Wisdom of Solomon, 11
1. She made their actions successful, by means of a holy prophet.
1. Wisdom prospered their works by the hand of a holy prophet.
2. They journeyed through an unpeopled desert and pitched their tents in inaccessible places.
2. They journeyed through an uninhabited wilderness, and pitched their tents in untrodden places.
3. They stood firm against their enemies, fought off their foes.
3. They withstood their enemies and fought off their foes.
4. On you they called when they were thirsty, and from the rocky cliff water was given them, from hard stone a remedy for their thirst.
4. When they thirsted they called upon thee, and water was given them out of flinty rock, and slaking of thirst from hard stone.
5. Thus, what had served to punish their enemies became a benefit for them in their difficulties.
5. For through the very things by which their enemies were punished, they themselves received benefit in their need.
6. Whereas their enemies had only the ever-flowing source of a river fouled with mingled blood and mud,
6. Instead of the fountain of an ever-flowing river, stirred up and defiled with blood
7. to punish them for their decree of infanticide, you gave your people, against all hope, water in abundance,
7. in rebuke for the decree to slay the infants, thou gavest them abundant water unexpectedly,
8. once you had shown by the thirst that they were experiencing how severely you were punishing their enemies.
8. showing by their thirst at that time how thou didst punish their enemies.
9. From their own ordeals, which were only loving correction, they realised how an angry sentence was tormenting the godless;
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 had tested your own as a father admonishes, but the others you had punished as a pitiless king condemns,
10. For thou didst test them as a father does in warning, but thou didst examine the ungodly as a stern king does in condemnation.
11. and, whether far or near, they were equally afflicted.
11. Whether absent or present, they were equally distressed,
12. For a double sorrow seized on them, and a groaning at the memory of the past;
12. for a twofold grief possessed them, and a groaning at the memory of what had occurred.
13. when they learned that the punishments they were receiving were beneficial to the others, they realised it was the Lord,
13. For when they heard that through their own punishments the righteous had received benefit, they perceived it was the Lord's doing.
14. while for the man whom long before they had exposed and later mockingly rebuffed, they felt only admiration when all was done, having suffered a thirst so different from that of the upright.
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, for their thirst was not like that of the righteous.
15. For their foolish and wicked notions which led them astray into worshipping mindless reptiles and contemptible beetles, you sent a horde of mindless animals to punish them
15. In return for their foolish and wicked thoughts, which led them astray to worship irrational serpents and worthless animals, thou didst send upon them a multitude of irrational creatures to punish them,
16. and to teach them that the agent of sin is the agent of punishment.
16. that they might learn that one is punished by the very things by which he sins.
17. And indeed your all-powerful hand which created the world from formless matter, did not lack means to unleash a horde of bears or savage lions on them
17. For thy 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 unknown beasts, newly created, full of rage, breathing out fire, or puffing out stinking smoke, or flashing fearful sparks from their eyes,
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. beasts able not only to destroy them, being so savage, but even to strike them dead by their terrifying appearance.
19. not only could their damage exterminate men, but the mere sight of them could kill by fright.
20. However, without these, one breath could have blown them over, pursued by Justice, whirled away by the breath of your power. You, however, ordered all things by measure, number and weight.
20. Even apart from these, men could fall at a single breath when pursued by justice and scattered by the breath of thy power. But thou hast arranged all things by measure and number and weight.
21. For your great power is always at your service, and who can withstand the might of your arm?
21. For it is always in thy power to show great strength, and who can withstand the might of thy arm?
22. The whole world, for you, can no more than tip a balance, like a drop of morning dew falling on the ground.
22. Because the whole world before thee is like a speck that tips the scales, and like a drop of morning dew that falls upon the ground.
23. Yet you are merciful to all, because you are almighty, you overlook people's sins, so that they can repent.
23. But thou art merciful to all, for thou canst do all things, and thou dost overlook men's sins, that they may repent.
24. Yes, you love everything that exists, and nothing that you have made disgusts you, since, if you had hated something, you would not have made it.
24. For thou lovest all things that exist, and hast loathing for none of the things which thou hast made, for thou wouldst not have made anything if thou hadst hated it.
25. And how could a thing subsist, had you not willed it? Or how be preserved, if not called forth by you?
25. How would anything have endured if thou hadst not willed it? Or how would anything not called forth by thee have been preserved?
26. No, you spare all, since all is yours, Lord, lover of life!
26. Thou sparest all things, for they are thine, O Lord who lovest the living.
