Revised Standard Version, Catholic Edition

THE WISDOM OF SOLOMON

Exhortation to Uprightness and Avoidance of Evil

1 * Love righteousness, you rulers of the earth,

think of the Lord with uprightness,

and seek him with sincerity of heart;

²because he is found by those who do not put him to the test,

and manifests himself to those who do not distrust him.

³For perverse thoughts separate men from God,

and when his power is tested, it convicts the foolish;

⁴because wisdom will not enter a deceitful soul,

nor dwell in a body enslaved to sin.

⁵For a holy and disciplined spirit* will flee from deceit,

and will rise and depart from foolish thoughts,

and will be ashamed at the approach of unrighteousness.

⁶For wisdom is a kindly spirit

and will not free a blasphemer from the guilt of his words;

because God is witness of his inmost feelings,

and a true observer of his heart, and a hearer of his tongue.

⁷Because the Spirit of the Lord has filled the world,

and that which holds all things together knows what is said;

⁸therefore no one who utters unrighteous things will escape notice,

and justice, when it punishes, will not pass him by.

⁹For inquiry will be made into the counsels of an ungodly man,

and a report of his words will come to the Lord,

to convict him of his lawless deeds;

¹⁰because a jealous ear hears all things,

and the sound of murmurings does not go unheard.

¹¹Beware then of useless murmuring,

and keep your tongue from slander;

because no secret word is without result,^a

and a lying mouth destroys the soul.

¹²Do not invite death by the error of your life,

nor bring on destruction by the works of your hands;

¹³because God did not make death, and

he does not delight in the death of the living.

¹⁴For he created all things that they might exist,

and the creatures ^b of the world are wholesome,

and there is no destructive poison in them;

and the dominion ^c of Hades is not on earth.

¹⁵For righteousness is immortal.

¹⁶But ungodly men by their words and deeds summoned death; ^d

considering him a friend, they pined away,

and they made a covenant with him,

because they are fit to belong to his party.

2 For they reasoned unsoundly, saying to themselves,

“Short and sorrowful is our life,

and there is no remedy when a man comes to his end,

and no one has been known to return from Hades.

²Because we were born by mere chance,

and hereafter we shall be as though we had never been;

because the breath in our nostrils is smoke,

and reason is a spark kindled by the beating of our hearts.

³When it is extinguished, the body will turn to ashes,

and the spirit will dissolve like empty air.

⁴Our name will be forgotten in time,

and no one will remember our works;

our life will pass away like the traces of a cloud,

and be scattered like mist

that is chased by the rays of the sun

and overcome by its heat.

⁵For our allotted time is the passing of a shadow,

and there is no return from our death,

because it is sealed up and no one turns back.

⁶“Come, therefore, let us enjoy the good things that exist,

and make use of the creation to the full as in youth.

⁷Let us take our fill of costly wine and perfumes,

and let no flower of spring pass by us.

⁸Let us crown ourselves with rosebuds before they wither.

⁹Let none of us fail to share in our revelry,

everywhere let us leave signs of enjoyment,

because this is our portion, and this our lot.

¹⁰Let us oppress the righteous poor man;

let us not spare the widow

nor regard the gray hairs of the aged.

¹¹But let our might be our law of right,

for what is weak proves itself to be useless.

¹²“Let us lie in wait for the righteous man,

because he is inconvenient to us and opposes our actions;

he reproaches us for sins against the law,

and accuses us of sins against our training.

¹³He professes to have knowledge of God,

and calls himself a child ^e of the Lord.

¹⁴He became to us a reproof of our thoughts;

¹⁵the very sight of him is a burden to us,

because his manner of life is unlike that of others,

and his ways are strange.

¹⁶We are considered by him as something base,

and he avoids our ways as unclean;

he calls the last end of the righteous happy,

and boasts that God is his father.

¹⁷Let us see if his words are true,

and let us test what will happen at the end of his life;

¹⁸for if the righteous man is God’s son, he will help him,

and will deliver him from the hand of his adversaries.

¹⁹Let us test him with insult and torture,

that we may find out how gentle he is,

and make trial of his forbearance.

²⁰Let us condemn him to a shameful death,

for, according to what he says, he will be protected.”

²¹Thus they reasoned, but they were led astray,

for their wickedness blinded them,

²²and they did not know the secret purposes of God,

nor hope for the wages of holiness,

nor discern the prize for blameless souls;

²³for God created man for incorruption,

and made him in the image of his own eternity, ^f

²⁴but through the devil’s envy death entered the world,

and those who belong to his party experience it.

The Destiny of the Righteous Contrasted to the Ungodly

3 But the souls of the righteous are in the hand of God,

and no torment will ever touch them.

²In the eyes of the foolish they seemed to have died,

and their departure was thought to be an affliction,

³and their going from us to be their destruction;

but they are at peace.

⁴For though in the sight of men they were punished,

their hope is full of immortality.

⁵Having been disciplined a little, they will receive great good,

because God tested them and found them worthy of himself;

⁶like gold in the furnace he tried them,

and like a sacrificial burnt offering he accepted them.

⁷In the time of their visitation they will shine forth,

and will run like sparks through the stubble.

⁸They will govern nations and rule over peoples,

and the Lord will reign over them for ever.

⁹Those who trust in him will understand truth,

and the faithful will abide with him in love,

because grace and mercy are upon his elect,

and he watches over his holy ones. ^g

¹⁰But the ungodly will be punished as their reasoning deserves,

who disregarded the righteous man^h and rebelled against the Lord;

¹¹for whoever despises wisdom and instruction is miserable.

Their hope is vain, their labors are unprofitable,

and their works are useless.

¹²Their wives are foolish, and their children evil;

¹³their offspring are accursed.

For blessed is the barren woman who is undefiled,

who has not entered into a sinful union;

she will have fruit when God examines souls.

¹⁴Blessed also is the eunuch whose hands have done no lawless deed,

and who has not devised wicked things against the Lord;

for special favor will be shown him for his faithfulness,

and a place of great delight in the temple of the Lord.

¹⁵For the fruit of good labors is renowned,

and the root of understanding does not fail.

¹⁶But children of adulterers will not come to maturity,

and the offspring of an unlawful union will perish.

¹⁷Even if they live long they will be held of no account,

and finally their old age will be without honor.

¹⁸If they die young, they will have no hope

and no consolation in the day of decision.

¹⁹For the end of an unrighteous generation is grievous.

The Reward of the Righteous

4 Better than this is childlessness with virtue,

for in the memory of virtue ⁱ is immortality,

because it is known both by God and by men.

²When it is present, men imitate ^j it,

and they long for it when it has gone;

and throughout all time it marches crowned in triumph,

victor in the contest for prizes that are undefiled.

³But the prolific brood of the ungodly will be of no use,

and none of their illegitimate seedlings will strike a deep root

or take a firm hold.

⁴For even if they put forth boughs for a while,

standing insecurely they will be shaken by the wind,

and by the violence of the winds they will be uprooted.

⁵The branches will be broken off before they come to maturity,

and their fruit will be useless,

not ripe enough to eat, and good for nothing.

⁶For children born of unlawful unions

are witnesses of evil against their parents when God examines them.^k

⁷But the righteous man, though he die early, will be at rest.

⁸For old age is not honored for length of time,

nor measured by number of years;

⁹but understanding is gray hair for men,

and a blameless life is ripe old age.

¹⁰There was one who pleased God and was loved by him,

and while living among sinners he was taken up.

¹¹He was caught up lest evil change his understanding

or guile deceive his soul.

¹²For the fascination of wickedness obscures what is good,

and roving desire perverts the innocent mind.

¹³Being perfected in a short time, he fulfilled long years;

¹⁴for his soul was pleasing to the Lord,

therefore he took him quickly from the midst of wickedness.

¹⁵Yet the peoples saw and did not understand,

nor take such a thing to heart,

that God’s grace and mercy are with his elect,

and he watches over his holy ones.

¹⁶The righteous man who has died will condemn the ungodly who are living,

and youth that is quickly perfected ^l will condemn the prolonged old age of the unrighteous man.

¹⁷For they will see the end of the wise man,

and will not understand what the Lord purposed for him,

and for what he kept him safe.

¹⁸They will see, and will have contempt for him,

but the Lord will laugh them to scorn.

After this they will become dishonored corpses,

and an outrage among the dead for ever;

¹⁹because he will dash them speechless to the ground,

and shake them from the foundations;

they will be left utterly dry and barren,

and they will suffer anguish,

and the memory of them will perish.

²⁰They will come with dread when their sins are reckoned up,

and their lawless deeds will convict them to their face.

5 Then the righteous man will stand with great confidence

in the presence of those who have afflicted him,

and those who make light of his labors.

²When they see him, they will be shaken with dreadful fear,

and they will be amazed at his unexpected salvation.

³They will speak to one another in repentance,

and in anguish of spirit they will groan, and say,

⁴“This is the man whom we once held in derision

and made a byword of reproach—we fools!

We thought that his life was madness

and that his end was without honor.

⁵Why has he been numbered among the sons of God?

And why is his lot among the saints?

⁶So it was we who strayed from the way of truth,

and the light of righteousness did not shine on us,

and the sun did not rise upon us.

⁷We took our fill of the paths of lawlessness and destruction,

and we journeyed through trackless deserts,

but the way of the Lord we have not known.

⁸What has our arrogance profited us?

And what good has our boasted wealth brought us?

⁹“All those things have vanished like a shadow,

and like a rumor that passes by;

¹⁰like a ship that sails through the billowy water,

and when it has passed no trace can be found,

nor track of its keel in the waves;

¹¹or as, when a bird flies through the air,

no evidence of its passage is found;

the light air, lashed by the beat of its pinions

and pierced by the force of its rushing flight,

is traversed by the movement of its wings,

and afterward no sign of its coming is found there;

¹²or as, when an arrow is shot at a target,

the air, thus divided, comes together at once,

so that no one knows its pathway.

¹³So we also, as soon as we were born, ceased to be,

and we had no sign of virtue to show,

but were consumed in our wickedness.”*

¹⁴Because the hope of the ungodly man is like chaff ^m carried by the wind,

and like a light hoarfrost ⁿ driven away by a storm;

it is dispersed like smoke before the wind,

and it passes like the remembrance of a guest who stays but a day.

¹⁵But the righteous live for ever,

and their reward is with the Lord;

the Most High takes care of them.

¹⁶Therefore they will receive a glorious crown

and a beautiful diadem from the hand of the Lord,

because with his right hand he will cover them,

and with his arm he will shield them.

¹⁷The Lord^o will take his zeal as his whole armor,

and will arm all creation to repel ^p his enemies;

¹⁸he will put on righteousness as a breastplate,

and wear impartial justice as a helmet;

¹⁹he will take holiness as an invincible shield,

²⁰and sharpen stern wrath for a sword,

and creation will join with him to fight against the madmen.

²¹Shafts of lightning will fly with true aim,

and will leap to the target as from a well-drawn bow of clouds,

²²and hailstones full of wrath will be hurled as from a catapult;

the water of the sea will rage against them,

and rivers will relentlessly overwhelm them;

²³a mighty wind will rise against them,

and like a tempest it will winnow them away.

Lawlessness will lay waste the whole earth,

and evil-doing will overturn the thrones of rulers.

Admonition to Rulers

6 Listen therefore, O kings, and understand;

learn, O judges of the ends of the earth.

²Give ear, you that rule over multitudes,

and boast of many nations.

³For your dominion was given you from the Lord,

and your sovereignty from the Most High,

who will search out your works and inquire into your plans.

⁴Because as servants of his kingdom you did not rule rightly,

nor keep the law,

nor walk according to the purpose of God,

⁵he will come upon you terribly and swiftly,

because severe judgment falls on those in high places.

⁶For the lowliest man may be pardoned in mercy,

but mighty men will be mightily tested.*

⁷For the Lord of all will not stand in awe of any one,

nor show deference to greatness;

because he himself made both small and great,

and he takes thought for all alike.

⁸But a strict inquiry is in store for the mighty.

⁹To you then, O monarchs, my words are directed,

that you may learn wisdom and not transgress.

¹⁰For they will be made holy who observe holy things in holiness,

and those who have been taught them will find a defense.

¹¹Therefore set your desire on my words;

long for them, and you will be instructed.

¹²Wisdom is radiant and unfading,

and she is easily discerned by those who love her,

and is found by those who seek her.

¹³She hastens to make herself known to those who desire her.

¹⁴He who rises early to seek her will have no difficulty,

for he will find her sitting at his gates.

¹⁵To fix one’s thought on her is perfect understanding,

and he who is vigilant on her account will soon be free from care,

¹⁶because she goes about seeking those worthy of her,

and she graciously appears to them in their paths,

and meets them in every thought.

¹⁷The beginning of wisdom ^q is the most sincere desire for instruction,

and concern for instruction is love of her,

¹⁸and love of her is the keeping of her laws,

and giving heed to her laws is assurance of immortality,

¹⁹and immortality brings one near to God;

²⁰so the desire for wisdom leads to a kingdom.

²¹Therefore if you delight in thrones and scepters, O monarchs over the peoples,

honor wisdom, that you may reign for ever.

²²I will tell you what wisdom is and how she came to be,

and I will hide no secrets from you,

but I will trace her course from the beginning of creation,

and make knowledge of her clear,

and I will not pass by the truth;

²³neither will I travel in the company of sickly envy,

for envy ^r does not associate with wisdom.

²⁴A multitude of wise men is the salvation of the world,

and a sensible king is the stability of his people.

²⁵Therefore be instructed by my words,

and you will profit.

Solomon’s Prayer for and Love of Wisdom

7 I also am mortal, like all men,

a descendant of the first-formed child of earth;

and in the womb of a mother I was molded into flesh,

²within the period of ten months, compacted with blood,

from the seed of a man and the pleasure of marriage.

³And when I was born, I began to breathe the common air,

and fell upon the kindred earth,

and my first sound was a cry, like that of all.

⁴I was nursed with care in swaddling cloths.

⁵For no king has had a different beginning of existence;

⁶there is for all mankind one entrance into life, and a common departure.

⁷Therefore I prayed, and understanding was given me;

I called upon God, and the spirit of wisdom came to me.

⁸I preferred her to scepters and thrones,

and I accounted wealth as nothing in comparison with her.

⁹Neither did I liken to her any priceless gem,

because all gold is but a little sand in her sight,

and silver will be accounted as clay before her.

¹⁰I loved her more than health and beauty,

and I chose to have her rather than light,

because her radiance never ceases.

¹¹All good things came to me along with her,

and in her hands uncounted wealth.

¹²I rejoiced in them all, because wisdom leads them;

but I did not know that she was their mother.

¹³I learned without guile and I impart without grudging;

I do not hide her wealth,

¹⁴for it is an unfailing treasure for men;

those who get it obtain friendship with God,

commended for the gifts that come from instruction.

¹⁵May God grant that I speak with judgment

and have thoughts worthy of what I have received,

for he is the guide even of wisdom

and the corrector of the wise.

¹⁶For both we and our words are in his hand,

as are all understanding and skill in crafts.

¹⁷For it is he who gave me unerring knowledge of what exists,

to know the structure of the world and the activity of the elements;

¹⁸the beginning and end and middle of times,

the alternations of the solstices and the changes of the seasons,

¹⁹the cycles of the year and the constellations of the stars,

²⁰the natures of animals and the tempers of wild beasts,

the powers of spirits^s and the reasonings of men,

the varieties of plants and the virtues of roots;

²¹I learned both what is secret and what is manifest,

²²for wisdom, the fashioner of all things, taught me.

For in her there is a spirit that is intelligent, holy,

unique, manifold, subtle,

mobile, clear, unpolluted,

distinct, invulnerable, loving the good, keen,

irresistible, ²³beneficent, humane,

steadfast, sure, free from anxiety,

all-powerful, overseeing all,

and penetrating through all spirits

that are intelligent and pure and most subtle.

²⁴For wisdom is more mobile than any motion;

because of her pureness she pervades and penetrates all things.

²⁵For she is a breath of the power of God,

and a pure emanation of the glory of the Almighty;

therefore nothing defiled gains entrance into her.

²⁶For she is a reflection of eternal light,

a spotless mirror of the working of God,

and an image of his goodness.

²⁷Though she is but one, she can do all things,

and while remaining in herself, she renews all things;

in every generation she passes into holy souls

and makes them friends of God, and prophets;

²⁸for God loves nothing so much as the man who lives with wisdom.

²⁹For she is more beautiful than the sun,

and excels every constellation of the stars.

Compared with the light she is found to be superior,

³⁰for it is succeeded by the night,

but against wisdom evil does not prevail.

8 She reaches mightily from one end of the earth to the other,

and she orders all things well.

²I loved her and sought her from my youth,

and I desired to take her for my bride,

and I became enamored of her beauty.

³She glorifies her noble birth by living with God,

and the Lord of all loves her.

⁴For she is an initiate in the knowledge of God,

and an associate in his works.

⁵If riches are a desirable possession in life,

what is richer than wisdom who effects all things?

⁶And if understanding is effective,

who more than she is fashioner of what exists?

⁷And if any one loves righteousness,

her labors are virtues;

for she teaches self-control and prudence,

justice and courage;

nothing in life is more profitable for men than these.

⁸And if any one longs for wide experience,

she knows the things of old, and infers the things to come;

she understands turns of speech and the solutions of riddles;

she has foreknowledge of signs and wonders

and of the outcome of seasons and times.

⁹Therefore I determined to take her to live with me,

knowing that she would give me good counsel

and encouragement in cares and grief.

¹⁰Because of her I shall have glory among the multitudes

and honor in the presence of the elders, though I am young.

¹¹I shall be found keen in judgment,

and in the sight of rulers I shall be admired.

¹²When I am silent they will wait for me,

and when I speak they will give heed;

and when I speak at greater length

they will put their hands on their mouths.

¹³Because of her I shall have immortality,

and leave an everlasting remembrance to those who come after me.

¹⁴I shall govern peoples,

and nations will be subject to me;

¹⁵dread monarchs will be afraid of me when they hear of me;

among the people I shall show myself capable, and courageous in war.

¹⁶When I enter my house, I shall find rest with her,

for companionship with her has no bitterness,

and life with her has no pain, but gladness and joy.

¹⁷When I considered these things inwardly,

and thought upon them in my mind,

that in kinship with wisdom there is immortality,

¹⁸and in friendship with her, pure delight,

and in the labors of her hands, unfailing wealth,

and in the experience of her company, understanding,

and renown in sharing her words,

I went about seeking how to get her for myself.

¹⁹As a child I was by nature well endowed,

and a good soul fell to my lot;

²⁰or rather, being good, I entered an undefiled body.

²¹But I perceived that I would not possess wisdom unless God gave her to me—

and it was a mark of insight to know whose gift she was—

so I appealed to the Lord and implored him,

and with my whole heart I said:

The Prayer of Solomon

9 “O God of my fathers and Lord of mercy,

who have made all things by your word,

²and by your wisdom have formed man,

to have dominion over the creatures you have made,

³and rule the world in holiness and righteousness,

and pronounce judgment in uprightness of soul,

⁴give me the wisdom that sits by your throne,

and do not reject me from among your servants.

⁵For I am your slave and the son of your maidservant,

a man who is weak and short-lived,

with little understanding of judgment and laws;

⁶for even if one is perfect among the sons of men,

yet without the wisdom that comes from you he will be regarded as nothing.

⁷You have chosen me to be king of your people

and to be judge over your sons and daughters.

⁸You have given command to build a temple on your holy mountain,

and an altar in the city of your habitation,

a copy of the holy tent which you prepared from the beginning.

⁹With you is wisdom, who knows your works

and was present when you made the world,

and who understands what is pleasing in your sight

and what is right according to your commandments.

¹⁰Send her forth from the holy heavens,

and from the throne of your glory send her,

that she may be with me and toil,

and that I may learn what is pleasing to you.

¹¹For she knows and understands all things,

and she will guide me wisely in my actions

and guard me with her glory.

¹²Then my works will be acceptable,

and I shall judge your people justly,

and shall be worthy of the throne ^t of my father.

¹³For what man can learn the counsel of God?

Or who can discern what the Lord wills?

¹⁴For the reasoning of mortals is worthless,

and our designs are likely to fail,

¹⁵for a perishable body weighs down the soul,

and this earthy tent burdens the thoughtful^u mind.

¹⁶We can hardly guess at what is on earth,

and what is at hand we find with labor;

but who has traced out what is in the heavens?

¹⁷Who has learned your counsel, unless you have given wisdom

and sent your holy Spirit from on high?

¹⁸And thus the paths of those on earth were set right,

and men were taught what pleases you,

and were saved by wisdom.”

The Deeds of Wisdom

10 Wisdom^v protected the first-formed father of the world,

when he alone had been created;

she delivered him from his transgression,

²and gave him strength to rule all things.

³But when an unrighteous man departed from her in his anger,

he perished because in rage he slew his brother.

⁴When the earth was flooded because of him, wisdom again saved it,

steering the righteous man by a paltry piece of wood.

⁵Wisdom^w also, when the nations in wicked agreement had been confounded,

recognized the righteous man and preserved him blameless before God,

and kept him strong in the face of his compassion for his child.

⁶Wisdom^w rescued a righteous man when the ungodly were perishing;

he escaped the fire that descended on the Five Cities.^x

⁷Evidence of their wickedness still remains:

a continually smoking wasteland,

plants bearing fruit that does not ripen,

and a pillar of salt standing as a monument to an unbelieving soul.

⁸For because they passed wisdom by,

they not only were hindered from recognizing the good,

but also left for mankind a reminder of their folly,

so that their failures could never go unnoticed.

⁹Wisdom rescued from troubles those who served her.

¹⁰When a righteous man fled from his brother’s wrath,

she guided him on straight paths;

she showed him the kingdom of God,

and gave him knowledge of angels; ^y

she prospered him in his labors,

and increased the fruit of his toil.

¹¹When his oppressors were covetous,

she stood by him and made him rich.

¹²She protected him from his enemies,

and kept him safe from those who lay in wait for him;

in his arduous contest she gave him the victory,

so that he might learn that godliness is more powerful than anything.

¹³When a righteous man was sold, wisdom ^z did not desert him,

but delivered him from sin.

She descended with him into the dungeon,

¹⁴and when he was in prison she did not leave him,

until she brought him the scepter of a kingdom

and authority over his masters.

Those who accused him she showed to be false,

and she gave him everlasting honor.

¹⁵A holy people and blameless race

wisdom^a delivered from a nation of oppressors.

¹⁶She entered the soul of a servant of the Lord,

and withstood dread kings with wonders and signs.

¹⁷She gave to holy men the reward of their labors;

she guided them along a marvelous way,

and became a shelter to them by day,

and a starry flame through the night.

¹⁸She brought them over the Red Sea,

and led them through deep waters;

¹⁹but she drowned their enemies,

and cast them up from the depth of the sea.

²⁰Therefore the righteous plundered the ungodly;

they sang hymns, O Lord, to your holy name,

and praised with one accord your defending hand,

²¹because wisdom opened the mouth of the mute,

and made the tongues of infants speak clearly.

11 Wisdom^a prospered their works by the hand of a holy prophet.

²They journeyed through an uninhabited wilderness,

and pitched their tents in untrodden places.

³They withstood their enemies and fought off their foes.

⁴When they thirsted they called upon you,

and water was given them out of flinty rock,

and slaking of thirst from hard stone.

⁵For through the very things by which their enemies were punished,

they themselves received benefit in their need.

⁶Instead of the fountain of an ever-flowing river,

stirred up and defiled with blood

⁷in rebuke for the decree to slay the infants,

you gave them abundant water unexpectedly,

⁸showing by their thirst at that time

how you punished their enemies.

⁹For when they were tried, though they were being disciplined in mercy,

they learned how the ungodly were tormented when judged in wrath.

¹⁰For you tested them as a father does in warning,

but you examined the ungodly ^b as a stern king does in condemnation.

¹¹Whether absent or present, they were equally distressed,

¹²for a twofold grief possessed them,

and a groaning at the memory of what had occurred.

¹³For when they heard that through their own punishments

the righteous ^c had received benefit, they perceived it was the Lord’s doing.

¹⁴For though they had mockingly rejected him who long before had been cast out and exposed,

at the end of the events they marveled at him,

for their thirst was not like that of the righteous.

¹⁵In return for their foolish and wicked thoughts,

which led them astray to worship irrational serpents and worthless animals,

you sent upon them a multitude of irrational creatures to punish them,

¹⁶that they might learn that one is punished by the very things by which he sins.

¹⁷For your all-powerful hand,

which created the world out of formless matter,

did not lack the means to send upon them a multitude of bears, or bold lions,

¹⁸or newly created unknown beasts full of rage,

or such as breathe out fiery breath,

or belch forth a thick pall of smoke,

or flash terrible sparks from their eyes;

not only could their damage exterminate men,^d

but the mere sight of them could kill by fright.

²⁰Even apart from these, men^e could fall at a single breath

when pursued by justice

and scattered by the breath of your power.

But you have arranged all things by measure and number and weight.

²¹For it is always in your power to show great strength,

and who can withstand the might of your arm?

²²Because the whole world before you is like a speck that tips the scales,

and like a drop of morning dew that falls upon the ground.

²³But you are merciful to all, for you can do all things,

and you overlook men’s sins, that they may repent.

²⁴For you love all things that exist,

and you loathe none of the things which you have made,

for you would not have made anything if you had hated it.

²⁵How would anything have endured if you had not willed it?

Or how would anything not called forth by you have been preserved?

²⁶You spare all things, for they are yours, O Lord who love the living.*

12 For your immortal spirit is in all things.

²Therefore you correct little by little those who trespass,

and remind and warn them of the things wherein they sin,

that they may be freed from wickedness and put their trust in you, O Lord.

³Those who dwelt of old in your holy land

⁴you hated for their detestable practices,

their works of sorcery and unholy rites,

⁵their merciless slaughter ^f of children,

and their sacrificial feasting on human flesh and blood.

These initiates from the midst of a heathen cult, ^g

⁶these parents who murder helpless lives,

you wanted to destroy by the hands of our fathers,

⁷that the land most precious of all to you

might receive a worthy colony of the servants ^h of God.

⁸But even these you spared, since they were but men,

and sent waspsⁱ as forerunners of your army,

to destroy them little by little,

⁹though you were not unable to give the ungodly into the hands of the righteous in battle,

or to destroy them at one blow by dread wild beasts or your stern word.

¹⁰But judging them little by little you gave them a chance to repent,

though you were not unaware that their origin^j was evil

and their wickedness inborn,

and that their way of thinking would never change.

¹¹For they were an accursed race from the beginning,

and it was not through fear of any one that you left them unpunished for their sins.

¹²For who will say, “What have you done?”

Or who will resist your judgment?

Who will accuse you for the destruction of nations which you made?

Or who will come before you to plead as an advocate for unrighteous men?

¹³For neither is there any god besides you, whose care is for all men,^k

to whom you should prove that you have not judged unjustly;

¹⁴nor can any king or monarch confront you about those whom you have punished.

¹⁵You are righteous and rule all things righteously,

deeming it alien to your power

to condemn him who does not deserve to be punished.

¹⁶For your strength is the source of righteousness,

and your sovereignty over all causes you to spare all.

¹⁷For you show your strength when men doubt the completeness of your power,

and rebuke any insolence among those who know it.^l

¹⁸You who are sovereign in strength judge with mildness,

and with great forbearance you govern us;

for you have power to act whenever you choose.

¹⁹Through such works you have taught your people

that the righteous man must be kind,

and you have filled your sons with good hope,

because you give repentance for sins.

²⁰For if you punished with such great care and indulgence ^m

the enemies of your servants ⁿ and those deserving of death,

granting them time and opportunity to give up their wickedness,

²¹with what strictness you have judged your sons,

to whose fathers you gave oaths and covenants full of good promises!

²²So while chastening us you scourge our enemies ten thousand times more,

so that we may meditate upon your goodness when we judge,

and when we are judged we may expect mercy.

²³Therefore those who in folly of life lived unrighteously

you tormented through their own abominations.

²⁴For they went far astray on the paths of error,

accepting as gods those animals which even their enemies ^o despised;

they were deceived like foolish infants.

²⁵Therefore, as to thoughtless children,

you sent your judgment to mock them.

²⁶But those who have not heeded the warning of light rebukes

will experience the deserved judgment of God.

²⁷For when in their suffering they became incensed

at those creatures which they had thought to be gods, being punished by means of them,

they saw and recognized as the true God him whom they had before refused to know.

Therefore the utmost condemnation came upon them.

The Foolishness of Idolatry

13 For all men who were ignorant of God were foolish by nature;

and they were unable from the good things that are seen to know him who exists,

nor did they recognize the craftsman while paying heed to his works;

²but they supposed that either fire or wind or swift air,

or the circle of the stars, or turbulent water,

or the luminaries of heaven were the gods that rule the world.

³If through delight in the beauty of these things men ^p assumed them to be gods,

let them know how much better than these is their Lord,

for the author of beauty created them.

⁴And if men ^p were amazed at their power and working,

let them perceive from them

how much more powerful is he who formed them.

⁵For from the greatness and beauty of created things

comes a corresponding perception of their Creator.

⁶Yet these men are little to be blamed,

for perhaps they go astray

while seeking God and desiring to find him.

⁷For as they live among his works they keep searching,

and they trust in what they see, because the things that are seen are beautiful.

⁸Yet again, not even they are to be excused;

⁹for if they had the power to know so much

that they could investigate the world,

how did they fail to find sooner the Lord of these things?

¹⁰But miserable, with their hopes set on dead things, are the men

who give the name “gods” to the works of men’s hands,

gold and silver fashioned with skill,

and likenesses of animals,

or a useless stone, the work of an ancient hand.

¹¹A skilled woodcutter may saw down a tree easy to handle

and skilfully strip off all its bark,

and then with pleasing workmanship

make a useful vessel that serves life’s needs,

¹²and burn the castoff pieces of his work

to prepare his food, and eat his fill.

¹³But a castoff piece from among them, useful for nothing,

a stick crooked and full of knots,

he takes and carves with care in his leisure,

and shapes it with skill gained in idleness; ^q

he forms it like the image of a man,

¹⁴or makes it like some worthless animal,

giving it a coat of red paint and coloring its surface red

and covering every blemish in it with paint;

¹⁵then he makes for it a niche that befits it,

and sets it in the wall, and fastens it there with iron.

¹⁶So he takes thought for it, that it may not fall,

because he knows that it cannot help itself,

for it is only an image and has need of help.

¹⁷When he prays about possessions and his marriage and children,

he is not ashamed to address a lifeless thing.

¹⁸For health he appeals to a thing that is weak;

for life he prays to a thing that is dead;

for aid he entreats a thing that is utterly inexperienced;

for a prosperous journey, a thing that cannot take a step;

¹⁹for money-making and work and success with his hands

he asks strength of a thing whose hands have no strength.

14 Again, one preparing to sail and about to voyage over raging waves

calls upon a piece of wood more fragile than the ship which carries him.

²For it was desire for gain that planned that vessel,

and wisdom was the craftsman who built it;

³but it is your providence, O Father, that steers its course,

because you have given it a path in the sea,

and a safe way through the waves,

⁴showing that you can save from every danger,

so that even if a man lacks skill, he may put to sea.

⁵It is your will that works of your wisdom should not be without effect;

therefore men trust their lives even to the smallest piece of wood,

and passing through the billows on a raft they come safely to land.

⁶For even in the beginning, when arrogant giants were perishing,

the hope of the world took refuge on a raft,

and guided by your hand left to the world the seed of a new generation.

⁷For blessed is the wood by which righteousness comes.

⁸But the idol made with hands is accursed, and so is he who made it;

because he did the work, and the perishable thing was named a god.

⁹For equally hateful to God are the ungodly man and his ungodliness,

¹⁰for what was done will be punished together with him who did it.

¹¹Therefore there will be a visitation also upon the heathen idols,

because, though part of what God created, they became an abomination,

and became traps for the souls of men

and a snare to the feet of the foolish.

¹²For the idea of making idols was the beginning of fornication,

and the invention of them was the corruption of life,

¹³for neither have they existed from the beginning

nor will they exist for ever.

¹⁴For through the vanity of men they entered the world,

and therefore their speedy end has been planned.

¹⁵For a father, consumed with grief at an untimely bereavement,

made an image of his child, who had been suddenly taken from him;

and he now honored as a god what was once a dead human being,

and handed on to his dependents secret rites and initiations.

¹⁶Then the ungodly custom, grown strong with time, was kept as a law,

and at the command of monarchs graven images were worshiped.

¹⁷When men could not honor monarchs ^r in their presence, since they lived at a distance,

they imagined their appearance far away,

and made a visible image of the king whom they honored,

so that by their zeal they might flatter the absent one as though present.

¹⁸Then the ambition of the craftsman impelled

even those who did not know the king to intensify their worship.

¹⁹For he, perhaps wishing to please his ruler,

skilfully forced the likeness to take more beautiful form,

²⁰and the multitude, attracted by the charm of his work,

now regarded as an object of worship the one whom shortly before they had honored as a man.

²¹And this became a hidden trap for mankind,

because men, in bondage to misfortune or to royal authority,

bestowed on objects of stone or wood the name that ought not to be shared.

²²Afterward it was not enough for them to err about the knowledge of God,

but they live in great strife due to ignorance,

and they call such great evils peace.

²³For whether they kill children in their initiations, or celebrate secret mysteries,

or hold frenzied revels with strange customs,

²⁴they no longer keep either their lives or their marriages pure,

but they either treacherously kill one another, or grieve one another by adultery,

²⁵and all is a raging riot of blood and murder, theft and deceit, corruption, faithlessness, tumult, perjury,

²⁶confusion over what is good, forgetfulness of favors,

pollution of souls, sex perversion,

disorder in marriage, adultery, and debauchery.

²⁷For the worship of idols not to be named

is the beginning and cause and end of every evil.

²⁸For their worshipers^s either rave in exultation, or prophesy lies,

or live unrighteously, or readily commit perjury;

²⁹for because they trust in lifeless idols

they swear wicked oaths and expect to suffer no harm.

³⁰But just penalties will overtake them on two counts:

because they thought wickedly of God in devoting themselves to idols,

and because in deceit they swore unrighteously through contempt for holiness.

³¹For it is not the power of the things by which men swear,^t

but the just penalty for those who sin,

that always pursues the transgression of the unrighteous.

True Worship of God Contrasted to Idols

15 But you, our God, are kind and true,

patient, and ruling all things ^u in mercy.

²For even if we sin we are yours, knowing your power;

but we will not sin, because we know that we are considered yours.

³For to know you is complete righteousness,

and to know your power is the root of immortality.

⁴For neither has the evil intent of human art misled us,

nor the fruitless toil of painters,

a figure stained with varied colors,

⁵whose appearance arouses yearning in fools,

so that they desire ^v the lifeless form of a dead image.

⁶Lovers of evil things and fit for such objects of hope ^w

are those who either make or desire or worship them.

⁷For when a potter kneads the soft earth

and laboriously molds each vessel for our service,

he fashions out of the same clay

both the vessels that serve clean uses

and those for contrary uses, making all in like manner;

but which shall be the use of each of these

the worker in clay decides.

⁸With misspent toil, he forms a futile god from the same clay—

this man who was made of earth a short time before

and after a little while goes to the earth from which he was taken,

when he is required to return the soul that was lent him.

⁹But he is not concerned that he is destined to die

or that his life is brief,

but he competes with workers in gold and silver,

and imitates workers in copper;

and he counts it his glory that he molds counterfeit gods.

¹⁰His heart is ashes, his hope is cheaper than dirt,

and his life is of less worth than clay,

¹¹because he failed to know the one who formed him

and inspired him with an active soul

and breathed into him a living spirit.

¹²But he ^x considered our existence an idle game,

and life a festival held for profit,

for he says one must get money however one can, even by base means.

¹³For this man, more than all others, knows that he sins

when he makes from earthy matter fragile vessels and graven images.

¹⁴But most foolish, and more miserable than an infant,

are all the enemies who oppressed your people.

¹⁵For they thought that all their heathen idols were gods,

though these have neither the use of their eyes to see with,

nor nostrils with which to draw breath,

nor ears with which to hear,

nor fingers to feel with,

and their feet are of no use for walking.

¹⁶For a man made them,

and one whose spirit is borrowed formed them;

for no man can form a god which is like himself.

¹⁷He is mortal, and what he makes with lawless hands is dead,

for he is better than the objects he worships,

since ^y he has life, but they never have.

¹⁸The enemies of your people ^z worship even the most hateful animals,

which are worse than all others, when judged by their lack of intelligence;

¹⁹and even as animals they are not so beautiful in appearance that one would desire them,

but they have escaped both the praise of God and his blessing.

16 Therefore those men were deservedly punished through such creatures,

and were tormented by a multitude of animals.

²Instead of this punishment you showed kindness to your people,

and you prepared quails to eat,

a delicacy to satisfy the desire of appetite;

³in order that those men, when they desired food,

might lose the least remnant of appetite ^a

because of the odious creatures sent to them,

while your people,^b after suffering want a short time,

might partake of delicacies.

⁴For it was necessary that upon those oppressors inexorable want should come,

while to these it was merely shown how their enemies were being tormented.

⁵For when the terrible rage of wild beasts came upon your people ^c

and they were being destroyed by the bites of writhing serpents,

your wrath did not continue to the end;

⁶they were troubled for a little while as a warning,

and received a token of deliverance to remind them of your law’s command.

⁷For he who turned toward it was saved, not by what he saw,

but by you, the Savior of all.

⁸And by this also you convinced our enemies

that it is you who deliver from every evil.

⁹For they were killed by the bites of locusts and flies,

and no healing was found for them,

because they deserved to be punished by such things;

¹⁰but your sons were not conquered even by the teeth of venomous serpents,

for your mercy came to their help and healed them.

¹¹To remind them of your oracles they were bitten,

and then were quickly delivered,

lest they should fall into deep forgetfulness

and become unresponsive ^d to your kindness.

¹²For neither herb nor poultice cured them,

but it was your word, O Lord, which heals all men.

¹³For you have power over life and death;

you lead men down to the gates of Hades and back again.

¹⁴A man in his wickedness kills another,

but he cannot bring back the departed spirit,

nor set free the imprisoned soul.

¹⁵To escape from your hand is impossible;

¹⁶for the ungodly, refusing to know you,

were scourged by the strength of your arm,

pursued by unusual rains and hail and relentless storms,

and utterly consumed by fire.

¹⁷For—most incredible of all—in the water, which quenches all things,

the fire had still greater effect,

for the universe defends the righteous.

¹⁸At one time the flame was restrained,

so that it might not consume the creatures sent against the ungodly,

but that seeing this they might know

that they were being pursued by the judgment of God;

¹⁹and at another time even in the midst of water it burned more intensely than fire,

to destroy the crops of the unrighteous land.

²⁰Instead of these things you gave your people the food of angels,

and without their toil you supplied them from heaven with bread ready to eat,

providing every pleasure and suited to every taste.

²¹For your sustenance manifested your sweetness toward your children;

and the bread, ministering ^e to the desire of the one who took it,

was changed to suit every one’s liking.

²²Snow and ice withstood fire without melting,

so that they might know that the crops of their enemies

were being destroyed by the fire that blazed in the hail

and flashed in the showers of rain;

²³whereas the fire,^f in order that the righteous might be fed,

even forgot its native power.

²⁴For creation, serving you who have made it,

exerts itself to punish the unrighteous,

and in kindness relaxes on behalf of those who trust in you.

²⁵Therefore at that time also, changed into all forms,

it served your all-nourishing bounty,

according to the desire of those who had need, ^g

²⁶so that your sons, whom you loved, O Lord, might learn

that it is not the production of crops that feeds man,

but that your word preserves those who trust in you.

²⁷For what was not destroyed by fire

was melted when simply warmed by a fleeting ray of the sun,

²⁸to make it known that one must rise before the sun to give you thanks,

and must pray to you at the dawning of the light;

²⁹for the hope of an ungrateful man will melt like wintry frost,

and flow away like waste water.

The Plague of Darkness and Death

17 Great are your judgments and hard to describe;

therefore uninstructed souls have gone astray.

²For when lawless men supposed that they held the holy nation in their power,

they themselves lay as captives of darkness and prisoners of long night,

shut in under their roofs, exiles from eternal providence.

³For thinking that in their secret sins they were unobserved

behind a dark curtain of forgetfulness,

they were scattered, terribly ^h alarmed,

and appalled by specters.

⁴For not even the inner chamber that held them protected them from fear,

but terrifying sounds rang out around them,

and dismal phantoms with gloomy faces appeared.

⁵And no power of fire was able to give light,

nor did the brilliant flames of the stars

avail to illumine that hateful night.

⁶Nothing was shining through to them

except a dreadful, self-kindled fire,

and in terror they deemed the things which they saw

to be worse than that unseen appearance.

⁷The delusions of their magic art lay humbled,

and their boasted wisdom was scornfully rebuked.

⁸For those who promised to drive off the fears and disorders of a sick soul

were sick themselves with ridiculous fear.

⁹For even if nothing disturbing frightened them,

yet, scared by the passing of beasts and the hissing of serpents,

¹⁰they perished in trembling fear,

refusing to look even at the air, though it nowhere could be avoided.

¹¹For wickedness is a cowardly thing, condemned by its own testimony; ⁱ

distressed by conscience, it has always exaggerated ^j the difficulties.

¹²For fear is nothing but surrender of the helps that come from reason;

¹³and the inner expectation of help, being weak,

prefers ignorance of what causes the torment.

¹⁴But throughout the night, which was really powerless,

and which beset them from the recesses of powerless Hades,

they all slept the same sleep,

¹⁵and now were driven by monstrous specters,

and now were paralyzed by their souls’ surrender,

for sudden and unexpected fear overwhelmed them.

¹⁶And whoever was there fell down,

and thus was kept shut up in a prison not made of iron;

¹⁷for whether he was a farmer or a shepherd

or a workman who toiled in the wilderness,

he was seized, and endured the inescapable fate;

for with one chain of darkness they all were bound.

¹⁸Whether there came a whistling wind,

or a melodious sound of birds in wide-spreading branches,

or the rhythm of violently rushing water,

¹⁹or the harsh crash of rocks hurled down,

or the unseen running of leaping animals,

or the sound of the most savage roaring beasts,

or an echo thrown back from a hollow of the mountains,

it paralyzed them with terror.

²⁰For the whole world was illumined with brilliant light,

and was engaged in unhindered work,

²¹while over those men alone heavy night was spread,

an image of the darkness that was destined to receive them;

but still heavier than darkness were they to themselves.

18 But for your holy ones there was very great light.

Their enemies ^k heard their voices but did not see their forms,

and counted them happy for not having suffered,

²and were thankful that your holy ones, ^k though previously wronged, were doing them no injury;

and they begged their pardon for having been at variance with them. ^l

³Therefore you provided a flaming pillar of fire

as a guide for your people’s ^m unknown journey,

and a harmless sun for their glorious wandering.

⁴For their enemies ⁿ deserved to be deprived of light and imprisoned in darkness,

those who had kept your sons imprisoned,

through whom the imperishable light of the law was to be given to the world.

⁵When they had resolved to kill the infants of your holy ones,

and one child had been exposed and rescued,

in punishment you took away a multitude of their children;

and you destroyed them all together by a mighty flood.

⁶That night was made known beforehand to our fathers,

so that they might rejoice in sure knowledge of the oaths in which they trusted.

⁷The deliverance of the righteous and the destruction of their enemies

were expected by your people.

⁸For by the same means by which you punished our enemies

you called us to yourself and glorified us.

⁹For in secret the holy children of good men offered sacrifices,

and with one accord agreed to the divine law,

that the saints would share alike the same things,

both blessings and dangers;

and already they were singing the praises of the fathers.^o

¹⁰But the discordant cry of their enemies echoed back,

and their piteous lament for their children was spread abroad.

¹¹The slave was punished with the same penalty as the master,

and the common man suffered the same loss as the king;

¹²and they all together, by the one form of death,

had corpses too many to count.

For the living were not sufficient even to bury them,

since in one instant their most valued children had been destroyed.

¹³For though they had disbelieved everything because of their magic arts,

yet, when their first-born were destroyed, they acknowledged your people to be God’s son.

¹⁴For while gentle silence enveloped all things,

and night in its swift course was now half gone,

¹⁵your all-powerful word leaped from heaven, from the royal throne,

into the midst of the land that was doomed,

a stern warrior ¹⁶carrying the sharp sword of your authentic command,

and stood and filled all things with death,

and touched heaven while standing on the earth.

¹⁷Then at once apparitions in dreadful dreams greatly troubled them,

and unexpected fears assailed them;

¹⁸and one here and another there, hurled down half dead,

made known why they were dying;

¹⁹for the dreams which disturbed them forewarned them of this,

so that they might not perish without knowing why they suffered.

²⁰The experience of death touched also the righteous,

and a plague came upon the multitude in the desert,

but the wrath did not long continue.

²¹For a blameless man was quick to act as their champion;

he brought forward the shield of his ministry,

prayer and propitiation by incense;

he withstood the anger and put an end to the disaster,

showing that he was your servant.

²²He conquered the wrath ^p not by strength of body,

and not by force of arms,

but by his word he subdued the punisher,

appealing to the oaths and covenants given to our fathers.

²³For when the dead had already fallen on one another in heaps,

he intervened and held back the wrath,

and cut off its way to the living.

²⁴For upon his long robe the whole world was depicted,

and the glories of the fathers were engraved on the four rows of stones,

and your majesty on the diadem upon his head.

²⁵To these the destroyer yielded, these he ^q feared;

for merely to test the wrath was enough.

God’s Continuing Help for His People

19 But the ungodly were assailed to the end by pitiless anger,

for God^r knew in advance even their future actions,

²that, though they themselves had permitted ^s your people to depart

and hastily sent them forth,

they would change their minds and pursue them.

³For while they were still busy at mourning,

and were lamenting at the graves of their dead,

they reached another foolish decision,

and pursued as fugitives those whom they had begged and compelled to depart.

⁴For the fate they deserved drew them on to this end,

and made them forget what had happened,

in order that they might fill up the punishment which their torments still lacked,

⁵and that your people might experience^t an incredible journey,

but they themselves might meet a strange death.

⁶For the whole creation in its nature was fashioned anew,

complying with your commands,

that your children^u might be kept unharmed.

⁷The cloud was seen overshadowing the camp,

and dry land emerging where water had stood before,

an unhindered way out of the Red Sea,

and a grassy plain out of the raging waves,

⁸where those protected by your hand passed through as one nation,

after gazing on marvelous wonders.

⁹For they ranged like horses,

and leaped like lambs,

praising you, O Lord, who delivered them.

¹⁰For they still recalled the events of their sojourn,

how instead of producing animals the earth brought forth gnats,

and instead of fish the river spewed out vast numbers of frogs.

¹¹Afterward they saw also a new kind^v of birds,

when desire led them to ask for luxurious food;

¹²for, to give them relief, quails came up from the sea.

¹³The punishments did not come upon the sinners

without prior signs in the violence of thunder,

for they justly suffered because of their wicked acts;

for they practiced a more bitter hatred of strangers.

¹⁴Others had refused to receive strangers when they came to them,

but these made slaves of guests who were their benefactors.

¹⁵And not only so, but punishment of some sort will come upon the former

for their hostile reception of the strangers;

¹⁶but the latter, after receiving them with festal celebrations,

afflicted with terrible sufferings

those who had already shared the same rights.

¹⁷They were stricken also with loss of sight—

just as were those at the door of the righteous man—

when, surrounded by yawning darkness,

each tried to find the way through his own door.

¹⁸For the elements changed ^w places with one another,

as on a harp the notes vary the nature of the rhythm,

while each note remains the same.^x

This may be clearly inferred from the sight of what took place.

¹⁹For land animals were transformed into water creatures,

and creatures that swim moved over to the land.

²⁰Fire even in water retained its normal power,

and water forgot its fire-quenching nature.

²¹Flames, on the contrary, failed to consume

the flesh of perishable creatures that walked among them,

nor did they melt ^y the crystalline, easily melted kind of heavenly food.

²²For in everything, O Lord, you have exalted and glorified your people;

and you have not neglected to help them at all times and in all places.