Jul 11 - Wisdom 12-15
Wisdom
1O how good and gracious, Lord, is your spirit in all things2Therefore, those who wander afield, you correct, and, as to those who sin, you counsel them and admonish them, so that, having abandoned malice, they may believe in you, O Lord3For those ancient inhabitants of your holy land, who you abhorred4because they were doing works hateful to you, through unjust medicines and sacrifices5and the merciless murderers of their own sons, and the eaters of human entrails, and the devourers of blood apart from your community sacrament6and the sellers performing the ceremonies of helpless souls, you willed to destroy by the hands of our parents7so that they might worthily secure the sojourn of the children of God, in the land which is most beloved by you8Yet, so that you were lenient even to these men, you sent wasps, forerunners of your army, so that you might destroy them little by little9not because you were unable to subdue the impious under the just by war or by cruel beasts, or with a harsh word to exterminate them at once10but, in judging by degrees, you were giving them a place of repentance, not unaware that their nation is wicked, and their malice is inherent, and that their thinking could never be changed11For this offspring was accursed from the beginning. Neither did you, fearing anyone, give favor to their sins12For who will say to you, "What have you done?" Or who will stand against your judgment? Or who will come before you as a defender of unfair men? Or who will accuse you, if the nations perish, which you have made13For neither is there any other God but you, who has care of all, to whom you would show that you did not give judgment unjustly14Neither will king or tyrant inquire before you about those whom you destroyed15Therefore, since you are just, you order all things justly, considering it foreign to your virtue to condemn him who does not deserve to be punished16For your power is the beginning of justice, and, because you are Lord of all, you make yourself to be lenient to all17For you reveal power to those who do not believe you to be perfect in power, and you expose the arrogance of those who do not know you18Yet, you are the master of power, since you judge with tranquility, and since you administer us with great reverence; for it is close to you to be used whenever you will19But you have taught your people, through such works, that they must be just and humane, and you have made your sons to be of good hope, because in judging you provide a place for repentance from sins20For even if the enemies of your servants were deserving of death, you afflicted them with great attentiveness, providing a time and a place whereby they would be able to be changed from malice21with what diligence, then, have you judged your sons, whose parents you have given oaths and covenants in good faith22Therefore, while you give us discipline, you give our enemies a multiplicity of scourges, so that in judging we may think on your goodness, and when we are judged, we may hope for mercy23Therefore, also to these, who have lived their life irrationally and unjustly, through these things that they worshiped, you gave the greatest torments24And, indeed, they wandered for a long time in the way of error, valuing those things as gods, which are worthless even among animals, living in foolish irrational behavior25Because of this, you have given a judgment in derision, as if from foolish children26But those who have not been corrected by mockery and chiding, have experienced a judgment worthy of God27For among those who were indignant at their sufferings, which came through those things that they reputed to be gods, when they saw that they would be destroyed by these same things, those who formerly refused knowledge of him, now acknowledged the true God, and, because of this, the end of their condemnation came upon them
1But all men are vain, who are not under the knowledge of God, and who, from these good things that are seen, were not able to understand he who is, nor, by paying attention to the works, did they acknowledge he who was the artisan2Instead, they had considered either the fire, or the air, or the atmosphere, or the circle of stars, or the great sea, or the sun and moon, to be the gods that rule the world3If they, being delighted by such sights, supposed them to be gods, let them know how great the Lord of them is in splendor. For he who created all things is the author of beauty4Or, if they wondered at their power and their effects, let them understand by these things, that he who created them is mightier than they are5For, by the greatness of the creation and its beauty, the creator of these will be able to be seen discernibly6Yet, up to this point, the complaint about this is lesser. For perhaps they made a mistake in this, while desiring and seeking to find God7And, indeed, having some familiarity with him through his works, they search, and they are persuaded, because the things that they are seeing are good8But, then again, neither can their debt be ignored9For, if they were able to know enough so that they could value the universe, how is it they did not easily discover the Lord of it10Yet they are unhappy, and their hope is among the dead, for they have called ‘gods’ the works of the hands of men, gold and silver, the inventions of skill, and the likeness of animals, or a useless stone, the work of an ancient hand11Or, it is as if a craftsman, a workman of the forest, had cut straight wood, and, with his expertise, shaved off all of its bark, and, with his skill, diligently fashioned a vessel, practical for use in life12and even the remains of his work were exhausted in the preparation of food13and, from the remainder of this, which has become useful for nothing, a curved piece of wood and full of knots, he diligently carves it in his spare time, and, through the knowledge of his art, forms it and makes it in the image of a man14or something comparable to an animal, thoroughly rubbing it with red ochre, to make it red with the color of the pigment, and to cover every imperfection which is in it15and it is as if he made a fitting resting place for it, even setting it in a wall and fastening it with iron16providing for it, lest it should fall, knowing that it is unable to help itself, for it is an image and it is in need of help17And then, making an offering, he inquires about his wealth, and about his sons, and about marriage. And he is not ashamed to talk to that which has no soul18And for health, indeed, something unhealthy is being prayed to, and for life, he petitions what is dead, and for help, he calls upon something helpless19and for a good journey, he entreats that which is unable to walk, and for acquiring, and for working, and for success in all things, he entreats that which is useless in all things
1Again, another, thinking to sail, and beginning to make his voyage through the raging waves, calls upon a piece of wood more fragile than the wood that carries him2For this is what desire has contrived to be acquired, and the craftsman has formed its understanding3But your providence, O Father, governs, because you have provided for both a way in the sea and a very reliable path among the waves4revealing that you are able to save out of all things, even if someone were to go to sea without skill5But, so that the works of your wisdom might not be empty, therefore, men trust their souls even to a little piece of wood, and, crossing over the sea by raft, they are set free6But, from the beginning, when the proud giants were perishing, the hope of the world, fleeing by boat, gave back to future ages a seed of birth, which was governed by your hand7For blessed is the wood through which justice is made8But, through the hand that makes the idol, both it, and he who made it, is accursed: he, indeed, because it has been served by him, and it, because, though it is fragile, it is called ‘god.9But the impious and his impiety are similarly offensive to God10For that which is made, together with him who made it, will suffer torments11Because of this, and according to the idolatries of the nations, there will be no refuge, for the things created by God have been made into hatred, and into a temptation to the souls of men, and into a snare for the feet of the foolish12For the beginning of fornication is the search for idols, and from their invention comes corruption of life13For they neither existed from the beginning, nor will they exist forever14For by the great emptiness of men they came into the world, and therefore their end is soon discovered15For a father, embittered with the suffering of grief, made an image of his son, who had been suddenly taken away from him, and then, he who had died as a man, now begins to be worshiped as if a god, and so rites and sacrifices are established among his servants16Then, in the course of time, iniquity gains strength within this erroneous custom, so that this error has been observed as if it were a law, and this figment has been worshiped at the command of tyrants17And those, whom men could not openly honor because they were far off, a likeness of them was carried from far off, and from it they made a similar image of the king that they wanted to honor, so that, by their solicitude, they might worship he who was absent, just as if he were present18Yet, it passes into their care, and those whom they did not know, they love because of the excellence of the artist19For he, wishing to please the one who hired him, embellished his art, so as to fashion a better likeness20But the multitude of men, brought together by the beauty of the work, now considered him to be a god, whom they had formerly honored as a man21And this was the deception of human life: that men, serving either their own inclination or their kings, assigned the unutterable name to stones and wood22And it was not enough for them to go astray concerning the knowledge of God, but also, while living in a great war of ignorance, they call so many and such great evils ‘peace.23For either they sacrifice their own sons, or they make dark sacrifices, or they hold vigils full of madness24so that now they neither protect life, nor preserve a clean marriage, but one kills another through envy, or grieves him by adultery25And all things are mixed together: blood, murder, theft and fraud, corruption and infidelity, disturbances and perjury, disorder within good things26forgetfulness of God, pollution of souls, alteration of procreation, inconstancy of marriage, unnatural adultery and homosexuality27For the worship of unspeakable idols is the cause, and the beginning and the end, of all evil28For they either act with madness while happy, or they insistently speak wild lies, or they live unjustly, or they are quick to commit perjury29For, while they trust in idols, which are without a soul, vowing evil, they hope not to be harmed themselves30Therefore, from both sides it will fittingly happen, because they have thought evil of God, paying attention to idols, and because they have sworn unjustly, in guile despising justice31For swearing is not virtue, but sinning always comes around to a punishment according to the transgression of the unjust
1But you, our God, are gracious and true, patient, and in mercy ordering all things2And, indeed, if we sin, we are yours, knowing your greatness; and, if we do not sin, we know that we are counted with you3For to have known you is perfect justice, and to know justice and your virtue is the root of immortality4For the skillful planning of evil men has not led us into error, nor the shadow of a picture, a fruitless labor, an image having been sculpted through the use of diverse colors5the sight of which gives desire to the foolish, and he loves the likeness of a lifeless image without a soul6Deserving are the lovers of evil, those who hope in such things, and those who make them, and those who love them, and those who promote them7But even the potter, pressing laboriously, molds the soft earth into vessels, each one for our use. And from the same clay he molds vessels, those which are for clean use, and similarly, those which are for the opposite. But, as to what is the use of a vessel, the potter is the judge8And with effort he molds an empty god of the same clay, he who a little before had been made from the earth, and, after brief time, he himself returns from whence he came, to be claimed by he who holds the debt of his soul9Yet his concern is, not what his work will be, nor that his life is short, but that he is being contested by those who work with gold and silver, yet he also does the same to those who work with copper, and he glories that he makes worthless things10For his heart is ashes, and his hope is worthless dirt, and his life is more common than clay11because he ignores the One who molded him, and who instilled in him a working soul, and who breathed into him a living spirit12Yet they even considered our life to be a plaything, and the usefulness of life to be the accumulation of wealth, and that we must be acquiring things in every possible way, even from evil13For, above all else, he knows himself to be lacking, who, from fragile material of the earth forms vessels and graven images14For all the foolish and unhappy, in charge of the way of the arrogant soul, are enemies of your people and rule over them15because they have esteemed all the idols of the nations as gods, which neither have the use of eyes to see, nor noses to draw breath, nor ears to hear, nor the fingers of hands to grasp, and even their feet are slow to walk16For man made them, and he who borrowed his own breath, formed them. For no man will be able to form God in the likeness of himself17For, being mortal, he forms a dead thing with his unjust hands. Yet, he is better than those things that he worships, because he indeed has lived, though he is mortal, but they never have18Moreover, they worship the most miserable animals, for, to make a foolish comparison, these others are worse19But not even from their appearance can anyone discern anything good in these animals. Yet they have fled from the praise of God, and from his blessing