The Work of Wisdom from Adam to Moses

10 Wisdoma protected the first-formed father of the world, when he alone had been created;

she delivered him from his transgression,

2 and gave him strength to rule all things.

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

he perished because in rage he killed his brother.

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

steering the righteous man by a paltry piece of wood.

5 Wisdomb also, when the nations in wicked agreement had been put to confusion,

recognized the righteous man and preserved him blameless before God,

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

6 Wisdomc rescued a righteous man when the ungodly were perishing;

he escaped the fire that descended on the Five Cities.d

7 Evidence 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.

8 For because they passed wisdom by,

they not only were hindered from recognizing the good,

but also left for humankind a reminder of their folly,

so that their failures could never go unnoticed.

9 Wisdom rescued from troubles those who served her.

10 When 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 holy things;

she prospered him in his labors,

and increased the fruit of his toil.

11 When his oppressors were covetous,

she stood by him and made him rich.

12 She 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 else.

13 When a righteous man was sold, wisdome did not desert him,

but delivered him from sin.

She descended with him into the dungeon,

14 and 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.

Wisdom Led the Israelites out of Egypt

(Ex 13–15)

15 A holy people and blameless race

wisdom delivered from a nation of oppressors.

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

and withstood dread kings with wonders and signs.

17 She gave to holy people 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.

18 She brought them over the Red Sea,

and led them through deep waters;

19 but she drowned their enemies,

and cast them up from the depth of the sea.

20 Therefore the righteous plundered the ungodly;

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

and praised with one accord your defending hand;

21 for wisdom opened the mouths of those who were mute,

and made the tongues of infants speak clearly.

Wisdom Led the Israelites through the Desert

(Ex 15–17)

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

2 They journeyed through an uninhabited wilderness,

and pitched their tents in untrodden places.

3 They withstood their enemies and fought off their foes.

4 When they were thirsty, they called upon you,

and water was given them out of flinty rock,

and from hard stone a remedy for their thirst.

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

they themselves received benefit in their need.

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

stirred up and defiled with blood

7 in rebuke for the decree to kill the infants,

you gave them abundant water unexpectedly,

8 showing by their thirst at that time

how you punished their enemies.

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

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

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

but you examined the ungodlyc as a stern king does in condemnation.

11 Whether absent or present, they were equally distressed,

12 for a twofold grief possessed them,

and a groaning at the memory of what had occurred.

13 For when they heard that through their own punishments

the righteousd had received benefit, they perceived it was the Lord’s doing.

14 For 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,

when they felt thirst in a different way from the righteous.

Punishment of the Wicked

(Ex 7–11)

15 In 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,

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

17 For 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,

18 or 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;

19 not only could the harm they did destroy people,e

but the mere sight of them could kill by fright.

20 Even apart from these, peoplef 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.

God Is Powerful and Merciful

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

and who can withstand the might of your arm?

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

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

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

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

24 For you love all things that exist,

and detest none of the things that you have made,

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

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

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

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

12 For your immortal spirit is in all things.

2 Therefore you correct little by little those who trespass,

and you remind and warn them of the things through which they sin,

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

The Sins of the Canaanites

(Ex 23:20–33; Deut 18:9–14)

3 Those who lived long ago in your holy land

4 you hated for their detestable practices,

their works of sorcery and unholy rites,

5 their merciless slaughtera of children,

and their sacrificial feasting on human flesh and blood.

These initiates from the midst of a heathen cult,b

6 these parents who murder helpless lives,

you willed to destroy by the hands of our ancestors,

7 so that the land most precious of all to you

might receive a worthy colony of the servantsc of God.

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

and sent waspsd as forerunners of your army

to destroy them little by little,

9 though 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 animals or your stern word.

10 But judging them little by little you gave them an opportunity to repent,

though you were not unaware that their origine was evil

and their wickedness inborn,

and that their way of thinking would never change.

11 For they were an accursed race from the beginning,

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

God Is Sovereign

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

or will resist your judgment?

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

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

13 For neither is there any god besides you, whose care is for all people,f

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

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

15 You are righteous and you rule all things righteously,

deeming it alien to your power

to condemn anyone who does not deserve to be punished.

16 For your strength is the source of righteousness,

and your sovereignty over all causes you to spare all.

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

and you rebuke any insolence among those who know it.g

18 Although you are sovereign in strength, you judge with mildness,

and with great forbearance you govern us;

for you have power to act whenever you choose.

God’s Lessons for Israel

19 Through such works you have taught your people

that the righteous must be kind,

and you have filled your children with good hope,

because you give repentance for sins.

20 For if you punished with such great care and indulgenceh

the enemies of your servantsi and those deserving of death,

granting them time and opportunity to give up their wickedness,

21 with what strictness you have judged your children,

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

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

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

and when we are judged, we may expect mercy.

The Punishment of the Egyptians

23 Therefore those who lived unrighteously, in a life of folly,

you tormented through their own abominations.

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

accepting as gods those animals that even their enemiesj despised;

they were deceived like foolish infants.

25 Therefore, as though to children who cannot reason,

you sent your judgment to mock them.

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

will experience the deserved judgment of God.

27 For when in their suffering they became incensed

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

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

Therefore the utmost condemnation came upon them.

The Foolishness of Nature Worship

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

and they …