Wisdom Chapters

Seek Life; Know God

1 | •  ¹Love justice, you who rule over the world! Think rightly of God, seek him with the simplicity of heart, ²for he reveals himself to those who do not challenge him and is found by those who do not distrust him.

³Crooked thinking distances you from God, and his Omnipotence, put to the test, confounds the foolish.

⁴Wisdom does not enter the wicked nor remain in a body enslaved to sin. ⁵The Holy Spirit who instructs us shuns deceit; it keeps aloof from foolishness and is ill at ease when injustice is done.

⁶Wisdom is a spirit, a friend to man, and will not leave the blasphemous unpunished because God knows his innermost feelings, truly sees his thoughts, and hears what he says.

⁷For God’s spirit has filled the whole world, and he who holds together all things, knows each spoken word. ⁸So whoever speaks unjustly will not escape; the irrefutable sentence will reach him. ⁹The intentions of the unholy will be examined; what he has said will reach the Lord and his wickedness will be confounded.

¹⁰Remember that a jealous ear hears everything; even whispers are recorded.

¹¹Beware then of empty complaints and keep your tongue from fault-finding since your most secret word will have consequences; a lying tongue brings death to the soul. ¹²Do not bring about your own death by your wrong way of living. And do not let the work of your hands destroy you.

¹³God did not make death, nor does he rejoice in the destruction of the living. ¹⁴Since he has created everything, all creatures of the universe are for our good; there is no deadly poison in them, and the netherworld has no dominion over the earth, ¹⁵because justice is immortal.

The Godless Say There Is No Other Life

¹⁶It is the godless that consider death a friend and call for it in every way. They have made a pact with it and shall belong to it.

2 | ¹Led by mistaken reasons, they think, “Life is short and sad, and there is no cure for death. It was never heard that anyone came back from the netherworld.

•  ²By chance, we were born; when life is over, it will be as if we never existed. The breath in our nostrils is like a puff of smoke, and thought is no more than a spark resulting from the heart's movement. ³Put this out, the body turns to ashes, and the spirit melts away like idle air.

⁴In time, our name will be forgotten; no one will remember what we did. ⁵Life passes like the shadow of a cloud, disappearing like mist chased by the sun and overpowered by its heat. Our days are like the passing of a shadow; from death, there is no turning back; the seal is set: no one returns.

 ⁶Come then and enjoy all the good things; let us use creation with the zest of youth, ⁷making the most of choicest wines and perfumes and not passing by any spring flower. ⁸Let us crown ourselves with rosebuds before they fade.

⁹Let everyone take part in our orgy; let us post everywhere the signs of our joy, for that is our due, the lot assigned to us.

¹⁰Let us oppress the upright man who is poor and has no thought for the widow or respect for the white hair of old age.

¹¹Let our strength be our right since weakness is proved useless. ¹²Let us set a trap for the righteous, for he annoys us and opposes our way of life; he reproaches us for our breaches of the law and accuses us of being false to our upbringing.

¹³He claims knowledge of God and calls himself the son of the Lord. ¹⁴He has become a reproach to our way of thinking; even to meet him is burdensome to us. ¹⁵He does not live like others and behaves strangely.

¹⁶He says we have low standards, so he keeps us aloof as if we were unclean. He emphasizes the happy end of the righteous and boasts of having God as a father.

¹⁷Let us see the truth of what he says and find out what his end will be. ¹⁸If the righteous is a son of God, God will defend him and deliver him from his adversaries.

¹⁹Let us humble and torture him to prove his self-control and test his patience. ²⁰When we have condemned him to a shameful death, we may test his words.”

²¹This is how they reason, but they are mistaken, blinded by their malice. ²²They do not know the mysteries of God, nor do they hope for the reward of a holy life; they do not believe that the blameless will be recompensed.

²³Indeed, God created man to be immortal in the likeness of his own nature, ²⁴but the envy of the devil brought death to the world, and those who take his side shall experience death.

The Just Will Live With God

3 | •  ¹The souls of the just are in the hands of God, and no torment shall touch them.

²In the eyes of the unwise, they appear to be dead. Their going is held as a disaster; ³it seems that they lose everything by departing from us, but they are in peace.

⁴Though seemingly punished, immortality was the soul of their hope. ⁵After slight affliction will come great blessings, for God has tried them and found them worthy to be with him; ⁶after testing them as gold in the furnace, he has accepted them as a holocaust.

⁷When he comes, they will shine like sparks that run in the stubble. ⁸They will govern nations and rule over peoples; the Lord will be their king forever.

⁹Those who trust in him will penetrate the truth, and those who are faithful will live with him in love, for his grace and mercy are for his chosen ones.

¹⁰But the godless who have ignored the upright and deserted the Lord will meet the punishment their evil thoughts deserve.

¹¹Unhappy are those who put no value on wisdom and instruction, their hope is vain, their efforts useless, their work without profit; ¹²their wives are foolish, their children evil, their posterity cursed.

A Truly Fruitful Life

•  ¹³Happy the childless wife if she is blameless and has not been guilty of adultery; she will be found fruitful on the day of judgment.

¹⁴And happy the impotent man who has done no evil or harbored resentful thoughts against the Lord. His fidelity will be richly rewarded with a special place in the Lord’s heavenly Sanctuary.

¹⁵The toil of the righteous bears choice fruit and wise discernment is a tree that does not wither.

¹⁶But the children born of adultery die young, and the offspring of an unlawful union disappear.

¹⁷If they live long, they count for nothing and are finally despised in their old age. ¹⁸If they die young, it is without hope, and they cannot comfort themselves with thinking of the Judgment.

¹⁹Cruel is the fate of an evil race.

4 | •  ¹Better to have no children and to be virtuous. People like this are highly considered by God and by mortals. The memory of their life will never end.

²When virtue is present, we imitate it; when it is absent, we long for it. It is crowned in eternity for having triumphed in the blameless struggle.

³The numerous progeny of the wicked will be of no use. Offspring of doubtful plants, they will not have deep roots or lay solid foundations. ⁴For a time, they may produce, but the storm will uproot their weak branches shaken by the wind. ⁵Their twigs will be broken off before they are grown, their fruit useless, unripe for eating, and good for nothing. ⁶Children born of unlawful intercourse witness, when God examines them, to the wrongdoing of their parents.

•  ⁷The upright, even if he dies before his time, will be at rest. ⁸Honorable age does not depend on the length of days, nor is the number of years a true measure of life.

⁹A man’s gray hair is understanding, and a spotless life is a ripe old age.

¹⁰The upright was pleasing to God, who loved him, and since he was living among sinners, he was taken up. ¹¹God removed him lest evil impairs his understanding and treachery seduce his soul. ¹²For the fascination of evil obscures true values, and restless desire undermines a simple heart.

¹³Though his life soon ended, he traveled far. ¹⁴Because his soul was precious to the Lord, he was quickly removed from the wickedness around him.

¹⁵People saw but did not understand, and it did not occur to them that God’s grace and mercy are with his chosen ones; his protection is for the holy.

¹⁶The righteous who dies will condemn the ungodly who survives. A life fulfilled early in youth condemns the endless days of the wicked.

¹⁷They may see the death of the wise, but they will not understand God’s design for him and why he has taken him to safety. ¹⁸They may see and sneer at him, but the Lord will also laugh at them ¹⁹when they have become a useless corpse, a loathsome and dead thing forever.

The Lord will dash them to the ground, voiceless, shaking them from their foundations. They will wither and suffer anguish; even their memory will fade.

²⁰They will come trembling for the reckoning of their sins and be confounded when confronted with their wickedness.

Judgment On the Just and the Godless

5 | •  ¹Then the just man will stand with confidence

facing those who oppressed him,

making light of his labors.

²Seeing him, they will be seized with terrible fear,

amazed to find him unexpectedly saved.

Stricken with remorse

and distress, ³they will groan and say,

⁴“He is the one we mocked,

the one we reproached, fools that we were!

We considered his life foolishness,

and his death, the supreme humiliation,

⁵but see: he is counted among the children of God

and is given his lot with the holy angels!

⁶How far have we wandered from the truth!

The light of the upright did not enlighten us

nor did its sun rise for us.

⁷We trod the paths of injustice and death,

traveling, more than enough,

through trackless deserts,

but we were unable to know the Lord’s ways.

⁸What good has our pride been?

What have wealth and its boastfulness afforded us?

⁹All that has passed away like a shadow,

a fleeting rumor.

¹⁰Like a ship cutting the sea,

leaving no trace of its course,

and the mark of its keel—not seen in its wake;

¹¹like a bird flying across the sky

leaving no trace of its flight;

it beats the light air with its pinions,

cleaving a way by the force of its wings

but without a sign of its passing;

¹²or like an arrow shot at a target,

with the displaced air closing in on itself

and no one knows how it passed.

¹³It is the same for us; scarcely born, we have disappeared.

What sign of virtue are we able to show,

spent as we are in our own wickedness?”

¹⁴The hope of the godless is like chaff blown in the wind,

like a light frost melted in the storm,

like smoke dispersed by the wind.

It fades like the memory of a guest for a single day.

¹⁵But the upright live forever,

their reward is with the Lord,

and the Most High has them in his care.

¹⁶This is why they receive, from the hands of the Lord,

a royal crown, a splendid diadem.

He will shelter them with his hand

and his arm will be their shield.

¹⁷God’s jealous love will display his weapon;

he will arm all creation to punish his enemies.

¹⁸He will put on justice as his breastplate

and right judgment as his helmet,

¹⁹invincible holiness will be his shield,

²⁰implacable anger his sword,

and the universe will march with him against the foolish.

²¹Well-aimed lightning bolts will strike the target; the clouds will be curved bow shooting arrows.

²²The hailstones of his fury will rain on them, the ocean will rage against them, and the rivers will engulf them without mercy. ²³A powerful wind will rise against them and blow them away like straw. In this way, lawlessness will bring the whole earth to ruin, and evildoing will topple the thrones of the mighty.

No True Wisdom Without Religious Truth

6 | •  ¹Listen, O kings, and understand; rulers of the most distant lands, take warning. ²Pay attention, you who rule multitudes and boast of the numerous subjects in your pagan nations!

³For authority was given you by the Lord, your kingship is from the Most High who will examine your works and scrutinize your intentions.

⁴If, as officials of his kingdom, you have not judged justly or observed his law or walked the way God pointed out, ⁵he will oppose you swiftly and terribly; his sentence strikes the mighty suddenly.

⁶For the lowly, there may be excuses and pardon, but the great will be severely punished.

⁷For the Lord of all makes no distinction, nor does he take account of greatness. Both great and lowly is his work, and he watches over all, ⁸but the powerful are to be judged more strictly.

⁹It is to you then, sovereigns, that I speak, that you may learn Wisdom and not stumble.

¹⁰For those who keep the holy laws in a holy way will be acknowledged holy, and those who accept the teaching will find in it their defense.

¹¹Welcome my words, desire them, and they will instruct you.

¹²Wisdom is luminous and never tarnished; she willingly lets herself be seen by those who love her and known by those who look for her. ¹³She hastens to meet those who long for her. ¹⁴Seek her in the morning, and you will not be disappointed; you will find her sitting at your door.

¹⁵To meditate on Wisdom is understanding fully grown; whoever is on the watch for her will be free of anxiety. ¹⁶She searches for those worthy of her, graciously meets them on the way, and is present in their every thought.

¹⁷The beginning of Wisdom is a sincere desire for discipline; concern for discipline is the love of her, ¹⁸and loving her means keeping her laws; ¹⁹the observance of her laws assures one of immortality, and immortality brings us close to God.

²⁰In this way, the desire for Wisdom leads to kingship.

²¹So then, sovereigns of nations, you who are fond of thrones and scepters, honor Wisdom if you wish to reign forever.

²²What Wisdom is and how she came to be, I will tell you. I shall hide nothing from you but trace her from the beginning and clearly make her known.

²³I will not mislead you and hide the truth, for I am free of gnawing envy, which has nothing in common with Wisdom.

²⁴The multitude of the wise could bring about the world's salvation, and a sensible king ensures the stability of his people; ²⁵so learn from what I say and profit from it.

7 | ¹I, too, am a mortal man like others, a descendant of the first human being formed from clay. My flesh was molded in a mother’s womb; ²her blood formed me for ten months from the seed of man, given in pleasure, the companion of sleep.

³Once born, I breathed the air common to everyone; I fell on the earth, the same for all; my first cry was like that of other infants.

⁴I was nourished, cared for, and wrapped in swaddling clothes; ⁵indeed, no other king began life differently. ⁶For there is but one way into life for all and one way out of it.

I Prayed and Wisdom Was Given To Me

•  ⁷I prayed and understanding was given to me; I asked earnestly and the spirit of Wisdom came to me.

⁸I preferred her to scepters and thrones, and I considered wealth to be nothing compared to her.

⁹I preferred her to any jewel of inestimable value since gold beside her is nothing but a few grains of sand and silver but mud. ¹⁰I loved her more than wealth and beauty and even preferred her to light because her radiance never dies.

¹¹She brought with her all other good things, untold riches in her hands. ¹²I rejoiced at all that came with Wisdom without knowing she was their mother.

¹³What I learned without self-interest I share freely and with no desire to conceal her value; ¹⁴for she is an inexhaustible treasure for man, and those who possess her have gained God's friendship, commended to him by the fruits of her discipline.

¹⁵May God grant me to speak with discernment and reflect in a way worthy of the gifts I have received, for he is the guide of Wisdom and the corrector of the wise. ¹⁶For we are in God’s hands, our words, our understanding, and technical knowledge.

¹⁷He, in fact, has given me true knowledge of what is, of the world and the properties of the elements; ¹⁸the beginning, the end, and the times in between; the alternation of the solstices and the succession of the seasons; ¹⁹the cycles of the year and the position of the stars; ²⁰the natures of animal species and the ways of wild beasts; the power of spirits and human reasoning; the varieties of plants and medicinal properties of roots.

The Reflection of Eternal Light

•  ²¹I have come to know everything we see and everything hidden ²²because Wisdom, who designed them all, taught me.

In her is a spirit that is intelligent, saintly, unique, manifold, subtle, active, concise, pure, and lucid. It cannot corrupt; it loves what is good, and nothing can restrain it. ²³It is beneficent, loving humankind, steadfast, dependable, calm, and almighty. It sees everything and penetrates all spirits, however intelligent, subtle, and pure they may be.

²⁴Wisdom, in fact, surpasses in mobility all that moves, and being so pure pervades and permeates all things.

²⁵She is a breath of God's power, a pure emanation of the Almighty's glory; nothing impure can enter her. ²⁶She is a reflection of eternal light, a spotless mirror of God’s action and an image of his goodness.

²⁷She is but one, yet Wisdom can do all things and, herself unchanging, renews all things. She enters holy souls, making them prophets and friends of God, ²⁸for God loves only those who live with Wisdom.

²⁹She is indeed more beautiful than the sun and surpasses all the constellations; she outrivals light, ³⁰for light gives way to night, but evil cannot prevail against Wisdom.

8 | ¹Wisdom displays her strength from one end of the earth to another, ordering everything rightly.

²I loved and sought her from my youth; I strove to have her as my bride, for I had fallen in love with her beauty.

³Her nearness to God tells of her noble birth. Because the Lord of all has loved her, ⁴she is instructed in God’s knowledge and chooses his works.

⁵If we desire riches in life, what is richer than Wisdom who is the active cause of everything? ⁶If the intellect shows itself in action, still more does she who fashions everything. ⁷If you love righteousness, every virtue is the fruit of her labor, for she teaches temperance, prudence, justice, fortitude—all that is most valuable in life.

⁸If someone is eager for experience, she knows what happened in the past and forecasts the future. She has the art of interpretation and knows how to solve riddles. She foresees signs and wonders, the end of ages and eras.

⁹This is why I decided to have her as a companion for life, knowing she would be a wise counselor and encourage me in times of worry and distress.

¹⁰I thought: With her, I shall have glory among the nations and, although young, honor among the elderly; ¹¹I shall be found penetrating in judgment and be admired by the powerful.

¹²If I am silent, they will wait to hear me; if I speak, they will pay attention; though I talk at length, they will put their hand on their lips.

¹³Thanks to her, I shall win immortality and leave an everlasting memory for those who come after me.

¹⁴I shall govern peoples, and nations will be subject to me. ¹⁵Terrible sovereigns will cower when they hear of my name, but I shall show myself kindness and courage to my people in battle.

¹⁶When I come home, I shall rest with her, for there is nothing bitter in her company and no suffering in sharing life with her, only pleasure and joy.

¹⁷Pondering over all this, I understood that I would achieve immortality by being united to Wisdom; ¹⁸I would have pure delight through friendship with her, inexhaustible riches in what she does, understanding from being in her company, and renown from sharing her conversation. Then, I set out to seek and possess her.

¹⁹I had a pleasant personality even as a child, and ²⁰I was good-natured, or rather, being good, I had entered an undefiled body.

²¹But knowing that I could only possess Wisdom if God gave her me—it was a mark of intelligence to know who the donor was—I turned to the Lord and implored him, saying with all my heart:

Give Me Your Wisdom

9 | •  ¹God of our fathers and Lord of mercy, whose word has created everything and ²who in Wisdom formed man to govern your creation, ³to rule the world in holiness and justice, passing sentence with right judgment,

⁴give me Wisdom that sits beside your throne, and do not reject me from among your children.

⁵For I am your servant, son of your handmaid, a weak and mortal man with little understanding of judgment and laws. ⁶Even the most perfect among us count for nothing unless he has received Wisdom that comes from you.

⁷You have chosen me as king for your people, as judge over your sons and daughters.

⁸You have ordered me to build a temple on your holy mountain and an altar in the city where you live in imitation of the holy tent that was yours from the beginning.

⁹With you is Wisdom that knows your works, was present when you made the world, and is aware of what is pleasing in your eyes and what is right according to your commandments.

¹⁰Send her from the holy heavens; dispatch her from your holy throne to work beside me so I may know what pleases you.

¹¹For she knows and understands everything; she will direct my actions with prudence and protect me with her power.

¹²Then my deeds will please you, and I shall judge your people in justice and be worthy of my father's throne.

¹³Indeed, who can know the intentions of God? Who can discern the plan of the Lord?

¹⁴For human reasoning is timid, our notions misleading; ¹⁵a perishable body is a burden for the soul, and our tent of clay weighs down the active mind.

¹⁶We can barely know about the things of earth, and it is a struggle to understand what is close to us; who then may hope to understand heavenly things?

¹⁷Who has ever known your will unless you first gave him Wisdom and sent down your holy spirit to him? ¹⁸In this way, you directed the human race on the right path; they learned what pleases you and were saved by Wisdom.

The Wisdom of God Works In History

10 | •  ¹Wisdom protected the father of the world, the first man to be formed, who was created alone. ²She delivered him from his fault and gave him the power to govern everything.

³When a violent man turning in anger strayed from Wisdom, he perished in his fratricidal fury. ⁴Because of the violent man, the flood submerged the earth, but Wisdom again saved it by piloting an upright man on a frail piece of wood.

⁵Again, when the nations, united in evil, were thrown into confusion, it was Wisdom who singled out a righteous man, keeping him blameless before God and steadfast despite his pity for his child.

⁶It was she who, when the godless perished, saved the righteous man and let him flee from the fire pouring down on the Five Cities. ⁷To this day, the arid land, a smoking waste, witnesses to their perversity, for plants there bear unripe fruit, and a pillar of salt stands as a monument to an unbelieving woman.

⁸For ignoring Wisdom, not only were they kept from knowing what was good, but their ruins were left as a monument to their foolishness so that their failure might never be forgotten.

⁹But Wisdom rescued her servants from their trials. ¹⁰Along straight paths, she led the upright man who fled from his brother’s anger. She showed him God’s kingdom and let him know the holy angels; she made him prosperous and successful in his toil. ¹¹Wisdom stood by him against the greed of oppressors and made him rich.

¹²She protected him from his enemies and saved him from the traps they set for him; with Wisdom, he triumphed in an arduous struggle, learning in this way that nothing is as strong as piety.

¹³She did not abandon the righteous man when he was sold; still more, she kept him free from sin. ¹⁴She went down into the cistern with him; she did not leave him in chains but made him the kingdom's ruler, giving him authority over his oppressors. She denounced those falsely accused him of being liar and gave him everlasting honor.

¹⁵It was she who rescued an innocent and holy people from a nation of oppressors.

¹⁶She entered the soul of God’s servant and through him withstood terrible kings with signs and wonders.

¹⁷To the holy people, she gave the wages of their labor, wonderfully leading them, giving them shade during the day and the light of the stars at night.

¹⁸She brought them across the Red Sea but drowned their enemies ¹⁹and later washed them ashore from the depth of the abyss.

²⁰So the righteous looted the godless, singing hymns, Lord, to your holy name, and one in heart, they gave thanks for your saving hand. ²¹Wisdom gives speech to the dumb and makes infants speak clearly.

11 | •  ¹Wisdom gave success to their actions through a holy prophet; ²they crossed an uninhabited wilderness and pitched camp in inaccessible places.

³They stood up to their enemies and fought off the hostile. ⁴When thirsty, they called on you, and you gave them water from hard flint, from a rocky cliff, a welcome relief for the parched.

⁵The same creatures you used to punish their enemies benefitted them in their trouble.

⁶For their enemies, an ever-flowing source of river water was polluted with blood—⁷a stern response to the decree ordering the slaughter of infants. But, against all hope, you gave your people water in abundance, ⁸showing them by the thirst they suffered, how you had punished their enemies. ⁹Their trials were no more than merciful reproofs. Through them, your people learned how severely the wicked were judged and punished.

¹⁰You tested them as does a father while you examined their enemies like a stern king.

¹¹Their enemies suffered at the time and also later. ¹²When they remembered the past, theirs was double grief and groaning. ¹³They came to see that it was the work of the Lord when they realized that their punishment had benefited the others.

¹⁴Long before, they had exposed Moses; they had rejected him in derision, but now they admired him because of what had happened, and after they had suffered a thirst far different from that of the righteous.

¹⁵Their wickedness and foolish ideas led them astray, even to worshiping snakes and other disgusting animals; this is why you sent them hordes of similar creatures, ¹⁶teaching them that punishment takes the same form as sin.

¹⁷In fact, your almighty power that created the world from formless matter did not lack means to unleash upon them bears and savage lions, ¹⁸or monsters freshly created, unknown and full of fury, breathing fire or noisily spitting smoke or flashing fearful sparks from their eyes, ¹⁹creatures not only capable of destroying them at a single blow but whose mere appearance could make them die of fright.

How God Corrects His Children

•  ²⁰Even without this, they could have dropped dead in a single breath if pursued by your justice or dispersed by the breath of your might, but you ordered all with measure, number, and weight.

²¹You can show your power at any moment, and who can resist the strength of your arm? ²²For the entire world lies before you, just enough to tip the scales, a drop of morning dew falling on the ground.

²³But because you are almighty, you are merciful to all; you overlook sins and give your children time to repent. ²⁴You love everything that exists and hate nothing that you have made; had you hated anything, you would not have formed it.

²⁵How could anything endure if you did not will it? And how could anything last that you had not willed? ²⁶You have compassion on all because all is yours, O Lord, lover of life.

12 | ¹In fact, your immortal spirit is in all.

²And so by degrees you correct those who sin, you admonish them, reminding them how they have strayed so that, turning away from evil, they may trust in you, Lord.

³So it happened with those who once lived in your holy land. ⁴You hated them because of their detestable practices, sorcery, and unholy worship. ⁵They were used to the pitiless slaughter of children at the feasts in which they ate human flesh and blood and even bowels while they fulfilled secret rituals.

⁶Because these parents murdered their defenseless children, you wished our ancestors to destroy them, ⁷and the land dearest to you became the home of God’s children who were worthy of it.

⁸But you even showed mercy to these sinners because they were human beings. You sent hornets ahead of your army to destroy them gradually.

⁹You could have given the wicked over to the righteous in battle or destroyed them in one blow using savage beasts or with a harsh command; ¹⁰but in punishing them gradually, you gave them time to repent. Nevertheless, you were aware of their evil nature, innate malice, and how fixed they were in their ways, ¹¹for it was a cursed race from the beginning.

In any case, it was not through fear of anyone that you left their sins unpunished. ¹²For who dares say to you, “What have you done?” Who would dare to reject your sentence? Who could blame you for destroying the nations you formed? Who would dare rise against you in defense of the guilty?

¹³For there is no other god besides you, one who cares for everyone, who could ask you to justify your judgments; ¹⁴there is no other king or sovereign who could confront you and support those you punish.

¹⁵You are just and rule all with justice; had you condemned those who should not be punished, you would have misused your power.

¹⁶Your strength is the source of your justice, and because you are the Lord of all, you can be merciful to everyone.

¹⁷To those who doubt your sovereign power, you show your strength and confound the insolence of those who ignore it. ¹⁸But you, the Lord of strength, judge with prudence and govern us with great patience because you can do anything at the time you want.

¹⁹In this way, you have taught your people that a righteous person must love his human fellows; you have also given them cause for hope by prompting them to repent their sins.

²⁰For if you have been careful and patient in punishing the enemies of your people when they deserved to die and have given them a time and a place to turn from their wickedness, ²¹with what strict attention have you not judged your people, you who bound yourself to our ancestors with oaths and Covenants full of magnificent promises.

²²Yes, you punish us, but you punish our enemies far more severely to teach us to remember your kindness when we judge others and to count on your mercy when we are judged.

²³Those who lived foolishly and wickedly, you tormented with their own abominations. ²⁴For they had strayed into error to the point of choosing vile and disgusting animals as gods, allowing themselves to be deceived like infants.

²⁵And, as to children with no sense, you sent them a punishment to mock them; ²⁶but if they took no warning from these corrections, they were soon to receive a punishment worthy of God. ²⁷In their suffering, they became indignant at those animals they had taken as gods and who were now used to punish them. Then they saw clearly and acknowledged as God, whom they had refused to know before. That is why they suffered the supreme punishment.

Against Those Who Worship Images

13 | •  ¹The natural helplessness of humans is seen in their ignorance of God. The experience of good things did not lead them to the knowledge of Him who is. They were interested in his works but did not recognize their author.

²Fire, wind, air, the sphere of the stars, rushing water, and the lights in the sky were held as the world's rulers.

³If charmed by such beauty, they took them for gods, letting them know how superior their sovereign is. ⁴And if they were impressed by their power and activity, let them understand from this how much mightier is he who formed them. ⁵For the grandeur and beauty of creatures lead us to ponder their Author, greater and more magnificent.

⁶No doubt these people are not to be blamed severely, for possibly they strayed though they searched for God and desired to find him. ⁷They pondered over the created things that surrounded them and were captivated by the sight of such beauty.

⁸Even so, they are not to be excused, ⁹for if they could explore the world, why did they not discover first the world’s Sovereign?

¹⁰But unhappy, indeed, are those who give man-made artifacts the title of gods! Cursed is their hope in dead things, objects worked in gold and silver, likenesses of animals, and even useless stones carved long ago!

¹¹Take a woodcutter—he fells a tree that is easy to move, expertly strips off all the bark, and with the wood makes a utensil needed in daily life; ¹²he uses the bits leftover as fuel for cooking his food and he has a good meal. ¹³Then he picks up an utterly useless leftover piece, all gnarled and knotted, and carves it in his leisure time, using his professional skill to give it the shape of a man or ¹⁴maybe of a worthless animal. He covers it with ochre and paints the surface red, covering all its blemishes.

¹⁵He then makes a suitable niche in the wall and fastens it with iron nails.

¹⁶The craftsman is careful to keep it from falling, knowing it cannot help itself. It needs help because it is no more than an image.

¹⁷Even so, when it is a matter of his marriage, children, and household, the man is not ashamed to pray to this lifeless object. He prays for his health to something without strength; ¹⁸for life, he prays to what is dead; for help, he implores something insensitive; for a successful journey, he has recourse to what cannot walk; ¹⁹for his profit, his concerns, and his success in his craft he asks the help of something that has no skill whatsoever in its hands.

14 | ¹Imagine someone about to set sail and cross the raging sea. He calls upon a piece of wood far more fragile than the boat that carries him.

²In fact, this boat has been built with gain in mind and proceeds from the wisdom of the shipwright. ³But it is your providence, Father, that guides it, for you are the one who prepares a path through the sea and a safe way over the waves. ⁴By this, we understand that you can save us from any danger; even the unskilled can sail.

⁵People are the work of your wisdom, and you do not want them to remain idle. So they trust their lives to a small wood plank and cross the sea safely and soundly on a raft.

⁶At the beginning of time, when proud giants perished, the hope of the world took refuge on a raft and, led by your hand, left the seed of a new race to the world. ⁷Blessed be the wood by which salvation was carried out!

⁸But cursed be the idol and its maker, the idol made by human hands, this corruptible thing called a god, and the craftsman for having fashioned it.

⁹They are hateful to God, both the godless and the fruit of his godlessness; ¹⁰the maker will be punished with his work.

¹¹Therefore, the idols of the nations will also be judged. They have come to be the most abominable among God's creatures. They are a stumbling block to the spirit of man, and the feet of the foolish are caught in the snare.

¹²The invention of idols was the origin of licentiousness; when they were invented, life became corrupt. ¹³For in the beginning, they did not exist and will not exist forever. ¹⁴Human vanity introduced them into the world, and God has set a term for them.

¹⁵Suppose a father, overwhelmed by grief for a child so swiftly taken from him, has an image made of him. From then on, a dead creature will be honored as a god because the father handed secret rites and celebrations to his dependents. ¹⁶Time will consolidate this unholy practice, and eventually, it will be observed by law.

It has also happened that sculptured images were venerated by order of sovereigns. ¹⁷Those who lived far away and could not honor them personally had copies made that they might honor them as if present using their image.

¹⁸The artist's ambition helped the veneration grow among those who did not even know the sovereign. ¹⁹As he wished to please his master, he made the portrait more attractive than reality, ²⁰and the people, seduced by the perfection of artwork, began to worship someone previously honored as a man.

²¹In this way, the image became a pitfall for the living, for people bent down, either by misfortune or tyranny, gave to stones and wood the incommunicable Name.

²²But it was not enough for them to err in their knowledge of God; in the great trouble to which ignorance condemned them, they have called such an evil situation peace.

²³With the sacrificial murder of children in their initiations, with secret mysteries and wild ceremonial orgies, ²⁴they no longer keep their lives and marriages pure; they treacherously murder one another or wound others through adultery.

²⁵Everywhere it is a welter of blood, murder, fraud and theft, corruption, treachery, riots, perjury; ²⁶on all sides harassment of good people, forgetfulness of favors, the pollution of souls and sins against nature, widespread disorder in marriage, adultery, debauchery.

²⁷Indeed, worshipping gods, which do not even deserve a name, is every evil's beginning, cause, and effect.

²⁸Others delight in raving or uttering false prophecies; they live wickedly and casually perjure themselves. ²⁹As they deal with lifeless images, they do not fear any punishment for their false oaths, ³⁰but a double punishment awaits them: as idolaters for their base concept of God, as frauds for taking false oaths in defiance of all that is holy.

³¹Though the idols they swore by are powerless, justice that pursues sinners always overtakes the sin of the wicked.

15 | ¹But you, our God, are kind and true; you bear evil patiently and order everything with mercy. ²Even when we sin, we belong to you and acknowledge your power, but aware that we belong to you, we shall not sin.

³To know you are perfect righteousness and acknowledging your power is the root of immortality.

⁴So we have not been led astray by a deceptive invention of the human act—the sterile labor of painters—these idols daubed with colors, ⁵the sight of which stirs yearning in fools attached to the lifeless face of a dead image.

⁶Really, idol-makers and those who serve and worship them are looking for disgrace and deserve to have false hope.

⁷The potter, laboriously working the soft clay, fashions each object for our use, and from the same clay, he shapes vessels, some for food and others for what is thrown away. The potter makes vessels for clean and unclean uses and decides for what purpose each one is shaped. ⁸The same way and from the same clay, he fashions a helpless god, the cursed labor of a man recently formed from clay, who will shortly return to clay when he is called to give up his soul.

⁹He has no thought of dying soon, no idea of the short duration of life—none at all. He competes with those who work on silver and gold, and, like the smith, he feels proud to make a counterfeit of God.

¹⁰Ashes that is what his heart is; his hope cheaper than dust; ¹¹his life worth as much as clay, for he has not acknowledged his Maker, who has breathed into him an active soul, a living spirit. ¹²He looks at life as a game and its duration as a market full of bargains, for as he says, “a man must make the most of life whether by fair means or foul.”

¹³For these, more than others, know that they sin in fashioning with the same clay, vessels, and sculptured gods.

¹⁴But utterly foolish and more pitiable than the soul of a newborn infant were the enemies that oppressed your people. ¹⁵They received as gods all the idols of the nations—idols with no eyes to see, no nostrils to breathe the air, no ears to hear, no fingers to feel with, or feet that can walk. For these gods are the work of a man, a creature of borrowed breath made them.

¹⁶Man cannot even make a god that resembles himself; ¹⁷a mortal’s unholy hands produce a dead god. He is, in fact, superior to what he worships since he at least lives, but they will never live.

¹⁸People worship the most repulsive animals, the most stupid of all who, unlike other animals, are devoid of beauty; ¹⁹these are unattractive creatures who have missed the blessing of God and are not fit to give him praise.

How God Treats His People and the Egyptians Differently

16 | ¹That is why these people received the punishment they deserved through similar animals and hordes of tormenting insects. ²In contrast to this punishment, you showed your people kindness by providing quails—a delicious food —for them.

³Despite their fierce hunger, the Egyptians were disgusted by the repulsive sight of the creatures sent against them and restrained from eating. But the Israelites, after being deprived for a time, were then given the finest food.

⁴It was necessary for their oppressors to suffer severe want, but enough for your people to know how the enemy was punished. ⁵Indeed, when they experienced the fury of wild animals and the bites of writhing snakes, their anger did not endure.

⁶Their temporary affliction served as a warning; then they were given a sign of salvation to remind them of the prescriptions of your law. ⁷For whoever turned toward it was saved, not by the image he saw, but by you, Lord, the Savior of all.

⁸In that way, you taught our enemies that you deliver us from every evil. ⁹The sting of insects killed them and flies for which there was no cure since they deserved punishment from these creatures. ¹⁰Your children were not overcome, even by the fangs of venomous serpents, for your mercy intervened and healed them.

¹¹Bites quickly healed reminded them of your commands, lest they fall into deep oblivion and forget your kindness. ¹²No herb, no ointment healed them but your word, Lord, that heals all.

¹³You are Lord of life and death; you bring down to the gate of the netherworld and bring back again. ¹⁴Man, in his wickedness, can kill, but he cannot bring back the departed spirit or rescue the snatched soul. ¹⁵It is impossible to escape your hand.

¹⁶The godless, refusing to acknowledge you, were scourged by the strength of your arm, lashed by relentless downpours, hail, and pitiless storms, and consumed by fire.

¹⁷But this was the most astounding: water, powerful to quench, made the fire burn more fiercely, for the elements fight on the side of the righteous.

¹⁸At times, the flame abated to spare the insects thrust against the wicked so that they might know God’s sentence pursued them.

¹⁹At other times, amid the water, fire rose more fiercely than water to destroy the harvest of an unholy land.

•  ²⁰But to your people, you gave the food of angels and from heaven sent bread that was already prepared and suitable for all tastes, having every flavor. ²¹In this way, you revealed your loving-kindness to your children. ²²Satisfying all needs, this bread provided what each one wanted.

That food, as snow and ice, resisted fire and did not melt; thus, they understood how their enemy’s harvest was destroyed by fire amid hail while lightning flashed in the falling rain. ²³This same fire seemed to forget its nature to spare the food of the righteous.

²⁴Your creation is at your service, for you are its Author. It works to punish the wicked and withdraws for the benefit of those who put their trust in you.

²⁵In the service of your bounty, which attends to everything, creation made itself manifold and adjusted to the wish of everyone. ²⁶Then the children you love learned that it is not crops of whatever kind nourish humankind, but your word that sustains those who trust you.

²⁷That food which resisted fire, simply melted in the warmth of a fleeting sunbeam, ²⁸teaching us that we must rise before the sun to give thanks and pray to you at dawn. ²⁹The hope of the ungrateful will melt like winter frost and flow away like water that is not being used.

17 | ¹How great are your purposes, and how difficult are they to explain! People who have not learned about them have gone astray.

²While the godless thought they had the holy nation in their power, they were prisoners, captives of a long night, shut in under their roofs, banished from eternal providence.

³Although they counted on their sins remaining hidden under the veil of forgetfulness, they were scattered and, at the same time, dismayed and terrified by visions. ⁴The dark places where they sheltered could not protect them from fear; they heard horrific noises and were confronted with ghastly and mournful apparitions. ⁵No fire could give them light, while the sparkling radiance of the stars dared not shine on that horrible night. ⁶All that shone for them was an inextinguishable and terrifying fire and, in their terror, when this vision ended, they imagined their situation to be worse than it was.

⁷Their magic arts failed, and their pretense to intelligence was utterly confounded; ⁸those who claimed to eliminate the fear and disturbance of the sick mind were themselves afflicted with ridiculous fear.

⁹Although there was nothing to cause this fear, they were terrified by the buzz of insects and the hiss of snakes; ¹⁰they died convulsed with fear, refusing to look even at the air from which no one may escape. ¹¹Wickedness is cowardly and is condemned by itself; pursued by conscience, it always assumes the worst. ¹²For fear is no more than giving up the help that reason can give. ¹³Since this help is lacking interiorly, the unknown cause of one’s torments seems greater.

¹⁴So all that night, a night issued from the powerless netherworld that took hold of them while they slept and made everyone powerless, ¹⁵they were either pursued by monstrous ghosts or paralyzed by a sudden, unexpected fear. ¹⁶Whoever had fallen lay there, shut in a prison not made of iron.

¹⁷Whether a plowman, shepherd or someone working alone, he had to submit to an inevitable fate; ¹⁸all were bound by the same chain of darkness.

Everything kept them paralyzed by fear: the wind's sighing, the tuneful song of birds in spreading branches, the continuous noise of rushing water ¹⁹and the terrible crash of falling rocks, the swift, invisible bounding of animals, and the terrifying roar of wild beasts, the echo rebounding from the mountains—all were causes of fear.

²⁰The whole world shone in brilliant light and continued its work without hindrance; ²¹they alone were covered in the darkness of night, the image of the night that would be their lot. But even heavier than the darkness was the burden they were for themselves.

18 | ¹Meanwhile, there was a great light for your holy ones. The Egyptians heard their voice without seeing them; they called them fortunate because they had not suffered; ²they also thanked them, for despite the injustice done to them, they had not retaliated and asked their pardon for previous wrongs.

³In contrast to this darkness, you gave your holy people a pillar of fire as a guide in their unmapped journey, as a mild sun during their glorious migration. ⁴The enemy deserved to be without light and imprisoned in darkness for having imprisoned your sons, the people through whom the imperishable light of your laws would be given to the world.

⁵They had intended to kill the infants of your holy people—and of those exposed, only one child was saved. Because of that, you retaliated by doing away with a multitude of their sons who perished together in the raging sea.

⁶That night had been foretold to our ancestors, and knowing what promise they trusted, they could rejoice in all surety.

⁷Your people waited for both the salvation of the just and the downfall of their enemies, ⁸for the very punishment of our enemies brought glory to the people you have called—that is, to us.

⁹The holy race secretly offered the Passover sacrifice and agreed on this worthy pact: sharing blessings and dangers. And immediately, they began to sing the hymns of their fathers.

¹⁰Then came discordant echoes from their enemies: plaintive voices mourning their children.

¹¹The same sentence struck slave and master alike; the common man and the king endured equal suffering. ¹²They mourned together for innumerable victims, all stricken with the same kind of death.

The living was not enough to bury them, for the flower of their race had perished in an instant.

¹³Although sorcery had turned them into unbelievers, after the death of their firstborn, they acknowledged that your people were the children of God.

¹⁴While all was in quiet silence and the night was in the middle of its course, ¹⁵your almighty word leaped down from the royal throne—a stern warrior to a doomed world. ¹⁶He filled the universe with death by carrying your fearful command like a sharpened sword and stretching from heaven to earth.

¹⁷Immediately, they were overwhelmed with terrible dreams and hallucinations and assailed by sudden fears. ¹⁸Thrown half-dead, some here and some there, they made known why they were dying, ¹⁹for the dreams that had troubled them had also instructed them, lest they perish without knowing the reason for their misfortune.

²⁰Indeed, the righteous, too, experienced death when a scourge struck many of them in the desert, but God’s anger was short-lived.

²¹A blameless man hastened to their defense. Using the weapons of his sacred office—prayer, and atonement incense—he confronted the divine Wrath, putting an end to their affliction, and was thus recognized as your servant.

²²He vanquished your Wrath, but not by physical strength or force of arms. He won over the Punisher by reminding him of the sworn promises and Covenants made with our ancestors.

²³The dead were already piled up, one on top of the other, when he intervened, beating back Wrath and cutting it off from the living. ²⁴For the whole world was represented on his flowing robe, the glorious names of the fathers on the four rows of stones, and your majesty engraved on the diadem on his head.

²⁵The Destroyer, afraid of these, recoiled; a mere taste of Wrath had been sufficient.

19 | ¹Instead, a pitiless fury raged against the wicked to the very end, for God knew beforehand what they would do: ²that after allowing them to leave and hastening their departure, they would pursue them.

³While the Egyptians were still mourning at the graves of their dead, they had the mad idea of pursuing them as fugitives.

⁴A well-deserved fate drove them to this extreme, making them forget what had happened and complete their punishment with further torment. ⁵While your people would experience a miraculous journey, their oppressors would suffer an extraordinary death.

⁶All creation in its different forms was fashioned anew at your command to protect your people. ⁷The cloud covered the camp with its shadow, and dry land emerged where water had been. A safe passage was opened through the Red Sea; the tempestuous flood became a green plain ⁸where the whole nation of those protected by your hand passed across, witnessing your astounding deeds.

⁹They were like horses led to pasture or like frolicking lambs, praising you, their Lord, who had delivered them. ¹⁰For they still remembered what they had seen in their exile: how the earth, in place of animals, had produced mosquitoes, and rivers, instead of providing fish, produced frogs.

¹¹Later, your people were to see a new way for birds to appear, for when they hungered for food, ¹²quails came out of the sea to satisfy their needs.

¹³The sinners were punished after they had been warned by violent thunder; deservedly, they suffered for their wickedness, for they had given proof of the cruelest hatred toward strangers.

¹⁴Others had not welcomed unknown strangers, but the Egyptians enslaved guests who had been good to them. ¹⁵The former will be condemned for dealing badly with strangers; ¹⁶worse still, the Egyptians who had welcomed them with celebrations and treated them as equals but later made them suffer cruelly.

¹⁷For this, they had blindness like the men of Sodom who came to the door of the righteous man Lot and found themselves in utter darkness, each groping around to find his own door.

¹⁸The elements interchanged their qualities, and the notes changed their tones on a harp while retaining their own pitch. This is clearly what happened, as evidenced by scrutiny of events.

¹⁹Creatures living on the land became aquatic, and those that swam emerged on dry land. ²⁰Fire burned more fiercely in water when water ceased to quench. ²¹On another occasion, flames did not burn frail animals that passed through them, nor did they melt the heavenly food that normally would have melted like frost.

•  ²²For in every way, Lord, you have exalted and glorified your people, never disdaining them, but standing by them always and everywhere.