Wisdom of Solomon, 12

1. For your imperishable spirit is in everything!

1. For thy immortal 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 thou dost correct little by little those who trespass, and dost remind and warn them of the things wherein they sin, that they may be freed from wickedness and put their trust in thee, O Lord.

3. The ancient inhabitants of your holy land

3. Those who dwelt of old in thy holy land

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

4. thou didst hate for their detestable practices, their works of sorcery and unholy rites,

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

5. their merciless slaughter of children, and their sacrificial feasting on human flesh and blood. These initiates from the midst of a heathen cult,

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

6. these parents who murder helpless lives, thou didst will to destroy by the hands of our fathers,

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

7. that the land most precious of all to thee might receive a worthy colony of the servants of God.

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. But even these thou didst spare, since they were but men, and didst send wasps as forerunners of thy army, to destroy them little by 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. though thou wast not unable to give the ungodly into the hands of the righteous in battle, or to destroy them at one blow by dread wild beasts or thy stern 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 judging them little by little thou gavest them a chance to repent, though thou wast not unaware that their origin was evil and their wickedness inborn, and that their way of thinking would never change.

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 they were an accursed race from the beginning, and it was not through fear of any one that thou didst leave them unpunished for their sins.

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 will say, "What hast thou done?" Or will resist thy judgment? Who will accuse thee for the destruction of nations which thou didst make? Or who will come before thee to plead as an advocate for 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 besides thee, whose care is for all men, to whom thou shouldst prove that thou hast not judged unjustly;

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

14. nor can any king or monarch confront thee about those 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. Thou art righteous and rulest all things righteously, deeming it alien to thy power to condemn him who does not deserve 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 strength is the source of righteousness, and thy sovereignty over all causes thee to spare 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 thou dost show thy strength when men doubt the completeness of thy power, and dost rebuke any insolence among those who know it.

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. Thou who art sovereign in strength dost judge with mildness, and with great forbearance thou dost govern us; for thou hast power to act whenever thou dost choose.

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. Through such works thou has taught thy people that the righteous man must be kind, and thou hast filled thy sons with good hope, because 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 with such great care and indulgence the enemies of thy servants and those deserving of death, granting them time and opportunity to give up their wickedness,

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 what strictness thou hast judged thy sons, to whose fathers thou gavest oaths and covenants full 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. So while chastening us thou scourgest our enemies ten thousand times more, so that we may meditate upon thy goodness when we judge, and when we are judged we may expect mercy.

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

23. Therefore those who in folly of life lived unrighteously thou didst torment through 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 far astray on the paths of error, accepting as gods those animals which even their enemies despised; they were deceived like foolish babes.

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

25. Therefore, as to thoughtless children, thou didst send thy 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 those who have not heeded the warning of light rebukes will experience the deserved judgment 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 when in their suffering they became incensed at those creatures which they had thought to be gods, being punished by means of them, they saw and recognized as the true God him whom they had before refused to know. Therefore the utmost condemnation came upon them.