Wisdom of Solomon, 12

1. For your imperishable spirit is in everything!

1. For thine incorruptible Spirit is in all things.

2. And thus, gradually, you correct those who offend; you admonish and remind them of how they have sinned, so that they may abstain from evil and trust in you, Lord.

2. Therefore chastenest thou them by little and little that offend, and warnest them by putting them in remembrance wherein they have offended, that leaving their wickedness they may believe on thee, O Lord.

3. The ancient inhabitants of your holy land

3. For it was thy will to destroy by the hands of our fathers both those old inhabitants of thy holy land,

4. you hated for their loathsome practices, their acts of sorcery, and unholy rites.

4. Whom thou hatedst for doing most odious works of witchcrafts, and wicked sacrifices;

5. Those ruthless murderers of children, those eaters of entrails at feasts of human flesh and of blood, those initiates of secret brotherhoods,

5. And also those merciless murderers of children, and devourers of man's flesh, and the feasts of blood,

6. those murderous parents of defenceless beings, you determined to destroy at our ancestors' hands,

6. With their priests out of the midst of their idolatrous crew, and the parents, that killed with their own hands souls destitute of help:

7. so that this land, dearer to you than any other, might receive a worthy colony of God's children.

7. That the land, which thou esteemedst above all other, might receive a worthy colony of God's children.

8. Even so, since these were human, you treated them leniently, sending hornets as forerunners of your army, to exterminate them little by little.

8. Nevertheless even those thou sparedst as men, and didst send wasps, forerunners of thine host, to destroy them by little and little.

9. Not that you were unable to hand the godless over to the upright in pitched battle or destroy them at once by savage beasts or one harsh word;

9. Not that thou wast unable to bring the ungodly under the hand of the righteous in battle, or to destroy them at once with cruel beasts, or with one rough word:

10. but, by carrying out your sentences gradually, you gave them a chance to repent, although you knew that they were inherently evil, innately wicked,

10. But executing thy judgments upon them by little and little, thou gavest them place of repentance, not being ignorant that they were a naughty generation, and that their malice was bred in them, and that their cogitation would never be changed.

11. and fixed in their cast of mind; for they were a race accursed from the beginning. Nor was it from awe of anyone that you let their sins go unpunished.

11. For it was a cursed seed from the beginning; neither didst thou for fear of any man give them pardon for those things wherein they sinned.

12. For who is there to ask, 'What have you done?' Or who is there to disagree with your sentence? Who to arraign you for destroying nations which you have created? Who to confront you by championing the wicked?

12. For who shall say, What hast thou done? or who shall withstand thy judgment? or who shall accuse thee for the nations that perish, whom thou made? or who shall come to stand against thee, to be revenged for the unrighteous men?

13. For there is no god, other than you, who cares for every one, to whom you have to prove that your sentences have been just.

13. For neither is there any God but thou that careth for all, to whom thou mightest shew that thy judgment is not unright.

14. No more could any king or despot challenge you over those whom you have punished.

14. Neither shall king or tyrant be able to set his face against thee for any whom thou hast punished.

15. For, being upright yourself, you rule the universe uprightly, and hold it as incompatible with your power to condemn anyone who has not deserved to be punished.

15. Forsomuch then as thou art righteous thyself, thou orderest all things righteously: thinking it not agreeable with thy power to condemn him that hath not deserved to be punished.

16. For your strength is the basis of your saving justice, and your sovereignty over all makes you lenient to all.

16. For thy power is the beginning of righteousness, and because thou art the Lord of all, it maketh thee to be gracious unto all.

17. You show your strength when people will not believe in your absolute power, and you confound any insolence in those who do know it.

17. For when men will not believe that thou art of a full power, thou shewest thy strength, and among them that know it thou makest their boldness manifest.

18. But you, controlling your strength, are mild in judgement, and govern us with great lenience, for you have only to will, and your power is there.

18. But thou, mastering thy power, judgest with equity, and orderest us with great favour: for thou mayest use power when thou wilt.

19. By acting thus, you have taught your people that the upright must be kindly to his fellows, and you have given your children the good hope that after sins you will grant repentance.

19. But by such works hast thou taught thy people that the just man should be merciful, and hast made thy children to be of a good hope that thou givest repentance for sins.

20. For, if with such care and indulgence you have punished your children's enemies, though doomed to death, and have given them time and place to be rid of their wickedness,

20. For if thou didst punish the enemies of thy children, and the condemned to death, with such deliberation, giving them time and place, whereby they might be delivered from their malice:

21. with what exact attention have you not judged your children, to whose ancestors, by oaths and covenants, you made such generous promises?

21. With how great circumspection didst thou judge thine own sons, unto whose fathers thou hast sworn, and made covenants of good promises?

22. Thus, you instruct us, when you punish our enemies in moderation, that we should reflect on your kindness when we judge, and, when we are judged, we should look for mercy.

22. Therefore, whereas thou dost chasten us, thou scourgest our enemies a thousand times more, to the intent that, when we judge, we should carefully think of thy goodness, and when we ourselves are judged, we should look for mercy.

23. And this is why people leading foolish and wicked lives were tortured by you with their own abominations;

23. Wherefore, whereas men have lived dissolutely and unrighteously, thou hast tormented them with their own abominations.

24. for they had strayed too far on the paths of error by taking the vilest and most despicable of animals for gods, being deluded like silly little children.

24. For they went astray very far in the ways of error, and held them for gods, which even among the beasts of their enemies were despised, being deceived, as children of no understanding.

25. So, as to children with no sense, you gave them a sentence making fools of them.

25. Therefore unto them, as to children without the use of reason, thou didst send a judgment to mock them.

26. Those, however, who would not take warning from a mocking reproof were soon to endure a sentence worthy of God.

26. But they that would not be reformed by that correction, wherein he dallied with them, shall feel a judgment worthy of God.

27. The creatures that made them suffer and against which they protested, those very creatures that they had taken for gods and by which they were punished they saw in their true light; and he whom hitherto they had refused to know, they realised was true God. And this is why the final condemnation fell on them.

27. For, look, for what things they grudged, when they were punished, that is, for them whom they thought to be gods; [now] being punished in them, when they saw it, they acknowledged him to be the true God, whom before they denied to know: and therefore came extreme damnation upon them.