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 were unable from the good things that are seen to know the one who exists,

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

2 but 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.

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

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

for the author of beauty created them.

4 And if peoplea were amazed at their power and working,

let them perceive from them

how much more powerful is the one who formed them.

5 For from the greatness and beauty of created things

comes a corresponding perception of their Creator.

6 Yet these people are little to be blamed,

for perhaps they go astray

while seeking God and desiring to find him.

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

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

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

9 for 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?

The Foolishness of Idolatry

(Isa 44:9–20; Jer 10:1–16; Let Jer 8–73)

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

who give the name “gods” to the works of human hands,

gold and silver fashioned with skill,

and likenesses of animals,

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

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

and skillfully strip off all its bark,

and then with pleasing workmanship

make a useful vessel that serves life’s needs,

12 and burn the cast-off pieces of his work

to prepare his food, and eat his fill.

13 But a cast-off 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;b

he forms it in the likeness of a human being,

14 or 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;

15 then he makes a suitable niche for it,

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

16 He takes thought for it, so that it may not fall,

because he knows that it cannot help itself,

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

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

he is not ashamed to address a lifeless thing.

18 For 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;

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

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

Folly of a Navigator Praying to an Idol

14 Again, one preparing to sail and about to …