19_2">2</span> how, having changed their minds to let your people go,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and having sped them eagerly on their way,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">they would change their minds and pursue them.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v19_3">3</span> For while they were yet in the midst of their mourning,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and lamenting at the graves of the dead,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">they made another foolish decision,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and pursued as fugitives those whom they had begged to leave and driven out.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v19_4">4</span> For the doom which they deserved was drawing them to this end,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and it made them forget the things that had happened to them,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">that they might fill up the punishment which was yet lacking from their torments,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2"><span class="v" id="v19_5">5</span> and that your people might journey on by a marvelous road,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">but they themselves might find a strange death.</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<div class="poetry">
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v19_6">6</span> For the whole creation, each part in its diverse kind, was made new again,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">complying with your commandments,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">that your servants might be kept unharmed.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v19_7">7</span> Then the cloud that overshadowed the camp was seen,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and dry land rising up out of what had been water,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">out of the Red sea an unhindered highway,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and a grassy plain out of the violent surge,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2"><span class="v" id="v19_8">8</span> by which they passed over with all their army,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">these who were covered with your hand,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">having seen strange marvels.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v19_9">9</span> For like horses they roamed at large,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and they skipped about like lambs,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">praising you, O Lord, who was their deliverer.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v19_10">10</span> For they still remembered the things that happened in the time of their sojourning,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">how instead of bearing cattle, the land brought forth lice,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and instead of fish, the river spewed out a multitude of frogs.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v19_11">11</span> But afterwards, they also saw a new kind of birds,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">when, led on by desire, they asked for luxurious dainties;</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v19_12">12</span> for, to comfort them, quails came up for them from the sea.</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<div class="poetry">
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v19_13">13</span> Punishments came upon the sinners,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">not without the signs that were given beforehand by the violence of the thunder,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">for they justly suffered through their own wickednesses,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">for the hatred which they practiced toward guests was grievous indeed.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v19_14">14</span> For while the others didn’t receive the strangers when they came to them,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">the Egyptians made slaves of guests who were their benefactors.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v19_15">15</span> And not only so, but while punishment of some sort will come upon the former,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">since they received as enemies those who were aliens;</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2"><span class="v" id="v19_16">16</span> because these first welcomed with feastings,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and then afflicted with dreadful toils,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">those who had already shared with them in the same rights.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v19_17">17</span> And moreover they were stricken with loss of sight</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">(even as were those others at the righteous man’s doors),</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">when, being surrounded with yawning darkness,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">they each looked for the passage through his own door.</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<div class="poetry">
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v19_18">18</span> For as the notes of a lute vary the character of the rhythm,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">even so the elements, changing their order one with another,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">continuing always in its sound,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">as may clearly be conjectured from the sight of the things that have happened.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v19_19">19</span> For creatures of the dry land were turned into creatures of the waters,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and creatures that swim moved upon the land.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v19_20">20</span> Fire kept the mastery of its own power in water,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and water forgot its quenching nature.</p>
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v19_21">21</span> On the contrary, flames didn’t consume flesh of perishable creatures that walked among them,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">neither did they melt the crystalline grains of ambrosial food that were melted easily.</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<div class="poetry">
|
||
<p class="q line" data-indent="1"><span class="v" id="v19_22">22</span> For in all things, O Lord, you magnified your people,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">and you glorified them and didn’t lightly regard them,</p>
|
||
<p class="q2 line" data-indent="2">standing by their side in every time and place.</p>
|
||
</div>
|
||
</section>
|
||
</div>
|
||
<footer class="colophon"><p>World English Bible Updated. Public Domain.</p></footer>
|
||
</article>
|