Wisdom of Solomon, 14

1. Again, 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 him.

1. Drugi se opet spremi da zaplovi, nakan da prebrodi bijesne valove, i prizivlje u pomoæ drvo koje je slabije od drvene laðe što ga nosi.

2. For this is what desire has contrived to be acquired, and the craftsman has formed its understanding.

2. Jer je nju izmislila težnja za dobitkom i sagradila je mudrost graditeljska.

3. But your providence, O Father, governs, because you have provided for both a way in the sea and a very reliable path among the waves,

3. Ali njome upravlja tvoja providnost, Oèe, koji si dao i na moru put i u valovima stazu pouzdanu:

4. revealing that you are able to save out of all things, even if someone were to go to sea without skill.

4. pokazuješ tako da možeš iz svake pogibelji izbaviti, da bi se nevješt smio ukrcati.

5. But, 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 free.

5. Jer ti neæeš da neplodna budu djela tvoje mudrosti, zato ljudi povjeravaju svoj život i drvlju najneznatnijem te prelaze splavom burne valove i dolaze u luku spasa.

6. But, 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 hand.

6. Pa i nekoæ, kad su izgibali oholi divovi, sklonila se nada ovog svijeta u splav kojom je upravljala ruka tvoja i svijetu ostavila sjeme za nova pokoljenja.

7. For blessed is the wood through which justice is made.

7. Blagoslovljeno je drvo po kojem pravda dolazi,

8. But, 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.’

8. a prokleta krivobožaèka rukotvorina i onaj koji je naèini; on jer je napravi, a ona jer se, iako prolazna, bogom nazva.

9. But the impious and his impiety are similarly offensive to God.

9. Tako Bogu su mrski i bezbožnik i bezbožnost njegova,

10. For that which is made, together with him who made it, will suffer torments.

10. izraðevina i izraðivaè bit æe jednako kažnjeni.

11. Because 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 foolish.

11. Zato æe osuda pasti na kumire neznabožaèke, jer su postali gnusoba meðu stvorenjima Božjim i sablazan ljudskim dušama i zamka bezumnièkim nogama.

12. For the beginning of fornication is the search for idols, and from their invention comes corruption of life.

12. Pronalazak kumira bio je poèetak bluda i njihovo je otkriæe izopaèilo život.

13. For they neither existed from the beginning, nor will they exist forever.

13. Nije ih bilo u poèetku niti æe ih biti dovijeka.

14. For by the great emptiness of men they came into the world, and therefore their end is soon discovered.

14. Jer su došli na svijet po ispraznosti èovjeèjoj i zato im je odreðen konac brz.

15. For 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 servants.

15. Neki otac, satrt prijevremenom žalošæu, naèini lik svojeg djeteta koje je tako brzo ugrabljeno: i dojuèerašnjeg mrtvaca sad veæ kao boga štuje i odredi svojim podanicima tajne obrede i žrtve.

16. Then, 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 tyrants.

16. U tijeku vremena ukorijeni se taj bezbožni obièaj i poèeše ga kao zakon èuvati,

17. And 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 present.

17. i po zapovijedi vladara uvelo se štovanje likova. A onih koje ljudi nisu mogli u osobi njihovoj štovati, jer su predaleko od njih prebivali, približavahu sebi njihovo daleko oblièje, naèinivši od èašæenog kralja vidljiv lik da mu nenazoènu revno laskaju kao da je nazoèan.

18. Yet, it passes into their care, and those whom they did not know, they love because of the excellence of the artist.

18. A i èastoljublje umjetnika navodilo je na sve jaèe štovanje i one koji kralja nisu poznali.

19. For he, wishing to please the one who hired him, embellished his art, so as to fashion a better likeness.

19. Jer umjetnik, koji se možda htio dodvoriti vladaru, trudio se svim svojim umijeæem da oblièje bude što ljepše,

20. But 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 man.

20. te je svjetina, ponesena ljepotom djela, poèela pridavati božanske poèasti onomu koga je nedavno slavila kao èovjeka.

21. And this was the deception of human life: that men, serving either their own inclination or their kings, assigned the unutterable name to stones and wood.

21. I to postade zamka životu: robujuæi nesreæi ili nasilju vladarskom, ljudi su neizrecivo ime Božje prenijeli na kamenje i na drvlje.

22. And 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.’

22. I ne bijaše im dosta što su zastranili u spoznaji Boga, nego su, živeæi u velikoj borbi zbog neznanja, tako veliko zlo još mirom nazivali.

23. For either they sacrifice their own sons, or they make dark sacrifices, or they hold vigils full of madness,

23. Jer, ili djecu žrtvuju ili vrše tajne obrede ili prireðuju bijesne gozbe s èudnim obièajima.

24. so that now they neither protect life, nor preserve a clean marriage, but one kills another through envy, or grieves him by adultery.

24. Ne èuvaju više èistoæe ni tijela ni ženidbe, jedan drugoga ili iz zasjede ubijaju ili jedan drugomu preljubom jade zadaju.

25. And all things are mixed together: blood, murder, theft and fraud, corruption and infidelity, disturbances and perjury, disorder within good things,

25. Svuda zbrka: krv, ubojstvo, kraða, prijevara, pokvarenost, nevjernost, buna, kriva prisega,

26. forgetfulness of God, pollution of souls, alteration of procreation, inconstancy of marriage, unnatural adultery and homosexuality.

26. uznemirivanje èestitih, zaboravljanje dobroèinstva, oskrvnjenje duša, zloèini protiv naravi, nered u braku, preljub, neæudorednost.

27. For the worship of unspeakable idols is the cause, and the beginning and the end, of all evil.

27. Jer je krivoboštvo poèetak, uzrok i kraj svakog zla.

28. For they either act with madness while happy, or they insistently speak wild lies, or they live unjustly, or they are quick to commit perjury.

28. Ili bjesne na svojim zabavama, ili izrièu lažna proroštva, ili žive nepravedno, ili bez oklijevanja krivo prisežu.

29. For, while they trust in idols, which are without a soul, vowing evil, they hope not to be harmed themselves.

29. Jer se uzdaju u mrtve idole, ne boje se da æe okajavati lažne prisege.

30. Therefore, 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 justice.

30. Ali æe ih za oboje stiæi kazna: što su služeæi idolima iskrivili pojam o Bogu i što se krivo i podlo zaklinjahu preziruæi sve što je sveto.

31. For swearing is not virtue, but sinning always comes around to a punishment according to the transgression of the unjust.

31. Jer se prijestupima bezbožnièkim uvijek osveæuje - ne moæ prizivanih idola, nego pravda koja stiže grešnike.