Chapter 19

But as to the wicked, even to the end there came upon them wrath without mercy. For he knew before also what they would do:

2 For when they had given them leave to depart and had sent them away with great care, they repented and pursued after them.

3 For whilst they were yet mourning, and lamenting at the graves of the dead, they took up another foolish device: and pursued them as fugitives whom they had pressed to be gone:

4 For a necessity, of which they were worthy, brought them to this end: and they lost the remembrance of those things which had happened, that their punishment might fill up what was wanting to their torments:

5 And that thy people might wonderfully pass through, but they might find a new death.

6 For every creature, according to its kind was fashioned again as from the beginning, obeying thy commandments, that thy children might be kept without hurt.

7 For a cloud overshadowed their camps and where water was before, dry land appeared, and in the Red Sea a way without hindrance, and out of the great deep a springing field:

8 Through which all the nation passed which was protected with thy hand, seeing thy miracles and wonders.

9 For they fed on their food like horses, and they skipped like lambs, praising thee, O Lord, who hadst delivered them.

10 For they were yet mindful of those things which had been done in the time of their sojourning, how the ground brought forth flies instead of cattle, and how the river cast up a multitude of frogs instead of fishes.

11 And at length they saw a new generation of birds, when being led by their appetite, they asked for delicate meats.

12 For to satisfy their desire, the quail came up to them from the sea: and punishments came upon the sinners, not without foregoing signs by the force of thunders: for they suffered justly according to their own wickedness.

13 For they exercised a more detestable inhospitality than any: others indeed received not strangers unknown to them, but these brought their guests into bondage that had deserved well of them.

14 And not only so, but in another respect also they were worse: for the others against their will received the strangers.

15 But these grievously afflicted them whom they had received with joy, and who lived under the same laws.

16 But they were struck with blindness: as those others were at the doors of the just man, when they were covered with sudden darkness, and every one sought the passage of his own door.

17 For while the elements are changed in themselves, as in an instrument the sound of the quality is changed, yet all keep their sound: which may clearly be perceived by the very sight.

18 For the things of the land were turned into things of the water: and the things that before swam in the water passed upon the land.

19 The fire had power in water above its own virtue, and the water forgot its quenching nature.

20 On the other side, the flames wasted not the flesh of corruptible animals walking therein, neither did they melt that good food, which was apt to melt as ice. For in all things thou didst magnify thy people, O Lord, and didst honour them, and didst not despise them, but didst assist them at all times, and in every place.

Love justice, you that are the judges of the earth. Think of the Lord in goodness, and seek him in simplicity of heart:

2 For he is found by them that tempt him not: and he sheweth himself to them that have faith in him.

3 For perverse thoughts separate from God: and his power, when it is tried, reproveth the unwise:

4 For wisdom will not enter into a malicious soul, nor dwell in a body subject to sins.

5 For the Holy Spirit of discipline will flee from the deceitful, and will withdraw himself from thoughts that are without understanding, and he shall not abide when iniquity cometh in.

6 For the spirit of wisdom is benevolent, and will not acquit the evil speaker from his lips: for God is witness of his reins, and he is a true searcher of his heart, and a hearer of his tongue.

7 For the Spirit of the Lord hath filled the whole world: and that which containeth all things, hath knowledge of the voice.

8 Therefore he that speaketh unjust things, cannot be hid, neither shall the chastising judgment pass him by.

9 For inquisition shall be made into the thoughts of the ungodly, and the hearing of his words shall come to God, to the chastising of his iniquities.

10 For the ear of jealousy heareth all things, and the tumult of murmuring shall not be hid.

11 Keep yourselves, therefore, from murmuring, which profiteth nothing, and refrain your tongue from detraction, for an obscure speech shall not go for nought: and the mouth that belieth, killeth the soul.

12 Seek not death in the error of your life, neither procure ye destruction by the works of your hands.

13 For God made not death, neither hath he pleasure in the destruction of the living.

14 For he created all things that they might be: and he made the nations of the earth for health: and there is no poison of destruction in them, nor kingdom of hell upon the earth.

15 For justice is perpetual and immortal.

16 But the wicked with works and words have called it to them: and esteeming it a friend, have fallen away and have made a covenant with it: because they are worthy to be of the part thereof.

Chapter 2

For they have said, reasoning with themselves, but not right: The time of our life is short and tedious, and in the end of a man there is no remedy, and no man hath been known to have returned from hell:

2 For we are born of nothing, and after this we shall be as if we had not been: for the breath in our nostrils is smoke: and speech a spark to move our heart,

3 Which being put out, our body shall be ashes, and our spirit shall be poured abroad as soft air, and our life shall pass away as the trace of a cloud, and shall be dispersed as a mist, which is driven away by the beams of the sun, and overpowered with the heat thereof:

4 And our name in time shall be forgotten, and no man shall have any remembrance of our works.

5 For our time is as the passing of a shadow, and there is no going back of our end: for it is fast sealed, and no man returneth:

6 Come, therefore, and let us enjoy the good things that are present, and let us speedily use the creatures as in youth.

7 Let us fill ourselves with costly wine, and ointments: and let not the flower of the time pass by us.

8 Let us crown ourselves with roses, before they be withered: let no meadow escape our riot.

9 Let none of us go without his part in luxury: let us every where leave tokens of joy: for this is our portion, and this our lot.

10 Let us oppress the poor just man, and not spare the widow, nor honour the ancient grey hairs of the aged.

11 But let our strength be the law of justice: for that which is feeble is found to be nothing worth.

12 Let us, therefore, lie in wait for the just, because he is not for our turn, and he is contrary to our doings, and upbraideth us with transgressions of the law, and divulgeth against us the sins of our way of life.

13 He boasteth that he hath the knowledge of God, and calleth himself the son of God.

14 He is become a censurer of our thoughts.

15 He is grievous unto us, even to behold: for his life is not like other men’s, and his ways are very different.

16 We are esteemed by him as triflers, and he abstaineth from our ways as from filthiness, and he preferreth the latter end of the just, and glorieth that he hath God for his father.

17 Let us see then if his words be true, and let us prove what shall happen to him, and we shall know what his end shall be.

18 For if he be the true son of God, he will defend him, and will deliver him from the hands of his enemies.

19 Let us examine him by outrages and tortures, that we may know his meekness, and try his patience.

20 Let us condemn him to a most shameful death: for there shall be respect had unto him by his words.

21 These things they thought, and were deceived: for their own malice blinded them.

22 And they knew not the secrets of God, nor hoped for the wages of justice, nor esteemed the honour of holy souls.

23 For God created man incorruptible, and to the image of his own likeness he made him.

24 But by the envy of…