The Book of Wisdom [The Wisdom of Solomon]
Project Gutenberg EPUB edition
Anonymous
11:24 For thou lovest all the things that are, and abhorrest nothing which thou hast made: for never wouldest thou have made any thing, if thou hadst hated it.
11:25 And how could any thing have endured, if it had not been thy will? or been preserved, if not called by thee?
11:26 But thou sparest all: for they are thine, O Lord, thou lover of souls.
12:1 For thine incorruptible Spirit is in all things.
12:2 Therefore chastenest thou them by little and little that offend, and warnest them by putting them in remembrance wherein they have offended, that leaving their wickedness they may believe on thee, O Lord.
12:3 For it was thy will to destroy by the hands of our fathers both those old inhabitants of thy holy land,
12:4 Whom thou hatedst for doing most odious works of witchcrafts, and wicked sacrifices;
12:5 And also those merciless murderers of children, and devourers of man’s flesh, and the feasts of blood,
12:6 With their priests out of the midst of their idolatrous crew, and the parents, that killed with their own hands souls destitute of help:
12:7 That the land, which thou esteemedst above all other, might receive a worthy colony of God’s children.
12:8 Nevertheless even those thou sparedst as men, and didst send wasps, forerunners of thine host, to destroy them by little and little.
12:9 Not that thou wast unable to bring the ungodly under the hand of the righteous in battle, or to destroy them at once with cruel beasts, or with one rough word:
12:10 But executing thy judgments upon them by little and little, thou gavest them place of repentance, not being ignorant that they were a naughty generation, and that their malice was bred in them, and that their cogitation would never be changed.
12:11 For it was a cursed seed from the beginning; neither didst thou for fear of any man give them pardon for those things wherein they sinned.
12:12 For who shall say, What hast thou done? or who shall withstand thy judgment? or who shall accuse thee for the nations that perish, whom thou made? or who shall come to stand against thee, to be revenged for the unrighteous men?
12:13 For neither is there any God but thou that careth for all, to whom thou mightest shew that thy judgment is not unright.
12:14 Neither shall king or tyrant be able to set his face against thee for any whom thou hast punished.
12:15 Forsomuch then as thou art righteous thyself, thou orderest all things righteously: thinking it not agreeable with thy power to condemn him that hath not deserved to be punished.
12:16 For thy power is the beginning of righteousness, and because thou art the Lord of all, it maketh thee to be gracious unto all.
12:17 For when men will not believe that thou art of a full power, thou shewest thy strength, and among them that know it thou makest their boldness manifest.
12:18 But thou, mastering thy power, judgest with equity, and orderest us with great favour: for thou mayest use power when thou wilt.
12:19 But by such works hast thou taught thy people that the just man should be merciful, and hast made thy children to be of a good hope that thou givest repentance for sins.
12:20 For if thou didst punish the enemies of thy children, and the condemned to death, with such deliberation, giving them time and place, whereby they might be delivered from their malice:
12:21 With how great circumspection didst thou judge thine own sons, unto whose fathers thou hast sworn, and made covenants of good promises?
12:22 Therefore, whereas thou dost chasten us, thou scourgest our enemies a thousand times more, to the intent that, when we judge, we should carefully think of thy goodness, and when we ourselves are judged, we should look for mercy.
12:23 Wherefore, whereas men have lived dissolutely and unrighteously, thou hast tormented them with their own abominations.
12:24 For they went astray very far in the ways of error, and held them for gods, which even among the beasts of their enemies were despised, being deceived, as children of no understanding.
12:25 Therefore unto them, as to children without the use of reason, thou didst send a judgment to mock them.
12:26 But they that would not be reformed by that correction, wherein he dallied with them, shall feel a judgment worthy of God.
12:27 For, look, for what things they grudged, when they were punished, that is, for them whom they thought to be gods; [now] being punished in them, when they saw it, they acknowledged him to be the true God, whom before they denied to know: and therefore came extreme damnation upon them.
13:1 Surely vain are all men by nature, who are ignorant of God, and could not out of the good things that are seen know him that is: neither by considering the works did they acknowledge the workmaster;
13:2 But deemed either fire, or wind, or the swift air, or the circle of the stars, or the violent water, or the lights of heaven, to be the gods which govern the world.
13:3 With whose beauty if they being delighted took them to be gods; let them know how much better the Lord of them is: for the first author of beauty hath created them.
13:4 But if they were astonished at their power and virtue, let them understand by them, how much mightier he is that made them.
13:5 For by the greatness and beauty of the creatures proportionably the maker of them is seen.
13:6 But yet for this they are the less to be blamed: for they peradventure err, seeking God, and desirous to find him.
13:7 For being conversant in his works they search him diligently, and believe their sight: because the things are beautiful that are seen.
13:8 Howbeit neither are they to be pardoned.
13:9 For if they were able to know so much, that they could aim at the world; how did they not sooner find out the Lord thereof?
13:10 But miserable are they, and in dead things is their hope, who call them gods, which are the works of men’s hands, gold and silver, to shew art in, and resemblances of beasts, or a stone good for nothing, the work of an ancient hand.