 智:1.(ws)   [智慧篇]   [Wisdom]  [Sapientia]  [共 19 章]    [思高聖經]
  
           前編 智慧的重要與性質(1-9)
  
 智:1.1      [人應愛正義]  統治世界的人，你們應愛正義，對上主應有正確的觀念，應以誠樸的心尋求上主，
 智:1.2      因為，凡不試探上主的，都可以尋到上主；對上主不失信的，上主必向他顯示。
 智:1.3      邪曲的思想，使人離開天主；愚人試探全能者，只有使自己蒙羞，
 智:1.4      因為，智慧不進入存心不良的靈魂裏，也不住在一個屈服於罪惡的身體內。
 智:1.5      實在，施訓的聖神，遠避欺詐，遠離無知的思念；不義一到，即刻退去。
 智:1.6      [不可妄言]  智慧是愛人 的神，口出咒語的人，她必懲罰；因為天主洞悉他的內心，確切監視他的心靈，聽聞他的言語；
 智:1.7      實在，上主的神充滿了世界，包羅萬象，通曉一切語言。
 智:1.8      為此，談論不義之事的，無不終被識破；執行報復的正義，也決不會將他放過。
 智:1.9      因為惡人的思念，必將受審訊；上主聽到他的言語，必懲罰他的罪行。
 智:1.10     原來天主嫉惡的耳朵，能聽萬事；連低聲的怨言，也隱藏不住。
 智:1.11     所以，你們要謹防無益的怨言，禁止口舌，別說毀謗的話；因為暗中的言語，決不會空空過去；說謊的口舌，必殺害靈魂。
 智:1.12     [不要犯罪]  不要因生活墮[以免永死 落而自招喪亡，也不要因你們雙手的作為而自取滅亡，
 智:1.13     因為天主並未造死亡，也不樂意生靈滅亡。
 智:1.14     他造了萬物，為叫它們生存；世上的生物都有生命力，本身都沒有致命的毒素，陰府在地上也沒有權勢；
 智:1.15     因為正義是不死不滅的。
 智:1.16     但是，不義的人，因自己的言行自招死亡，與死亡相愛相戀，結立盟約，實堪作死亡的伴侶。
  
 智:2.1      [惡人貪想世樂]  惡人們胡思亂想自語說：「我們的生命又短促，又多愁；人的死期一到，又沒有辦法補救，也從不見有人從陰府回來。
 智:2.2      我們原是偶然而生，過後我們又好像未曾生存過；我們鼻中的氣息只是一陣煙霧，思想亦不過是心動迸出的火花；
 智:2.3      火花一旦熄滅，身軀即變成灰土，魂魄即像輕風消散。
 智:2.4      我們的名字，隨時被人遺忘，無人追念我們的工作；我們的生命消逝，有如一絲浮雲，又如為日光所驅散，被熱力所蒸化的煙霧。
 智:2.5      實在，我們的時日，有如疾馳的陰影；我們一死去，再不得返回，因為一經蓋印，無人再能返回。
 智:2.6      所以，來! 讓我們享受現有的美福，趁年青及時消受這世界。
 智:2.7      我們要痛飲美酒，濃施香液，莫讓春花空空溜過。
 智:2.8      在玫瑰花尚未萎謝以前，用來作我們的花冠；【我們要隨處享樂，連一塊草地也別放過。】
 智:2.9      凡是樂事，我們不要放過，到處要留下我們歡樂的痕跡，因為這是我們的名份，我們的運命。
 智:2.10     [惡人共謀壓迫義人]  我們要壓迫窮苦的義人，不必顧惜寡婦，連白髮年高的老人，也不必敬重。
 智:2.11     我們的勢力，就是正義的法律，因為軟弱只呈現自己無用。
 智:2.12     我們要陷害義人，因為他太令我們討厭，反對我們的作為，指責我們違犯法律，控訴我們品行不檢，
 智:2.13     自誇認識天主，自稱是上主的僕人，
 智:2.14     自充我們思想的裁判員，我們一見他，就感覺討厭；
 智:2.15     因為他的生活與眾不同，他的行徑與人兩樣。
 智:2.16     他竟將我們視作雜種，遠避我們的行徑，像遠避不潔之物；聲言義人有幸福的結局，且自誇有天主為父。
 智:2.17     我們且看他的話是否屬實，看他究有什麼結局。
 智:2.18     因為，如果義人是天主的兒子，天主定要幫助他，拯救他脫離敵人的手。
 智:2.19     來罷! 我們用恥辱和酷刑試驗他，查看他是否溫良，考驗他是否忍耐。
 智:2.20     我們判他受可恥的死刑，看他是否蒙受眷顧，如他所說的一樣。」
 智:2.21     [死亡來自魔鬼的嫉妒]  他們這樣思想真是荒謬，因為邪惡使他們喪失了理智，
 智:2.22     不明瞭天主的奧理，不希望聖德的酬報，也不賞識無罪靈魂的獎賞。
 智:2.23     其實天主造了人，原是不死不滅的，使他成為自己本性的肖像；
 智:2.24     但因魔鬼的嫉妒，死亡才進入了世界；
 智:2.25     只有與他結緣的人，纔經歷死亡。
  
 智:3.1      [義人的幸福]  義人的靈魂在天主手裏，痛苦不能傷害他們。
 智:3.2      在愚人看來，他們算是死了，認為他們去世是受了懲罰，
 智:3.3      離我們而去，彷彿是歸於泯滅；其實，他們是處於安寧中；
 智:3.4      雖然在人看來，他們是受了苦；其實，卻充滿著永生的希望。
 智:3.5      他們受了些許的痛苦，卻要蒙受絕大的恩惠，因為天主試驗了他們，發覺他們配作自己的人：
 智:3.6      他試煉了他們，好像爐中的黃金；悅納了他們，有如悅納全燔祭。
 智:3.7      他們蒙眷顧時，必要閃爍發光，有如禾?間往來飛馳的火花。
 智:3.8      他們要審判萬國，統治萬民，上主要永遠作他們的君王。
 智:3.9      倚恃上主的人，必明白真理；忠信於上主之愛的人，必與他同住，因為恩澤與仁慈，原歸於他所選拔的人。
 智:3.10     [惡人的災禍]  但是不虔敬的人，必因他們的思念而遭受懲罰，因為他們蔑視了義人，離棄了上主。
 智:3.11     輕視智慧和教訓的人是有禍的：他們的希望只有落空，勞苦只有徒勞，工作只有失敗；
 智:3.12     他們的妻子愚蠢，子女邪惡，後裔可咒罵。
 智:3.13     [義人與惡人的比較]  荒胎無罪，而又不知床笫罪惡的婦女，是有福的；到靈魂受眷顧的時候，她必富有果實。
 智:3.14     同樣，不生育的男人，手若不作非法的行為，心不思念相反上主的惡事，是有福的；天主見他忠貞，必賜給他特賞，在上主的聖殿中，賜給他更稱心的一份。
 智:3.15     因為高尚的勞苦必結榮譽的果實，智慧的根蒂絕不會中斷。
 智:3.16     淫亂的兒子長不到成年，茍合而生的子孫必將滅絕。
 智:3.17     他們縱使長命，也不值一文；就是到了高年，也無人尊敬；
 智:3.18     假若他們早死，也沒有什麼希望，在審判之日，也沒有安慰。
 智:3.19     惡人後裔的結局實在悲慘。
  
 智:4.1      [對義人和惡人再作比較]  純潔的後代，是多麼光輝，多麼美麗! 更好是無子而有道德，因為道德的記念，永存不朽，常為天主和世人所賞識。
 智:4.2      有道德在，人都效法；道德不在，人都期待；道德在永遠加冕奏凱，因為她在為無玷的報酬奮鬥，獲得了勝利。
 智:4.3      不虔敬者的子孫，雖然眾多，一無所用；雜種的苗裔，扎根不深，根底不穩；
 智:4.4      即使一時枝葉繁茂，但因札根不深，風一吹即搖動；暴風一發，即連根拔出；
 智:4.5      嫩枝尚未長成；即被打斷；結的果實毫無益處，酸得不能吃，毫無用途。
 智:4.6      到了審判之日，凡不合法而生的子女，將作他們父母淫行的證人。
 智:4.7      [義人安死]  義人縱或夭折，亦必獲享安息。
 智:4.8      因為，可敬的老年並不在於高壽，也不在於以年歲來衡量；
 智:4.9      其實；人的老年是在於有智慧，高壽是在於生活純潔。
 智:4.10     這樣的人悅樂了天主，也為天主所愛，因他生活在罪人中間，所以天主把他接去。
 智:4.11     他被接去，免得邪惡改變了他的心意，虛偽迷惑了他的心靈；
 智:4.12     因為罪惡的蠱惑，使人喪失天良；情慾的風暴，毀壞純樸的心靈。
 智:4.13     他在短期內成為完人，與滿享高壽無異。
 智:4.14     他的靈魂使天主悅樂，因此，天主迅速將他從邪惡之中提去。世人見了，並不明瞭，也不存心細想；
 智:4.15     他揀選的人，必獲恩寵和仁慈；對他虔誠的人，必蒙眷顧。
 智:4.16     [惡人惡終]  死去的義人，是判定活著而不虔敬的人有罪；夭折的青年完人，是判定高壽而不義的老年人有罪。
 智:4.17     這般人雖然看到智慧人的結局，卻不明瞭上主對他有什麼計劃，也不明瞭上主為什麼使他平安無恙；
 智:4.18     他們見了，反而嗤笑，但上主卻要譏笑他們。
 智:4.19     最後，他們將成為一具卑鄙的死屍，是亡者中的永遠的恥辱，因為上主要將他們打倒在地，使之俯首無言，連根拔除，徹底破壞，長處於痛苦中，永無記念存在。
 智:4.20     在清算他們的罪惡時，他們將戰兢前來受審，他們的邪惡要起來作證，控告他們。
  
 智:5.1      [審判之日]  那時，義人有[惡人後悔莫及恃無恐，站在那些曾經壓迫他，輕視他受苦的人面前；
 智:5.2      他們一見，不勝驚恐，驚奇他也意外獲得了救恩。
 智:5.3      他們必將懊悔心傷地彼此嘆息說：「這就是我們曾一度譏笑侮辱過的那人!
 智:5.4      我們真糊塗，曾將他的生活視為愚狂，曾將他的死亡視為恥辱。
 智:5.5      他怎麼也被列在天主的兒子中﹖怎麼在聖人中也有他的分子﹖
 智:5.6      顯然是我們偏離了真理的道路，正義的光沒有燭照過我們，智慧的太陽也沒有為我們昇起。
 智:5.7      我們走遍了邪惡與滅亡的行徑，穿過了無路的曠野，唯有上主的道路，我們卻沒有認識。
 智:5.8      傲慢為我們有什麼用處﹖財富與虛榮為我們又有什麼利益﹖
 智:5.9      [世界是虛幻的]  這一切都過去了，像陰影，像疾逝的流言；
 智:5.10     像在波濤起伏的水面上航行的船隻，駛過之後，無跡可尋，波濤裏也沒有留下船行的蹤跡；
 智:5.11     或如空中飛過的鳥，一去無蹤；牠鼓翼而飛，用力衝擊，一路穿破輕微的空氣，振翼飛過之後，也不見飛過的痕跡；
 智:5.12     或如射向靶子的箭，穿破的空氣立即復原，認不出它經過的路徑，
 智:5.13     我們也是這樣，剛一出生，即不存在，沒有表現一點功德的痕跡，只在邪惡中消耗了我們的一生。
 智:5.14     【罪人在地獄中說了這些話。】
 智:5.15     的確，惡人的希望，像被風吹去的糠秕，像被暴風颳去的薄霜，像被風飄散的雲煙，像投宿一日即行消逝的旅客記念。
 智:5.16     [義人的凱旋]  至於義人卻永遠生存；在上主那裏，有他們的酬報；在至高者那裏，有他們的照顧。
 智:5.17     因此，他們要從上主手中，得到榮耀的王位，華麗的冠冕，因為上主要用右手庇護他們，以自己的手臂保衛他們。
 智:5.18     上主必以嫉憤作武器，武裝受造之物來報復仇敵；
 智:5.19     必披上正義，當作胸甲：戴上了正直的判斷，當作鋼盔，
 智:5.20     拿上無敵的聖潔，當作盾牌，
 智:5.21     磨尖盛怒有如利刃；整個世界都要跟隨他來攻擊愚頑的人。
 智:5.22     閃電的火箭，必由張開的雲弓射出，奔向靶子；
 智:5.23     由雲架中，將射出含怒的冰雹；海水必怒號衝擊他們，江河必氾濫淹滅他們；
 智:5.24     全能者向他們一吹氣，他們即如為旋風所吹散。不法的事要使全球變成荒域，邪惡要傾覆有權勢的座位。
  
 智:6.1      [請掌權者研究智慧] 【智慧勝於體力，智者勝於勇士。】
 智:6.2      所以，列王! 你們要聽，且要明白；世上的判官! 你們應受教；
 智:6.3      統治群眾，因百姓眾多而自負者! 你們應當傾聽：
 智:6.4      你們的權威，是由上主賜予的，高位是來自至高者，他要檢查你們的作為，查究你們的心意。
 智:6.5      因為，你們是他王國的公僕，如果你們判案不公，不守法律，不按天主的旨意行事，
 智:6.6      天主必要可怕而迅速地臨於你們，對身居高位的，執行嚴厲的審判。
 智:6.7      因為，卑微的人，還堪憐可恕；有權勢的，必受嚴厲的拷問。
 智:6.8      萬有的主宰決不顧情面，也不畏懼權勢，因為無論大小，都是他造的；他對一切，都一律加以照顧；
 智:6.9      但對有權勢的人必嚴加審訊。
 智:6.10     所以，各位君侯! 我的話是對你們說的，要你們學習智慧，不再失職。
 智:6.11     誰聖善地持守聖善的法律，便是聖善的人；誰學習這些法律，必會尋得辯護。
 智:6.12     所以你們應思慕我的話，珍愛我的話；如此，你們必將深受教益。
 智:6.13     [研究智慧的益處]  智慧是光明的，從不暗淡；愛慕她的，很容易看見她；尋覓她的，就可找到她；
 智:6.14     一有追求她的志願，她必預先顯示給他們。
 智:6.15     早起尋求她的，不必費勞，因為必發現她坐在門前。
 智:6.16     思念智慧，是齊全的明哲；為她守夜不寐的，很快就必無顧慮。
 智:6.17     因為，智慧到處尋找配得上自己的人，她在路上親切地把自己顯示出來，很關心地迎接他們。
 智:6.18     智慧的真起點，是切願受教；
 智:6.19     切願受教就是愛；愛即在於遵守法律；遵守法律，便是不朽的保證；
 智:6.20     不朽使人親近天主；
 智:6.21     所以，慕求智慧引人高登王位。
 智:6.22     萬民的君候! 你們若喜愛王位與王權，就應尊重智慧，好能永居王位。
 智:6.23     【萬民的統治者，你們應愛慕智慧的光明! 】
 智:6.24     [智慧的性質]  我要陳述，什麼是智慧，她是怎樣有的；我決不向你們隱瞞她的妙理，反而探源索本，將對她的認識公開陳述，決不歪屈真理。
 智:6.25     我決不與使人消沉的嫉妒同行，因為，它與智慧絕無共同之處。
 智:6.26     智慧人眾多，世界纔有救；君王明達，民生纔安定。
 智:6.27     所以，你們應接受我的訓言；如此，你們必受教益。
  
 智:7.1      [生死人人相同]  我也是有死的人，同眾人一樣；我也是出於用土受造的原祖，在母胎中形成了肉軀，
 智:7.2      十月之久，在母血中凝結，由男精與合夢的慾樂而形成。
 智:7.3      我一出生，便呼吸了公共的空氣，落在具有同一命運的地上，哭出了第一聲，與眾人無異；
 智:7.4      我在襁褓中，受了母親的撫育和照顧。
 智:7.5      沒有一位君王，另有不同的誕生，
 智:7.6      因為，人人進入生命的路，只有一條，去世亦然。
 智:7.7      [智慧的高貴]  為此，我曾祈求，天主就賜給了我聰明；我曾呼籲，智慧的神便臨於我身。
 智:7.8      我寧要智慧，而不要王權和王位；財富與她相較，分文不值。
 智:7.9      無價的寶石也不能與她相比，因為，一切黃金在她面前，不過只是一粒細沙；白銀在她跟前，無異一撮泥土。
 智:7.10     我愛她，勝過愛健康和美色，我以她比光明更為可取，因為，由她而來的光輝，從不暗淡。
 智:7.11     的確，一切美物都伴她而來，在她手中握有數不清的財富。
 智:7.12     為了這一切美物，我極其歡樂，因為，智慧是一切美物的先導；我一向還不知道，智慧竟是一切美物的母親。
 智:7.13     我誠心地學習了，我也豪爽地分施與人，我絕不隱藏智慧的財富。
 智:7.14     因為智慧是人用之不盡的寶藏；凡佔有的人，必獲得天主的友愛，賴受教而獲得的恩賜，深得天主的歡心。
 智:7.15     [智慧的善果]  願天主使我遵照他的意願說話，使我的思想配合他的恩賜，因為是他領導智慧，引導智者；
 智:7.16     原來，我們和我們的言論，我們的一切聰明和技巧，都在他手中。
 智:7.17     是他把所有事物的正確知識賜給了我，使我明瞭世界的構造，和元素的能量，
 智:7.18     時間的始末和中心，冬至夏至的轉變，和季節的變更，
 智:7.19     年歲的循環與星辰的位置，
 智:7.20     生物的天性，和野獸的本能，鬼神的力量，和人類的思想，植物的繁雜，和草根的效能。
 智:7.21     所有或隱或明的事，我都知道，因為教導我的，是造萬物的技師──智慧。
 智:7.22     [智慧的本體和美德]  在她內的神，原是聰明的，至聖的，唯一的，多樣的，微妙的，敏捷的，精明的，無玷的，率直的，不受損害的，好善的，銳敏的，
 智:7.23     無敵的，施惠的，愛人的，穩固的，堅決的，無慮的，無所不能的，無所不察的，又是洞察所有明達、潔淨和精微心靈的。
 智:7.24     實在，智慧比一切活動更為活動；她是如此精純，能滲透深入一切。
 智:7.25     她是天主威能的氣息，是全能者榮耀的真誠流露；因此，任何污穢都不能浸入她內。
 智:7.26     她是永遠光明的反映，是天主德能的明鏡，是天主美善的肖像。
 智:7.27     她雖是獨一的，卻無所不能；她雖恆存不變，卻常使萬物更新。她世世代代，進入聖善的靈魂，使他們成為天主的朋友和先知；
 智:7.28     因為，天主只愛那與智慧同居共處的人。
 智:7.29     實在，智慧比太陽還美麗，壓倒一切星座；如與光明相比，她必佔優勢；
 智:7.30     因為，光明還要讓位於黑夜，但是邪惡絕不能戰勝智慧。
  
 智:8.1      智慧施展威力，從地極直達地極，從容治理萬物。
 智:8.2      [智慧包羅一切美善]  我愛慕智慧，自幼就尋求她，設法娶她作我的配偶：我實在喜愛她的美麗，
 智:8.3      因她與天主共同生活，更彰顯了她出身的尊貴；萬有的主宰也喜愛她。
 智:8.4      她實在透澈天主的奧秘，自行決擇天主的工程。
 智:8.5      如果財富是今生所極貪求的對像，有什麼比創造一切的智慧更為富足﹖
 智:8.6      如果理智指導工作，那麼，在萬有中有誰比智慧更配作技師﹖
 智:8.7      若有人愛慕正義，應知道：德行是智慧工作的效果，因為她教訓人節制、明智、公義和勇敢：在此生沒有比這些為人更有裨益。
 智:8.8      若有人希望有豐富的經驗，智慧知道往古，推測未來，通曉深言奧意，會解釋謎語，預知異蹟和奇事，年代和世紀的結局。
 智:8.9      [撒羅滿渴慕智慧]  為此，我決意娶她與我一同生活，深知她是我順境中的參謀，是我憂慮與困苦中的安慰。
 智:8.10     我雖然年幼，藉著她，我在民眾中必獲榮耀，必為長老所尊重；
 智:8.11     我在斷案時，必斷獄機敏，有權勢的人見了，都對我表示欽佩。【長官見了，莫不對我驚奇。】
 智:8.12     我沉默，他們就靜候；我發言，他們就側耳靜聽；我若講論不絕，他們就用手掩住自己的口。
 智:8.13     藉著她，我將永垂不朽，且為我以後的人，留下永恆的記念。
 智:8.14     我要統治萬民，列邦都要歸順我。
 智:8.15     可畏的君侯聽見我必要恐懼；在民眾前，我將顯示溫良；在戰爭時，我將顯出勇敢。
 智:8.16     回到家中，只有在她身傍，我纔獲得安息；因為只要與她為伴，便沒有苦惱；與她共同生活，便沒有悲哀，只有喜樂和愉快。
 智:8.17     [智慧是天主的恩賜]  我每一念及這些思想，心裏反覆思量：不死不滅是在於與智慧親近，
 智:8.18     純潔的喜樂是在於與智慧為友，無盡的財富是在於智慧手中的工作；明哲是在於與智慧結交，聲譽是在於與智慧交談；因此，我尋遍方法，好能將她娶到手中。
 智:8.19     我原是個性善的孩子，獲得了個善良的靈魂；
 智:8.20     或更好說，因為我善良，我進入了一個無玷的身體內；
 智:8.21     但我知道，天主若不將她賜給我，我不會獲得她──連知道這是誰的恩賜，已經是由於智慧──我於是轉向上主全心祈求他說：
  
 智:9.1      [求智慧經文]  「列祖的天主，仁慈的上主! 你用你的言語，創作了一切，
 智:9.2      以你的智慧造了人，使他統治你所造的萬物，
 智:9.3      吩咐他以聖德和正義，管理世界，以正直的心，施行權力：
 智:9.4      求你賜給我侍立於你座旁的智慧，不要將我從你僕人中開除；
 智:9.5      因為，我是你的僕人，是你婢女的兒子，是病弱短命，對正義與法律絕少認識的人。
 智:9.6      在人子中，即便有人是完人，如果沒有出於你的智慧，他實算不了什麼。
 智:9.7      [人無智慧]  你曾選拔我，[不能悅樂天主作你百姓的君王，作你子女的判官。
 智:9.8      你曾命令我，在你的聖山上建造聖殿，在你居住的城邑內修築祭壇，仿造你起出所備置的聖幕的式樣。
 智:9.9      智慧與你同在，她洞悉你的工作；當你創造世界的時候，她已在場，知道你喜悅什麼，知道按你的法律，甚麼是正當的。
 智:9.10     求你從你的聖天上，遣發智慧，從你榮耀的寶座旁，派遣她來，與我共處同勞，教我知道什麼是你喜悅的事。
 智:9.11     因為她知道一切，通達一切，能引導我行事明智，以自己的德能保護我。
 智:9.12     這樣，我的工作必蒙悅納，治理你的百姓可以公正，配坐我父親的寶座。人無智慧，不能獲得救恩。
 智:9.13     有誰能知道天主的計劃，有誰能想像上主的意願﹖
 智:9.14     有死的人的思想，常是不定的，我們人的計謀常是無常的；
 智:9.15     因為，這必腐朽的肉身，重壓著靈魂；這屬於土的寓所，迫使精神多慮。
 智:9.16     世上的事，我們還難以測度；目前的事，我們還得費力追求；那麼，天上的事誰還能探究﹖
 智:9.17     你若不賜予智慧，從高天派遣你的聖神，誰能知道你的旨意﹖
 智:9.18     這樣，世人的道路纔得修直了，人們纔可學習你喜悅的事，
 智:9.19     賴智慧獲得救援。」
  
           後編 智慧的偉大成就(10-19)
  
 智:10.1     [隨從與背棄智慧的後果:  由亞當至諾厄] 智慧保護了最初受造，世界上唯一的原祖，
 智:10.2     救他脫離了本身的罪過，給了他統治萬物的能力。
 智:10.3     但當不義者在憤怒中背棄了智慧，遂怒殺兄弟而自取滅亡。
 智:10.4     因他的緣故，洪水淹沒了世界，仍是智慧指引義人，藉著賤價的木材，拯救了世界。
 智:10.5     [亞巴郎和羅特]  當列國同謀作惡而混亂時，智慧又辨別出義人來，加以保護，使他在天主前無瑕可指；當他痛惜兒子時，又堅強了他。
 智:10.6     當不虔敬的人被毀滅時，智慧救了義人，逃脫了那降在五城的天火；
 智:10.7     為證明他們的邪惡，這塊荒地還在冒煙；樹木結果，卻不成熟；鹽柱留在那裏，以作那無信的靈魂的紀念碑。
 智:10.8     因為他們離棄了智慧，不但害得自己不認識善事，而且還給世人留下了他們愚妄的紀念，致使他們的過犯一點也不能隱瞞。
 智:10.9     [雅各伯和若瑟]  但是，智慧卻從困難中拯救了崇拜她的人。
 智:10.10    智慧引導逃避長兄憤怒的義人，走上了正路；將天主的國指示給他。叫他明白神聖的事；在困苦之中使他順利，令他的勤勞效果豐滿。
 智:10.11    有人由於貪婪，窘迫他時，智慧又在旁協助，使他致富。
 智:10.12    智慧保護他脫離仇敵，使他安全，不受暗算；在他博鬥時，使他獲勝，叫他明瞭虔敬的能力，高於一切。
 智:10.13    智慧沒有離棄被賣的義人，反而救他免於罪惡；
 智:10.14    與他同入坑獄，在縲絏之中，也沒有捨棄他，直到令他取得王權，統治欺壓他的人們，證明誣謗他的人說的盡是謊言；賞給了他永垂不朽的光榮。
 智:10.15    [選民出埃及]  智慧拯救了聖潔的民族，使無瑕可指的種族，脫離壓迫他們的異民。
 智:10.16    她進入了上主僕人的靈魂，藉異能和奇跡，對抗可畏的君王。
 智:10.17    她酬報了聖徒的勞苦，領他們走上了奇妙的道路：日間作他們的蔭涼，夜裏作他們的星光；
 智:10.18    領他們走過了紅海，引他們穿過了洪濤，
 智:10.19    卻淹沒了他們的仇敵，又將他們從海底拋出；因此，義人反奪得了不虔敬者的戰利品。
 智:10.20    上主! 他們遂稱頌了你的聖名，同心讚美了你施展衛護的手臂；
 智:10.21    因為，智慧開了啞巴的口，使嬰兒的舌伶俐善言。
  
 智:11.1     [選民過曠野]  智慧使他們的事業，在聖先知的手下進行順利：
 智:11.2     他們走過了無人煙的荒野，在無路的荒野，支搭了帳幕；
 智:11.3     與敵軍對峙，擊退了敵人。
 智:11.4     他們渴時，呼求了你，巖石就給他們流出了清泉，磐石解決了他們的口渴。
 智:11.5     [埃及人受罰]  他們的敵人在什麼事上受罰，他們就在那種困難中受到愛護。
 智:11.6     【敵人缺少的，以色列人卻常有不缺。】
 智:11.7     為懲罰埃及人頒發殺害嬰兒的命令，常流的江河，混入了鮮血污泥，
 智:11.8     你卻出乎眾望，另賜給了以色列人豐富的水；
 智:11.9     他們藉著當時的口渴，可以明瞭你怎樣懲罰了他們的仇人。
 智:11.10    以色列人固然受了試探，但這只是出乎仁愛的懲戒，要他們明瞭不虔敬的人，在天主義怒的審判之下，怎樣受了懲罰；
 智:11.11    因為你考驗以色列人，自來就像一個規勸的父親；你審問埃及人，卻像一位定罪的嚴厲君王。
 智:11.12    以色列人不論在的時候，或遠去的時候，埃及人都同樣遭受痛苦。
 智:11.13    他們因受雙重的苦惱夾擊，一回憶往事，便呻吟歎息；
 智:11.14    因為當他們一聽說自己的刑罰，反成了別人的利益，便知這是上主的作為。
 智:11.15    埃及人以前所拋棄，所放逐，所譏笑的人，在事後反為他們驚奇不已，因為他們的口渴，究竟與義人不同。
 智:11.16    他們因愚昧與邪惡的思想，走入了歧徒，崇拜了無靈的爬蟲和賤獸，你就派遣了成群的無靈的動物，來懲罰他們，
 智:11.17    叫他們知道，人用什麼來犯罪，就用什麼來罰他。
 智:11.18    因為，你全能的手，既能從無定形的原質中，造出了世界，也不難為他們遣來許多狗熊或猛獅，
 智:11.19    或新造而不知名的殘暴猛獸，噴射火燄，放射毒氣，兩眼閃爍可怕的火星。
 智:11.20    這些猛獸，不但能肆虐將他們消滅，即連他們恐怖的形狀，也能把人嚇死。
 智:11.21    即使沒有牠們，因你一口氣，埃及人也會死亡，因你正義的追擊，他們必為你大能的氣息所捲去；但你處置這一切，原有一定的尺度、數目和衡量。
 智:11.22    [天主罰人是要人悔悟]  你隨時可用你的大能，有誰能抵抗你有力的手臂﹖
 智:11.23    整個世界，在你跟前，宛如天秤上的一粒塵沙，落在地面上的一滴朝露。
 智:11.24    但是，你憐閔眾生，因為你是無所不能的，你假裝看不見人罪，是為叫罪人悔改。
 智:11.25    的確，你愛一切所有，不恨你所造的；如果你憎恨什麼，你必不會造它。
 智:11.26    如果你不願意，甚麼東西能夠存在﹖如果你不吩咐，甚麼東西能夠保全﹖
 智:11.27    愛護眾靈的主宰! 只有你愛惜萬物，因為都是你的。
  
 智:12.1     你那不死不滅的生氣在萬物之內；
 智:12.2     因此，你逐步地懲罰墮落的人，要他們想起所犯的罪惡，藉以警告他們離棄惡事，相信你，上主。
 智:12.3     [客納罕人的惡習]  你憎恨你聖地裏的古代居民，
 智:12.4     因為他們操行巫術和邪惡的祭祀，作出了最可憎惡的事。
 智:12.5     這些無情殺害嬰兒的人，在這些拜神的歌舞筵會中，吞食人血肉的人，
 智:12.6     這些殺害無能力自衛生靈的父母，你決意要藉我們先祖的手，將他們消滅，
 智:12.7     使你以為地上最寶貴的地方，成為天主子民相宜的僑居地。
 智:12.8     [天主也給他們懺悔的機會]  但你也拿他們當人對待，先派土蜂作你軍隊的先鋒，逐漸將他們消滅。
 智:12.9     這並不是因為你不能用一場戰爭，使不虔敬者屈服於義人之下；或用兇猛的野獸，或用嚴厲的言語，一下將他們殲滅；
 智:12.10    而是因你願逐漸降罰，給他們一個悔改的機會；並不是你不知道他們的種族不良，生來邪惡，永不會改變心意；
 智:12.11    因為他們從起初，就是被詛咒的後裔。你沒有降罰他們的罪行，並非因為你怕誰。
 智:12.12    誰敢對你說：你作了什麼﹖誰能反抗你的判斷﹖你消滅了你造的民族，誰敢控告你﹖又誰敢起來面對著你，為惡人作辯護﹖
 智:12.13    因為，除你以外，別無照顧萬物的神，你應向他指明你的審判，並非不公；
 智:12.14    也沒有一個君王或君主，敢為你懲罰的人，對你怒目而視。
 智:12.15    [天主待人恩威並用]  你是公義的，你必按照公義處理一切；罰不應罰的，你必認為這與你的權威不合。
 智:12.16    你的權力原是你公義的本源，因為你主宰一切，所以你必能諒解一切。
 智:12.17    為此，如果有人不相信你具有絕對的權威，你就將你的權力顯示出來；如果他們知道而仍膽大妄為，你就予以懲罰。
 智:12.18    你雖掌有大權，但施行審判，卻很溫和，治理我們，極其寬忍，因為，權能乃屬於你，只有你願意，你就能行使。
 智:12.19    你這樣作，是為教訓你的子民，義人必須憐愛眾人；並使你的子女滿懷希望，因為人在犯罪之後，你常賜予懺悔的機會。
 智:12.20    你處罰你子女們應處死的敵人，還這樣小心溫和，給他們時間和機會改惡遷善，
 智:12.21    你審判你的兒子時，豈不更謹慎﹖因為，你曾與他們的列祖起過誓，立過約，應許他們得福利。
 智:12.22    你對我們只是懲戒，對我們的仇人卻是千百倍的鞭笞：這是為使我們在審斷時，應思念你的仁慈；在受審時，應期望你的哀憐。
 智:12.23    [頑固不化堪受重罰]  因此，對那生活愚蠢，行為不義的人，你便用他們敬拜的醜惡之物來折磨他們。
 智:12.24    他們實在深深地誤入了歧途，竟認最醜怪，最下賤的禽獸為神，讓自己受騙，竟如無知的孩童。
 智:12.25    因此，你對待他們也像無知的孩童，給他們派來的刑罰，也只是戲弄。
 智:12.26    但他們並未因此戲弄的責戒而悔改，所以他們要受相稱於天主的重罰。
 智:12.27    埃及人在禽獸的折磨中，有見他們所敬奉為神明的禽獸，成了自己受罰的工具，這纔明瞭，並承認從前所否認的實是真天主；但他們仍不肯悔改，因此，最後的懲罰終於降在他們身上。
  
 智:13.1     [崇拜自然實在愚蠢]  凡不認識天主的人，都是真正的愚人，因為，他們未能從看得見的美物，去發現那自有者；注意了工程，卻不認識工程師；
 智:13.2     反而認火、風、流動的空氣、運轉的星辰、洪流的巨濤、天上的光體，為統治世界的神。
 智:13.3     如果有人因這些東西的美麗而著迷，奉之為神；那麼，他們就應知道：這些美物的主宰更是美麗，因為，全是美麗的唯一根源所創造的。
 智:13.4     如果有人驚奇這些東西的力量和效能，就應明白：創造這些東西的更有能力；
 智:13.5     因為，從受造物的偉大和美麗，人可以推想到這些東西的創造者。
 智:13.6     不過，這種人的罪尚較輕微，因為，他們尋找天主，也有意找到，卻一時誤入了迷途：
 智:13.7     這或許是由於他們所見的世物實在美麗，因此在專務研究他的工程時，只追求外表；
 智:13.8     但他們仍然不能推辭無過：
 智:13.9     因為他們既然能知道的如此淵博，甚至能探究宇宙，為什麼不能及早發現這些東西的主宰﹖
 智:13.10    [偶像的來歷]  有些人真是可憐! 他們竟將希望寄於死東西上，竟稱人的手工、金銀和藝術的創作、動物的肖像、或古人雕刻的無用的石為神。
 智:13.11    設想：有個木匠，鋸來一棵適用的樹木，精巧地剝淨樹皮，熟練地施展技巧，製成一件日常生活的用具；
 智:13.12    以後用工作剩餘的碎木，煮飯充飢；
 智:13.13    後來由那些剩下一無所用的廢木中，取出一塊彎曲多疤的木頭，在閒暇無事時，辛勤地加以雕刻，本著自己熟悉的手藝，按圖樣將它刻成一個人像，
 智:13.14    或做成一個卑賤的獸像，塗上丹砂，將外皮漆成紅色，遮住一切疤痕；
 智:13.15    隨後，為它做一個適宜的居所，把它嵌在牆上，用釘子釘住，
 智:13.16    預先加以照顧，免得它掉下來，因為他知道：這件東西是不能自助的，不過只是偶像，需要人來扶助。
 智:13.17    但是，他反不感羞恥地向這無靈之物禱告，祈賜財富、妻室和子嗣；
 智:13.18    向這虛弱的東西，要求健康；向這死物，要求生命；向這無能的東西，要求援助；
 智:13.19    向這有腳不能行的東西，要求旅行；向這有手而毫無動作的東西，要求發財、工作、事業成功的力量。
  
 智:14.1     [拜偶像的愚蠢]  再如：有個準備航海的人，行將在怒濤中航行之際，竟向一塊比自己乘的船還易壞的木頭呼求。
 智:14.2     船固然是因求財的貪心而發明的，亦是匠人以智慧造成的；
 智:14.3     但最後，父啊! 還是你的照顧在駕駛，因為原是你在海洋中劃出了一條路線，在波浪中開闢了一條安全的路徑，
 智:14.4     表示你能救人脫離各種危險，連沒有技術的人，也能航海。
 智:14.5     你決不願使你智慧的工作棄之不用，因此，人將生命託給一片小木，藉一葉扁舟，經過巨濤而平安到達海岸。
 智:14.6     其實，在當初，當那些傲慢的巨人被滅絕的時候，世界的希望逃入了一葉扁舟，經你手的駕駛，纔得給後世留下了新生的苗裔。
 智:14.7     木頭如使用得當，是可祝福的；
 智:14.8     但是，人手造的木偶和木偶的製造者，卻是可詛咒的：製造者，因為他造了木偶；木偶，因為雖是腐敗的東西，竟被稱為神。
 智:14.9     不虔敬的人，與他行的不虔敬的事，同樣為天主所憎惡；
 智:14.10    所以，木偶與造木偶的，都必遭受懲罰。
 智:14.11    為此，天主必要懲罰列邦的偶像，因為偶像在天主的造物中，成了可憎之物，成了人們靈魂的障礙，作了愚人腳前的陷阱。
 智:14.12    [拜偶像的起源]  發明偶像，是淫亂的開端；創造偶像，是人生的腐敗。
 智:14.13    起初原無偶像，也不能永久長存；
 智:14.14    由於人的虛榮心，偶像纔進入了世界；為此，已注定很快就要結束。
 智:14.15    一個父親因他兒子的夭折，甚為悲傷，遂為自己早死的兒子立像，他雖是已死的人，如今卻敬之如神，並傳令家屬禮拜獻祭。
 智:14.16    這種不虔敬的事，相沿日久，便成了習俗，以致守如法律；再加上君王的命令，雕像遂受崇拜。
 智:14.17    住在遠方的人，不能當面尊敬國王，便由遠方設想君王的相貌，為所要尊敬的君王，製造一座可見的肖像，向那不在跟前的，殷勤獻媚，如同就在跟前一樣。
 智:14.18    藝術家的野心，把那些不認識君王的人，也都誘來，為擴大這項敬禮；
 智:14.19    藝術家原為討有權威者的歡心，就竭力運用自己的技術，使君王的肖像格外美麗；
 智:14.20    民眾受了這精美手工的吸引，不久以前那當人尊敬的，現在卻奉之為神了。
 智:14.21    這便成了人生的隱禍，因為遭受不幸，或受暴君壓迫的人們，將「那不可道出的名字，」加給了木石。
 智:14.22    [拜偶像的後果]  他們對天主的認識錯到如此地步，還以為不足；甚至愚昧使他們生活在強烈的戰鬥中，還將這樣的大禍，稱為和平。
 智:14.23    因他們祭殺孩童，或舉行秘密祭禮，或儀式怪誕的狂歡宴會。
 智:14.24    誰也不顧及生活與婚姻的純潔，遂彼此陷害殘殺，以姦淫加害於人。
 智:14.25    於是，混亂到處叢生：流血、殺人、盜竊、欺騙、缺德、失信、暴亂、違約、
 智:14.26    陷害忠良、忘恩負義、玷辱靈魂、同性淫亂、婚姻混雜、通姦淫亂。
 智:14.27    崇拜虛無的偶像，實是萬惡的起源、由來和結局。
 智:14.28    這些人行樂發狂，預言虛妄，生活邪辟，妄發虛誓，
 智:14.29    因為他們信賴無生命的偶像，自以為妄發虛誓，不會受罰。
 智:14.30    但是，正為了這兩件事，他們必受公義的處罰：因對天主沒有正確的認識，因而崇拜偶像；又因詭計多端，妄發虛誓，因而輕視聖潔。
 智:14.31    因為，那常追擊不義者違法行為的，並不是「賴以發誓者」的力量，而是天主對犯罪者的懲罰。
  
 智:15.1     [真宗教的美善]  至於你，我們的天主，你是良善的，忠實的，寬容的，以慈愛治理萬有。
 智:15.2     我們即使犯了罪，仍是你的，因為我們承認你的主權；我們既承認我們原屬於你，我們就不再犯罪了。
 智:15.3     實在，認識你就是完美的正義；承認你的主權，就是不死不滅的根源。
 智:15.4     為此，人邪惡的創作，畫家無益的作品，各式各色的畫圖，都沒有使我們誤入迷途；
 智:15.5     不過，愚人一見這些畫像，就大動情慾，貪戀這些無靈的死像。
 智:15.6     凡製造、愛慕、恭敬偶像的，實是邪惡的情人，只堪將希望寄於無靈之物。
 智:15.7     [拜偶像的愚妄]  有個陶人用力摶軟泥，製成各種器皿，以供我們使用：但是，他可用同樣的泥土，做成潔淨事用的器皿，同樣，也可做成為卑污事用的器皿；至於，每件作何用途，皆由陶人斷定。
 智:15.8     後來，他竟枉費心機，將同樣的泥土，捏成一個虛無的神像。不想自己不久以前，原是由土造成的；不久以後，天主向他索還靈魂時，還要歸於土。
 智:15.9     他並不想死亡將至，生命短促，只圖與金匠銀匠競爭，仿效銅匠，以製造虛偽之物為榮。
 智:15.10    他的心已如死灰，他的希望比塵埃還卑微，他的生命比泥土更卑賤。
 智:15.11    因為，他竟不知是誰創造了他，是誰賦給了他一個行動的靈魂，是誰向他吹了生命的氣息。
 智:15.12    他反將我們的生命視為兒戲，將此生看作惟利是圖的市場，說：「人必須用各樣的方法，甚至利用不義的手段，獲得利潤。」
 智:15.13    凡用泥料製造易破的器皿和偶像的，應比其他一切人更清楚知道自己犯了罪。
 智:15.14    [埃及人更為愚頑]  但是，最愚蠢，比嬰兒還可憐的，還是那些仇視並虐待你百姓的人。
 智:15.15    他們將異邦人所有的偶像都看作神明；這些神明有眼不能看，有鼻不能喘氣，有耳不能聽，有手不能摸，有腳不能行，
 智:15.16    因為都是人的作品，是那由天主借得氣息的人所捏造的，實在沒有一人能造出一個與自己相似的神；
 智:15.17    有死的人，只能用邪惡的手造出死像；他本人原勝過他所崇拜的東西，因為他尚有生命，這些東西卻從來沒有。
 智:15.18    此外，他們竟然還敬拜那些最可憎惡的動物，因為，這些動物與其他動物相比，更為愚笨。
 智:15.19    再就其為動物而言，也並不美麗，或值得人愛，只是些不得天主讚賞和祝福的東西。
  
 智:16.1     [鵪鶉與害蟲]  因此，天主用同樣的動物來懲罰他們，使他們受許多動物的殘害，很為適當。
 智:16.2     正與此懲罰相反,你卻恩待了你的百姓,為滿足他們的食慾，給他們預備了珍奇的美味──鵪鶉，當作食物。
 智:16.3     那些想進食的埃及人，一看見上主遣來的醜陋的動物，連原有的食慾都失去了；至於你的百姓，雖遭受了片時的飢餓，卻分享了奇異的美味。
 智:16.4     因為，埃及人殘忍無道，理應遭受難挨的飢餓；至於你的百姓受餓，只是為叫他們明白，他們的仇敵受了如何的痛苦。
 智:16.5     [銅蛇與蝗災]  以色列人固然也受到了猛獸的殘害，和毒蛇的咬傷；
 智:16.6     但你的憤怒並沒有堅持到底，只不過是為警戒他們，使他們暫時驚惶，獲得救援的標記，好想起你的法令；
 智:16.7     凡轉向這標記的，並不是因著所瞻望的記號得救，而是因著你，萬民的救主。
 智:16.8     藉此，你向我們的仇敵證明：是你救人脫免一切災禍；
 智:16.9     因為蝗蟲和蒼蠅咬死了他們，卻沒有醫治他們生命的方法，因為他們理應遭受這樣的刑罰。
 智:16.10    但是你的子民，卻沒有為毒蛇的牙所制勝；這是因為你的仁慈前來救助，治好了他們。
 智:16.11    他們被咬後，即刻獲治，是要他們記念你的話，免得他們深深遺忘，而不注意你的仁慈。
 智:16.12    醫好他們的，並不是草藥，也不是膏藥，上主，而是你那治好一切的話。
 智:16.13    因為，是你掌握生死的大權，引人下入陰府的門，而又領回。
 智:16.14    人固然可以因邪惡而殺人，卻不能使已離去的神魂再回來，也不能解救一個被囚在陰府中的靈魂。
 智:16.15    [瑪納與冰雹]  逃出你的掌握，那是不可能的。
 智:16.16    為此，那不肯承認你的敗類，遭受了你大力手臂的打擊，受那罕有的大雨、冰雹與無情暴雨的襲擊，並為火所毀滅。
 智:16.17    最堪驚奇的，是在能熄滅一切的水中，火燄反而更為熾烈，因為世界都為義人而戰：
 智:16.18    有時火勢緩和，免得燒掉那些為對付不虔敬的人所派來的野獸，令他們見了，自知難逃天主正義的追擊；
 智:16.19    有時火在水中反燒得異常熾烈，為燒盡毀滅不義之田的出產。
 智:16.20    相反地，你用天神之糧，養育了你的子民；他們不必操勞，你從天上給他們降下了現成的食糧，具有各種美味，適合各人的口味。
 智:16.21    你賜予的食糧，合乎取食者的嗜好，隨著人的願望而變化，這表明你對待兒女如何恩愛。
 智:16.22    雪和冰遇著火並不融化，這是使他們知道：為毀滅仇敵的收穫，火曾在冰雹中熾燃，在雨水中閃爍；
 智:16.23    但為養育義人，火卻忘記了自己的本能。
 智:16.24    實在，受造物都服從你，自己的造主，致力懲罰不義的人，恩待信賴你的人。
 智:16.25    因此，「瑪納」就依照你那養育眾人的恩寵，起種種變化，來適應需求者的願望，
 智:16.26    為使你所愛的子女們知道：上主，養育世人的，不是各種果食，而是你的言語，保全了信賴你的人。
 智:16.27    因為，火所不能燒毀的，因著溫和的一線陽光，立即融化，
 智:16.28    使人知道：在太陽沒有升起以前，就應讚頌你；在曙光破曉時分，就該祈求你；
 智:16.29    因為，不知恩者的希望，就如冬天的霜，勢必消溶，逝去有如無用的流水。
  
 智:17.1     [黑暗與光明]  上主，你的裁判的確高深難明，因此，不願受教的靈魂走入了迷途。
 智:17.2     不法的人自以為能壓服聖民，反而被黑暗所束縛，為長夜所桎梏，囚禁在斗室中，被棄於永遠照顧之外。
 智:17.3     他們原想在人不留意的黑幕下，可以掩藏隱密的罪惡，自己反為黑暗所侵襲，大起恐慌為鬼怪所驚擾，
 智:17.4     以致連掩護他們的內室，也不能保護他們不受驚惶，使人恐怖的聲音環繞在他們四周，哭喪著臉的憂戚怪物，出現在他們面前。
 智:17.5     火沒有一點能力供給他們光亮，星辰的光輝，也無法照明這可怕的黑夜，
 智:17.6     只有忽然自動燃起的極為可怕的火炬，顯示給他們，嚇得他們不知所措；在在幻像不見之後，他們幻想之所見，比所見的實物更為可怕。
 智:17.7     他們的邪術盡失效力，他們誇耀的學識，全蒙恥受辱：
 智:17.8     他們曾應許，為患精神病者驅除恐懼與慌亂，自己卻患了可笑的膽怯病；
 智:17.9     即使沒有可怕的事來恐嚇，連走獸經過，或毒蛇嗤嗤一聲，他們也大為驚慌，嚇得魂不附體，以致連這無可逃避的空氣也不願再看。
 智:17.10    邪惡的心本來就膽怯，自證自己有罪，受著天良的催迫，時常向壞處著想。
 智:17.11    恐懼不是別的，只是將理性的助力，棄而不用；
 智:17.12    人對內心的依賴越薄弱，越難明瞭遇難的原因。
 智:17.13    在那來自毫無生力的陰府深處，使人無法工作的黑夜裏，仍照樣去睡覺的人，
 智:17.14    有的因魑魅的怪狀而驚惶，有的因心志絕望而沮喪，因為，突然而意外的驚懼，忽臨到他們身上。
 智:17.15    因此，不拘誰倒在那裏，就在那裏被囚，幽禁在沒有鐵閂的囹圄中；
 智:17.16    不論他是農夫，或是牧人，或是在偏僻鄉野操作的工人，都得驟然忍受這不可逃避的厄運，因為人人都被一條黑暗的鎖鍊束縛住了；
 智:17.17    不論是呼嘯的風聲，或是密枝間鳥雀的吱喳叫聲，或是溪水的急流聲，
 智:17.18    或是岩石崩裂的強烈響聲，或是走獸隱約的跳躍聲，或是猛獸的吼叫聲，或是山谷間的響徹回聲，都能使他們膽戰心驚。
 智:17.19    其時整個世界正為輝煌的光明所照耀，進行工作毫無阻礙；
 智:17.20    沉重的黑暗，只籠罩著他們，這是未來要接收他們的黑暗的預像；其實，他們為他們自己，比黑暗還更為沉重。
  
 智:18.1     [奇光照耀選民]  至於你的聖徒，卻有極大的光明。埃及人只聽見他們的聲音，卻看不見他們的面容，遂宣稱那沒有遭受痛苦的為有福，
 智:18.2     對他們表示感激，因他們雖受虐待，卻不圖報復，求他們寬恕以往的敵對行為。
 智:18.3     正與黑暗相反，你賜給了聖徒火柱，在他們不熟識的路上作響導，在光榮的旅途中作不為害的太陽。
 智:18.4     埃及人理當失掉光明，遭受黑暗的拘禁，因為他們曾拘留過你的子民；正是這些子民想將法律不滅的光明傳到普世。
 智:18.5     [生與死]  他們決意要殺盡聖徒的嬰兒時．有一個被棄的嬰兒竟然得救；為懲罰他們，你奪去了他們許多嬰兒，又將他們一齊淹沒在大水之中。
 智:18.6     我們的祖先預先得知了那一夜的事，甚而確實知道自己所相信的誓言多麼可靠，因此都心安神樂。
 智:18.7     所以，你的子民所期待的，就是義人的救援，和仇人的滅亡。
 智:18.8     你用什麼方法懲罰了仇敵，也用什麼方法光榮了我們，為召叫我們歸向你。
 智:18.9     善人的聖潔子孫，都在暗中獻了祭，同心立定了神聖的盟約，為使聖徒們同甘共苦，同唱了列祖的讚美歌曲。
 智:18.10    敵人混亂的喊聲，從對面響起，到處發出哀悼孩兒的悲鳴。
 智:18.11    主人與僕人，同受一樣的懲罰；庶民與王公，共遭一樣的苦難。
 智:18.12    他們一時都遇到同樣的死亡，死了無數的人；以致活人的數目不足以埋葬死人，因為，他們最寶貴的後裔，傾刻之間，都已滅亡。
 智:18.13    那些操行邪術，什麼也不相信的人，因著長子的喪亡，纔承認這民族是天主的兒子。
 智:18.14    萬籟俱寂，黑夜已奔馳一半路程時，
 智:18.15    你全能的聖言，由天上的王座，如無情的戰士，降到這應毀滅的地上，
 智:18.16    帶著你不可收回的成命當作利劍，上觸高天，下踏大地，立在那裏，使各處充滿死亡。
 智:18.17    立時可怕的夢境擾亂他們，想不到的恐懼，臨到他們身上，
 智:18.18    都半死半活的一個倒在這裏，一個跌在那裏，宣佈他們死亡的原因；
 智:18.19    因為那些驚嚇他們的惡夢，已預先通知了他們，免得他們死了，還不知道自己究竟為什麼遭了難。
 智:18.20    義人也嚐試過死亡的折磨，有許多人，在荒野裏，也遭受過災殃；但天主的怒氣並沒有持久，
 智:18.21    因為無可指摘的人，迅速出頭，代為庇護，以自己的職責作盾牌，用祈禱和贖罪的馨香，阻止了天主的憤怒，使災難停止，顯示出他是你的僕人。
 智:18.22    他平息了災禍，並不是由於體力，或武器的威能，而是提起上主與祖先所發的誓，所立的約，以言語說服了刑罰人的上主。
 智:18.23    那時，死人枕藉成堆，他站在當中，攔阻了怒氣，中斷了死亡向活人延及的路線。
 智:18.24    因為，在他的長衣上，帶有整個的世界：在四行寶石上，刻著祖先的榮耀；在他頭戴的冠冕上，嵌有你的尊威。
 智:18.25    施行毀滅者，對這些禮服表示讓步，表示敬畏；只一試怒就夠了。
  
 智:19.1     [步過紅海]  但是，毫無憐憫的忿怒，必降在不虔敬的人身上，直到發洩完畢，因為天主預先知道他們將作的事：
 智:19.2     在允許以色列離開，催促他們快快上路之後，又必改變心意前去追趕。
 智:19.3     實在，埃及人還在哀悼，還在死者墳上悲傷的時候，又定了另一個愚蠢的主意：要追趕自己以前要求離去的人，有如逃亡的人。
 智:19.4     應得的報應，使他們糊塗到這種地步，竟然忘記了已經遭遇的事，使自己備受以前未曾受到的刑罰，
 智:19.5     即當你的子民走過奇異的道路時，他們遭遇了駭人聽聞的死亡。
 智:19.6     因此那時，各樣的受造物，按自己的本性，再重新受造，遵從你的命令，護衛你的子女，不受傷害。
 智:19.7     於是有雲彩遮蔽營幕，先前有水的地方，露出旱地，紅海裏開出一條無阻的道路，巨濤中出現了一片青草地，
 智:19.8     你的全體百姓，在你親手掩護之下，由那裏經過，看到了神奇的異蹟。
 智:19.9     他們有如牧場上牧放的小馬，跳躍有如羔羊，讚美你，拯救他們的上主。
 智:19.10    因為，他們還記得自己僑居在異地時發生的事：代替畜牲，地上怎樣產生了蚊子；代替魚，河裏怎樣生出了成群的蛤蟆。
 智:19.11    以後，他們大動食慾，要求精美的食物時，又見到了新奇出生的飛鳥：
 智:19.12    為使他們滿足，從海上飛來了鵪鶉。
 智:19.13    [埃及的罪過勝於索多瑪]  至於對罪人，卻降下了刑罰，事先原已用猛烈的雷電警告過他們；他們因自己的邪惡而遭受痛苦，實是理所當然的，因為埃及人分外苛刻地憎恨了旅客。
 智:19.14    索多瑪人，只不過不接待初到的陌生客人，而埃及人卻將施惠的賓客充作奴隸。
 智:19.15    不僅如此，而且對索多瑪人還可予以寬恕，因為他們只不過對外人表示敵意；
 智:19.16    可是埃及人曾舉行宴會，接待了你的人民，在他們久已獲享同等的權利之後，卻又用苦役來磨難他們。
 智:19.17    為此，埃及人也如在義人門前的索多瑪人一樣，受了眼瞎的懲罰，一時被濃厚的黑暗包圍，各自找尋自己的門路。
 智:19.18    [讚頌保佑選民的天主]  各種元素的本質互相調換，就如琴瑟的五聲，互相交換，而總不改變原音；這從觀察過去的事上，明明可以見到。
 智:19.19    陸地上的動物變成了水裏的；游泳的動物卻在旱地上遊行；
 智:19.20    火在水中更加強了自己的能力，水也忘了自己滅火的本能。
 智:19.21    火燄不燒毀那行走在火裏，本容易毀滅的走獸的肉體，也不溶化那本如冰塊，易於溶化的天糧。
 智:19.22    的確，上主，你用各種方法顯揚光榮了你的子民，從不忽略隨時隨地加以保護。     [智慧書完篇]

 wis:1.       [Wisdom]    19 chapters    [智慧書]  [英文版]
   
 wis:1.1     Love justice, you who judge the earth; think of the LORD in goodness, and seek him in integrity of heart;
 wis:1.2     Because he is found by those who test him not, and he manifests himself to those who do not disbelieve him.
 wis:1.3     For perverse counsels separate a man from God, and his power, put to the proof, rebukes the foolhardy;
 wis:1.4     Because into a soul that plots evil wisdom enters not, nor dwells she in a body under debt of sin.
 wis:1.5     For the holy spirit of discipline flees deceit and withdraws from senseless counsels; and when injustice occurs it is rebuked.
 wis:1.6     For wisdom is a kindly spirit, yet she acquits not the blasphemer of his guilty lips; Because God is the witness of his inmost self and the sure observer of his heart and the listener to his tongue.
 wis:1.7     For the spirit of the LORD fills the world, is all-embracing, and knows what man says.
 wis:1.8     Therefore no one who utters wicked things can go unnoticed, nor will chastising condemnation pass him by.
 wis:1.9     For the devices of the wicked man shall be scrutinized, and the sound of his words shall reach the LORD, for the chastisement of his transgressions;
 wis:1.10    Because a jealous ear hearkens to everything, and discordant grumblings are no secret.
 wis:1.11    Therefore guard against profitless grumbling, and from calumny withhold your tongues; For a stealthy utterance does not go unpunished, and a lying mouth slays the soul.
 wis:1.12    Court not death by your erring way of life, nor draw to yourselves destruction by the works of your hands.
 wis:1.13    Because God did not make death, nor does he rejoice in the destruction of the living.
 wis:1.14    For he fashioned all things that they might have being; and the creatures of the world are wholesome, And there is not a destructive drug among them nor any domain of the nether world on earth,
 wis:1.15    For justice is undying.
 wis:1.16    It was the wicked who with hands and words invited death, considered it a friend, and pined for it, and made a covenant with it, Because they deserve to be in its possession,
   
 wis:2.1     they who said among themselves, thinking not aright: "Brief and troublous is our lifetime; neither is there any remedy for man's dying, nor is anyone known to have come back from the nether world.
 wis:2.2     For haphazard were we born, and hereafter we shall be as though we had not been; Because the breath in our nostrils is a smoke and reason is a spark at the beating of our hearts,
 wis:2.3     And when this is quenched, our body will be ashes and our spirit will be poured abroad like unresisting air.
 wis:2.4     Even our name will be forgotten in time, and no one will recall our deeds. So our life will pass away like the traces of a cloud, and will be dispersed like a mist pursued by the sun's rays and overpowered by its heat.
 wis:2.5     For our lifetime is the passing of a shadow; and our dying cannot be deferred because it is fixed with a seal; and no one returns.
 wis:2.6     Come, therefore, let us enjoy the good things that are real, and use the freshness of creation avidly.
 wis:2.7     Let us have our fill of costly wine and perfumes, and let no springtime blossom pass us by;
 wis:2.8     let us crown ourselves with rosebuds ere they wither.
 wis:2.9     Let no meadow be free from our wantonness; everywhere let us leave tokens of our rejoicing, for this our portion is, and this our lot.
 wis:2.10    Let us oppress the needy just man; let us neither spare the widow nor revere the old man for his hair grown white with time.
 wis:2.11    But let our strength be our norm of justice; for weakness proves itself useless.
 wis:2.12    Let us beset the just one, because he is obnoxious to us; he sets himself against our doings, Reproaches us for transgressions of the law and charges us with violations of our training.
 wis:2.13    He professes to have knowledge of God and styles himself a child of the LORD.
 wis:2.14    To us he is the censure of our thoughts; merely to see him is a hardship for us,
 wis:2.15    Because his life is not like other men's, and different are his ways.
 wis:2.16    He judges us debased; he holds aloof from our paths as from things impure. He calls blest the destiny of the just and boasts that God is his Father.
 wis:2.17    Let us see whether his words be true; let us find out what will happen to him.
 wis:2.18    For if the just one be the son of God, he will defend him and deliver him from the hand of his foes.
 wis:2.19    With revilement and torture let us put him to the test that we may have proof of his gentleness and try his patience.
 wis:2.20    Let us condemn him to a shameful death; for according to his own words, God will take care of him."
 wis:2.21    These were their thoughts, but they erred; for their wickedness blinded them,
 wis:2.22    And they knew not the hidden counsels of God; neither did they count on a recompense of holiness nor discern the innocent souls' reward.
 wis:2.23    For God formed man to be imperishable; the image of his own nature he made him.
 wis:2.24    But by the envy of the devil, death entered the world,
 wis:2.25    and they who are in his possession experience it.
   
 wis:3.1     But the souls of the just are in the hand of God, and no torment shall touch them.
 wis:3.2     They seemed, in the view of the foolish, to be dead; and their passing away was thought an affliction
 wis:3.3     and their going forth from us, utter destruction. But they are in peace.
 wis:3.4     For if before men, indeed, they be punished, yet is their hope full of immortality;
 wis:3.5     Chastised a little, they shall be greatly blessed, because God tried them and found them worthy of himself.
 wis:3.6     As gold in the furnace, he proved them, and as sacrificial offerings he took them to himself.
 wis:3.7     In the time of their visitation they shall shine, and shall dart about as sparks through stubble;
 wis:3.8     They shall judge nations and rule over peoples, and the LORD shall be their King forever.
 wis:3.9     Those who trust in him shall understand truth, and the faithful shall abide with him in love: Because grace and mercy are with his holy ones, and his care is with the elect.
 wis:3.10    But the wicked shall receive a punishment to match their thoughts, since they neglected justice and forsook the LORD.
 wis:3.11    For he who despises wisdom and instruction is doomed. Vain is their hope, fruitless are their labors, and worthless are their works.
 wis:3.12    Their wives are foolish and their children wicked; accursed is their brood.
 wis:3.13    Yes, blessed is she who, childless and undefiled, knew not transgression of the marriage bed; she shall bear fruit at the visitation of souls.
 wis:3.14    So also the eunuch whose hand wrought no misdeed, who held no wicked thoughts against the LORD- For he shall be given fidelity's choice reward and a more gratifying heritage in the LORD'S temple.
 wis:3.15    For the fruit of noble struggles is a glorious one; and unfailing is the root of understanding.
 wis:3.16    But the children of adulterers will remain without issue, and the progeny of an unlawful bed will disappear.
 wis:3.17    For should they attain long life, they will be held in no esteem, and dishonored will their old age be at last;
 wis:3.18    While should they die abruptly, they have no hope nor comfort in the day of scrutiny;
 wis:3.19    for dire is the end of the wicked generation.
   
 wis:4.1     Better is childlessness with virtue; for immortal is its memory: because both by God is it acknowledged, and by men.
 wis:4.2     When it is present men imitate it, and they long for it when it is gone; And forever it marches crowned in triumph, victorious in unsullied deeds of valor.
 wis:4.3     But the numerous progeny of the wicked shall be of no avail; their spurious offshoots shall not strike deep root nor take firm hold.
 wis:4.4     For even though their branches flourish for a time, they are unsteady and shall be rocked by the wind and, by the violence of the winds, uprooted;
 wis:4.5     Their twigs shall be broken off untimely, and their fruit be useless, unripe for eating, and fit for nothing.
 wis:4.6     For children born of lawless unions give evidence of the wickedness of their parents, when they are examined.
 wis:4.7     But the just man, though he die early, shall be at rest.
 wis:4.8     For the age that is honorable comes not with the passing of time, nor can it be measured in terms of years.
 wis:4.9     Rather, understanding is the hoary crown for men, and an unsullied life, the attainment of old age.
 wis:4.10    He who pleased God was loved; he who lived among sinners was transported--
 wis:4.11    Snatched away, lest wickedness pervert his mind or deceit beguile his soul;
 wis:4.12    For the witchery of paltry things obscures what is right and the whirl of desire transforms the innocent mind.
 wis:4.13    Having become perfect in a short while, he reached the fullness of a long career;
 wis:4.14    for his soul was pleasing to the LORD, therefore he sped him out of the midst of wickedness. But the people saw and did not understand, nor did they take this into account.
 wis:4.15
 wis:4.16    Yes, the just man dead condemns the sinful who live, and youth swiftly completed condemns the many years of the wicked man grown old.
 wis:4.17    For they see the death of the wise man and do not understand what the LORD intended for him, or why he made him secure.
 wis:4.18    They see, and hold him in contempt; but the LORD laughs them to scorn.
 wis:4.19    And they shall afterward become dishonored corpses and an unceasing mockery among the dead. For he shall strike them down speechless and prostrate and rock them to their foundations; They shall be utterly laid waste and shall be in grief and their memory shall perish.
 wis:4.20    Fearful shall they come, at the counting up of their sins, and their lawless deeds shall convict them to their face.
   
 wis:5.1     Then shall the just one with great assurance confront his oppressors who set at nought his labors.
 wis:5.2     Seeing this, they shall be shaken with dreadful fear, and amazed at the unlooked-for salvation.
 wis:5.3     They shall say among themselves, rueful and groaning through anguish of spirit: "This is he whom once we held as a laughingstock and as a type for mockery,
 wis:5.4     fools that we were! His life we accounted madness, and his death dishonored.
 wis:5.5     See how he is accounted among the sons of God; how his lot is with the saints!
 wis:5.6     We, then, have strayed from the way of truth, and the light of justice did not shine for us, and the sun did not rise for us.
 wis:5.7     We had our fill of the ways of mischief and of ruin; we journeyed through impassable deserts, but the way of the LORD we knew not.
 wis:5.8     What did our pride avail us? What have wealth and its boastfulness afforded us?
 wis:5.9     All of them passed like a shadow and like a fleeting rumor;
 wis:5.10    Like a ship traversing the heaving water, of which, when it has passed, no trace can be found, no path of its keel in the waves.
 wis:5.11    Or like a bird flying through the air; no evidence of its course is to be found- But the fluid air, lashed by the beat of pinions, and cleft by the rushing force Of speeding wings, is traversed: and afterward no mark of passage can be found in it.
 wis:5.12    Or as, when an arrow has been shot at a mark, the parted air straightway flows together again so that none discerns the way it went through-
 wis:5.13    Even so we, once born, abruptly came to nought and held no sign of virtue to display, but were consumed in our wickedness."
 wis:5.14
 wis:5.15    Yes, the hope of the wicked is like thistledown borne on the wind, and like fine, tempest-driven foam; Like smoke scattered by the wind, and like the passing memory of the nomad camping for a single day.
 wis:5.16    But the just live forever, and in the LORD is their recompense, and the thought of them is with the Most High.
 wis:5.17    Therefore shall they receive the splendid crown, the beauteous diadem, from the hand of the LORD- For he shall shelter them with his right hand, and protect them with his arm.
 wis:5.18    He shall take his zeal for armor and he shall arm creation to requite the enemy;
 wis:5.19    He shall don justice for a breastplate and shall wear sure judgment for a helmet;
 wis:5.20    He shall take invincible rectitude as a shield
 wis:5.21    and whet his sudden anger for a sword, And the universe shall war with him against the foolhardy.
 wis:5.22    Well-aimed shafts of lightnings shall go forth and from the clouds as from a well-drawn bow shall leap to the mark;
 wis:5.23    and as from his sling, wrathful hailstones shall be hurled. The water of the sea shall be enraged against them and the streams shall abruptly overflow;
 wis:5.24    A mighty wind shall confront them and a tempest winnow them out; Thus lawlessness shall lay the whole earth waste and evildoing overturn the thrones of potentates.
   
 wis:6.1
 wis:6.2     Hear, therefore, kings, and understand; learn, you magistrates of the earth's expanse!
 wis:6.3     Hearken, you who are in power over the multitude and lord it over throngs of peoples!
 wis:6.4     Because authority was given you by the LORD and sovereignty by the Most High, who shall probe your works and scrutinize your counsels!
 wis:6.5     Because, though you were ministers of his kingdom, you judged not rightly, and did not keep the law, nor walk according to the will of God,
 wis:6.6     Terribly and swiftly shall he come against you, because judgment is stern for the exalted-
 wis:6.7     For the lowly may be pardoned out of mercy but the mighty shall be mightily put to the test.
 wis:6.8     For the Lord of all shows no partiality, nor does he fear greatness, Because he himself made the great as well as the small, and he provides for all alike;
 wis:6.9     but for those in power a rigorous scrutiny impends.
 wis:6.10    To you, therefore, O princes, are my words addressed that you may learn wisdom and that you may not sin.
 wis:6.11    For those who keep the holy precepts hallowed shall be found holy, and those learned in them will have ready a response.
 wis:6.12    Desire therefore my words; long for them and you shall be instructed.
 wis:6.13    Resplendent and unfading is Wisdom, and she is readily perceived by those who love her, and found by those who seek her.
 wis:6.14    She hastens to make herself known in anticipation of men's desire;
 wis:6.15    he who watches for her at dawn shall not be disappointed, for he shall find her sitting by his gate.
 wis:6.16    For taking thought of her is the perfection of prudence, and he who for her sake keeps vigil shall quickly be free from care;
 wis:6.17    Because she makes her own rounds, seeking those worthy of her, and graciously appears to them in the ways, and meets them with all solicitude.
 wis:6.18    For the first step toward discipline is a very earnest desire for her; then, care for discipline is love of her;
 wis:6.19    love means the keeping of her laws; To observe her laws is the basis for incorruptibility;
 wis:6.20    and incorruptibility makes one close to God;
 wis:6.21    thus the desire for Wisdom leads up to a kingdom.
 wis:6.22    If, then, you find pleasure in throne and scepter, you princes of the peoples, honor Wisdom, that you may reign as kings forever.
 wis:6.23
 wis:6.24    Now what wisdom is, and how she came to be I shall relate; and I shall hide no secrets from you, But from the very beginning I shall search out and bring to light knowledge of her, nor shall I diverge from the truth.
 wis:6.25    Neither shall I admit consuming jealousy to my company, because that can have no fellowship with Wisdom.
 wis:6.26    A great number of wise men is the safety of the world, and a prudent king, the stability of his people;
 wis:6.27    so take instruction from my words, to your profit.
   
 wis:7.1     I too am a mortal man, the same as all the rest, and a descendant of the first man formed on earth. And in my mother's womb I was molded into flesh
 wis:7.2     in a ten-months' period-body and blood, from the seed of man, and the pleasure that accompanies marriage.
 wis:7.3     And I too, when born, inhaled the common air, and fell upon the kindred earth; wailing, I uttered that first sound common to all.
 wis:7.4     In swaddling clothes and with constant care I was nurtured.
 wis:7.5     For no king has any different origin or birth,
 wis:7.6     but one is the entry into life for all; and in one same way they leave it.
 wis:7.7     Therefore I prayed, and prudence was given me; I pleaded and the spirit of Wisdom came to me.
 wis:7.8     I preferred her to scepter and throne, And deemed riches nothing in comparison with her,
 wis:7.9     nor did I liken any priceless gem to her; Because all gold, in view of her, is a little sand, and before her, silver is to be accounted mire.
 wis:7.10    Beyond health and comeliness I loved her, And I chose to have her rather than the light, because the splendor of her never yields to sleep.
 wis:7.11    Yet all good things together came to me in her company, and countless riches at her hands;
 wis:7.12    And I rejoiced in them all, because Wisdom is their leader, though I had not known that she is the mother of these.
 wis:7.13    Simply I learned about her, and ungrudgingly do I share- her riches I do not hide away;
 wis:7.14    For to men she is an unfailing treasure; those who gain this treasure win the friendship of God, to whom the gifts they have from discipline commend them.
 wis:7.15    Now God grant I speak suitably and value these endowments at their worth: For he is the guide of Wisdom and the director of the wise.
 wis:7.16    For both we and our words are in his hand, as well as all prudence and knowledge of crafts.
 wis:7.17    For he gave me sound knowledge of existing things, that I might know the organization of the universe and the force of its elements,
 wis:7.18    The beginning and the end and the midpoint of times, the changes in the sun's course and the variations of the seasons.
 wis:7.19    Cycles of years, positions of the stars,
 wis:7.20    natures of animals, tempers of beasts, Powers of the winds and thoughts of men, uses of plants and virtues of roots-
 wis:7.21    Such things as are hidden I learned and such as are plain;
 wis:7.22    for Wisdom, the artificer of all, taught me. For in her is a spirit intelligent, holy, unique, Manifold, subtle, agile, clear, unstained, certain, Not baneful, loving the good, keen, unhampered, beneficent,
 wis:7.23    kindly, Firm, secure, tranquil, all-powerful, all-seeing, And pervading all spirits, though they be intelligent, pure and very subtle.
 wis:7.24    For Wisdom is mobile beyond all motion, and she penetrates and pervades all things by reason of her purity.
 wis:7.25    For she is an aura of the might of God and a pure effusion of the glory of the Almighty; therefore nought that is sullied enters into her.
 wis:7.26    For she is the refulgence of eternal light, the spotless mirror of the power of God, the image of his goodness.
 wis:7.27    And she, who is one, can do all things, and renews everything while herself perduring; And passing into holy souls from age to age, she produces friends of God and prophets.
 wis:7.28    For there is nought God loves, be it not one who dwells with Wisdom.
 wis:7.29    For she is fairer than the sun and surpasses every constellation of the stars. Compared to light, she takes precedence;
 wis:7.30    for that, indeed, night supplants, but wickedness prevails not over Wisdom.
   
 wis:8.1     Indeed, she reaches from end to end mightily and governs all things well.
 wis:8.2     Her I loved and sought after from my youth; I sought to take her for my bride and was enamored of her beauty.
 wis:8.3     She adds to nobility the splendor of companionship with God; even the LORD of all loved her.
 wis:8.4     For she is instructress in the understanding of God, the selector of his works.
 wis:8.5     And if riches be a desirable possession in life, what is more rich than Wisdom, who produces all things?
 wis:8.6     And if prudence renders service, who in the world is a better craftsman than she?
 wis:8.7     Or if one loves justice, the fruits of her works are virtues; For she teaches moderation and prudence, justice and fortitude, and nothing in life is more useful for men than these.
 wis:8.8     Or again, if one yearns for copious learning, she knows the things of old, and infers those yet to come. She understands the turns of phrases and the solutions of riddles; signs and wonders she knows in advance and the outcome of times and ages.
 wis:8.9     So I determined to take her to live with me, knowing that she would be my counselor while all was well, and my comfort in care and grief.
 wis:8.10    For her sake I should have glory among the masses, and esteem from the elders, though I be but a youth.
 wis:8.11    I should become keen in judgment, and should be a marvel before rulers.
 wis:8.12    They would abide my silence and attend my utterance; and as I spoke on further, they would place their hands upon their mouths.
 wis:8.13    For her sake I should have immortality and leave to those after me an everlasting memory.
 wis:8.14    I should govern peoples, and nations would be my subjects-
 wis:8.15    terrible princes, hearing of me, would be afraid; in the assembly I should appear noble, and in war courageous.
 wis:8.16    Within my dwelling, I should take my repose beside her; For association with her involves no bitterness and living with her no grief, but rather joy and gladness.
 wis:8.17    Thinking thus within myself, and reflecting in my heart That there is immortality in kinship with Wisdom,
 wis:8.18    and good pleasure in her friendship, and unfailing riches in the works of her hands, And that in frequenting her society there is prudence, and fair renown in sharing her discourses, I went about seeking to take her for my own.
 wis:8.19    Now, I was a well-favored child, and I came by a noble nature;
 wis:8.20    or rather, being noble, I attained an unsullied body.
 wis:8.21    And knowing that I could not otherwise possess her except God gave it-- and this, too, was prudence, to know whose is the gift-- I went to the LORD and besought him, and said with all my heart:
   
 wis:9.1     God of my fathers, LORD of mercy. you who have made all things by your word
 wis:9.2     And in your wisdom have established man to rule the creatures produced by you,
 wis:9.3     To govern the world in holiness and justice, and to render judgment in integrity of heart:
 wis:9.4     Give me Wisdom, the attendant at your throne, and reject me not from among your children;
 wis:9.5     For I am your servant, the son of your handmaid, a man weak and short-lived and lacking in comprehension of judgment and of laws.
 wis:9.6     Indeed, though one be perfect among the sons of men, if Wisdom, who comes from you, be not with him, he shall be held in no esteem.
 wis:9.7     You have chosen me king over your people and magistrate for your sons and daughters.
 wis:9.8     You have bid me build a temple on your holy mountain and an altar in the city that is your dwelling place, a copy of the holy tabernacle which you had established from of old.
 wis:9.9     Now with you is Wisdom, who knows your works and was present when you made the world; Who understands what is pleasing in your eyes and what is conformable with your commands.
 wis:9.10    Send her forth from your holy heavens and from your glorious throne dispatch her That she may be with me and work with me, that I may know what is your pleasure.
 wis:9.11    For she knows and understands all things, and will guide me discreetly in my affairs and safeguard me by her glory;
 wis:9.12    Thus my deeds will be acceptable, and I shall judge your people justly and be worthy of my father's throne.
 wis:9.13    For what man knows God's counsel, or who can conceive what our LORD intends?
 wis:9.14    For the deliberations of mortals are timid, and unsure are our plans.
 wis:9.15    For the corruptible body burdens the soul and the earthen shelter weighs down the mind that has many concerns.
 wis:9.16    And scarce do we guess the things on earth, and what is within our grasp we find with difficulty; but when things are in heaven, who can search them out?
 wis:9.17    Or who ever knew your counsel, except you had given Wisdom and sent your holy spirit from on high?
 wis:9.18    And thus were the paths of those on earth made straight, and men learned what was your pleasure, and were saved by Wisdom.
   
 wis:10.1    She preserved the first-formed father of the world when he alone had been created; And she raised him up from his fall,
 wis:10.2    and gave him power to rule all things.
 wis:10.3    But when the unjust man withdrew from her in his anger, he perished through his fratricidal wrath.
 wis:10.4    When on his account the earth was flooded, Wisdom again saved it, piloting the just man on frailest wood.
 wis:10.5    She, when the nations were sunk in universal wickedness, knew the just man, kept him blameless before God, and preserved him resolute against pity for his child.
 wis:10.6    She delivered the just man from among the wicked who were being destroyed, when he fled as fire descended upon Pentapolis--
 wis:10.7    Where as a testimony to its wickedness, there yet remain a smoking desert, Plants bearing fruit that never ripens, and the tomb of a disbelieving soul, a standing pillar of salt.
 wis:10.8    For those who forsook Wisdom first were bereft of knowledge of the right, And then they left mankind a memorial of their folly-- so that they could not even be hidden in their fall.
 wis:10.9    But Wisdom delivered from tribulations those who served her.
 wis:10.10   She, when the just man fled from his brother's anger, guided him in direct ways, Showed him the kingdom of God and gave him knowledge of holy things; She prospered him in his labors and made abundant the fruit of his works,
 wis:10.11   Stood by him against the greed of his defrauders, and enriched him;
 wis:10.12   She preserved him from foes, and secured him against ambush, And she gave him the prize for his stern struggle that he might know that devotion to God is mightier than all else.
 wis:10.13   She did not abandon the just man when he was sold, but delivered him from sin.
 wis:10.14   She went down with him into the dungeon, and did not desert him in his bonds, Until she brought him the scepter of royalty and authority over his oppressors, Showed those who had defamed him false, and gave him eternal glory.
 wis:10.15   The holy people and blameless race--it was she who delivered them from the nation that oppressed them.
 wis:10.16   She entered the soul of the LORD'S servant, and withstood fearsome kings with signs and portents;
 wis:10.17   she gave the holy ones the recompense of their labors, Conducted them by a wondrous road, and became a shelter for them by day and a starry flame by night.
 wis:10.18   She took them across the Red Sea and brought them through the deep waters--
 wis:10.19   But their enemies she overwhelmed, and cast them up from the bottom of the depths.
 wis:10.20   Therefore the just despoiled the wicked; and they sang, O LORD, your holy name
 wis:10.21   Because Wisdom opened the mouths of the dumb, and gave ready speech to infants.
   
 wis:11.1    She made their affairs prosper through the holy prophet.
 wis:11.2    They journeyed through the uninhabited desert, and in solitudes they pitched their tents;
 wis:11.3    they withstood enemies and took vengeance on their foes.
 wis:11.4    When they thirsted, they called upon you, and water was given them from the sheer rock, assuagement for their thirst from the hard stone.
 wis:11.5    For by the things through which their foes were punished they in their need were benefited.
 wis:11.6
 wis:11.7    Instead of a spring, when the perennial river was troubled with impure blood as a rebuke to the decree for the slaying of infants,
 wis:11.8    You gave them abundant water in an unhoped-for way,
 wis:11.9    once you had shown by the thirst they then had how you punished their adversaries.
 wis:11.10   Both those afar off and those close by were afflicted:
 wis:11.11   For when they had been tried, though only mildly chastised, they recognized how the wicked, condemned in anger, were being tormented.
 wis:11.12   the latter you tested, admonishing them as a father; the former as a stern king you probed and condemned.
 wis:11.13   For a twofold grief took hold of them and a groaning at the remembrance of the ones who had departed.
 wis:11.14   For when they heard that the cause of their own torments was a benefit to these others, they recognized the Lord.
 wis:11.15   Him who of old had been cast out in exposure they indeed mockingly rejected; but in the end of events, they marveled at him, since their thirst proved unlike that of the just.
 wis:11.16   And in return for their senseless, wicked thoughts, which misled them into worshiping dumb serpents and worthless insects, You sent upon them swarms of dumb creatures for vengeance;
 wis:11.17   that they might recognize that a man is punished by the very things through which he sins.
 wis:11.18   For not without means was your almighty hand, that had fashioned the universe from formless matter, to send upon them a drove of bears or fierce lions,
 wis:11.19   Or new-created, wrathful, unknown beasts to breathe forth fiery breath, Or pour out roaring smoke, or flash terrible sparks from their eyes.
 wis:11.20   Not only could these attack and completely destroy them; even their frightful appearance itself could slay.
 wis:11.21   Even without these, they could have been killed at a single blast, pursued by retribution and winnowed out by your mighty spirit; But you have disposed all things by measure and number and weight.
 wis:11.22   For with you great strength abides always; who can resist the might of your arm?
 wis:11.23   Indeed, before you the whole universe is as a grain from a balance, or a drop of morning dew come down upon the earth.
 wis:11.24   But you have mercy on all, because you can do all things; and you overlook the sins of men that they may repent.
 wis:11.25   For you love all things that are and loathe nothing that you have made; for what you hated, you would not have fashioned.
 wis:11.26   And how could a thing remain, unless you willed it; or be preserved, had it not been called forth by you?
 wis:11.27   But you spare all things, because they are yours, O LORD and lover of souls,
   
 wis:12.1    for your imperishable spirit is in all things!
 wis:12.2    Therefore you rebuke offenders little by little, warn them, and remind them of the sins they are committing, that they may abandon their wickedness and believe in you, O LORD!
 wis:12.3    For truly, the ancient inhabitants of your holy land,
 wis:12.4    whom you hated for deeds most odious-- Works of witchcraft and impious sacrifices;
 wis:12.5    a cannibal feast of human flesh and of blood, from the midst of. . .-- These merciless murderers of children,
 wis:12.6    and parents who took with their own hands defenseless lives, You willed to destroy by the hands of our fathers,
 wis:12.7    that the land that is dearest of all to you might receive a worthy colony of God's children.
 wis:12.8    But even these, as they were men, you spared, and sent wasps as forerunners of your army that they might exterminate them by degrees.
 wis:12.9    Not that you were without power to have the wicked vanquished in battle by the just, or wiped out at once by terrible beasts or by one decisive word;
 wis:12.10   But condemning them bit by bit, you gave them space for repentance. You were not unaware that their race was wicked and their malice ingrained, And that their dispositions would never change;
 wis:12.11   for they were a race accursed from the beginning. Neither out of fear for anyone did you grant amnesty for their sins.
 wis:12.12   For who can say to you, "What have you done?" or who can oppose your decree? Or when peoples perish, who can challenge you, their maker; or who can come into your presence as vindicator of unjust men?
 wis:12.13   For neither is there any god besides you who have the care of all, that you need show you have not unjustly condemned;
 wis:12.14   Nor can any king or prince confront you on behalf of those you have punished.
 wis:12.15   But as you are just, you govern all things justly; you regard it as unworthy of your power to punish one who has incurred no blame.
 wis:12.16   For your might is the source of justice; your mastery over all things makes you lenient to all.
 wis:12.17   For you show your might when the perfection of your power is disbelieved; and in those who know you, you rebuke temerity.
 wis:12.18   But though you are master of might, you judge with clemency, and with much lenience you govern us; for power, whenever you will, attends you.
 wis:12.19   And you taught your people, by these deeds, that those who are just must be kind; And you gave your sons good ground for hope that you would permit repentance for their sins.
 wis:12.20   For these were enemies of your servants, doomed to death; yet, while you punished them with such solicitude and pleading, granting time and opportunity to abandon wickedness,
 wis:12.21   With what exactitude you judged your sons, to whose fathers you gave the sworn covenants of goodly promises!
 wis:12.22   Us, therefore, you chastise and our enemies with a thousand blows you punish, that we may think earnestly of your goodness when we judge, and, when being judged, may look for mercy.
 wis:12.23   Hence those unjust also, who lived a life of folly, you tormented through their own abominations.
 wis:12.24   For they went far astray in the paths of error, taking for gods the worthless and disgusting among beasts, deceived like senseless infants.
 wis:12.25   Therefore as though upon unreasoning children, you sent your judgment on them as a mockery;
 wis:12.26   But they who took no heed of punishment which was but child's play were to experience a condemnation worthy of God.
 wis:12.27   For in the things through which they suffered distress, since they were tortured by the very things they deemed gods, They saw and recognized the true God whom before they had refused to know; with this, their final condemnation came upon them.
   
 wis:13.1    For all men were by nature foolish who were in ignorance of God, and who from the good things seen did not succeed in knowing him who is, and from studying the works did not discern the artisan;
 wis:13.2    But either fire, or wind, or the swift air, or the circuit of the stars, or the mighty water, or the luminaries of heaven, the governors of the world, they considered gods.
 wis:13.3    Now if out of joy in their beauty they thought them gods, let them know how far more excellent is the Lord than these; for the original source of beauty fashioned them.
 wis:13.4    Or if they were struck by their might and energy, let them from these things realize how much more powerful is he who made them.
 wis:13.5    For from the greatness and the beauty of created things their original author, by analogy, is seen.
 wis:13.6    But yet, for these the blame is less; For they indeed have gone astray perhaps, though they seek God and wish to find him.
 wis:13.7    For they search busily among his works, but are distracted by what they see, because the things seen are fair.
 wis:13.8    But again, not even these are pardonable.
 wis:13.9    For if they so far succeeded in knowledge that they could speculate about the world, how did they not more quickly find its LORD?
 wis:13.10   But doomed are they, and in dead things are their hopes, who termed gods things made by human hands: Gold and silver, the product of art, and likenesses of beasts, or useless stone, the work of an ancient hand.
 wis:13.11   A carpenter may saw out a suitable tree and skillfully scrape off all its bark, And deftly plying his art, produce something fit for daily use,
 wis:13.12   and use up the refuse from his handiwork in preparing his food, and have his fill;
 wis:13.13   Then the good-for-nothing refuse from these remnants, crooked wood grown full of knots, he takes and carves to occupy his spare time. This wood he models with listless skill, and patterns it on the image of a man
 wis:13.14   or makes it resemble some worthless beast. When he has daubed it with red and crimsoned its surface with red stain, and daubed over every blemish in it,
 wis:13.15   He makes a fitting shrine for it and puts it on the wall, fastening it with a nail.
 wis:13.16   Thus lest it fall down he provides for it, knowing that it cannot help itself; for, truly, it is an image and needs help.
 wis:13.17   But when he prays about his goods or marriage or children, he is not ashamed to address the thing without a soul. And for vigor he invokes the powerless;
 wis:13.18   and for life he entreats the dead; And for aid he beseeches the wholly incompetent, and about travel, something that cannot even walk.
 wis:13.19   And for profit in business and success with his hands he asks facility of a thing with hands completely inert.
   
 wis:14.1    Again, one preparing for a voyage and about to traverse the wild waves cries out to wood more unsound than the boat that bears him.
 wis:14.2    For the urge for profits devised this latter, and Wisdom the artificer produced it.
 wis:14.3    But your providence, O Father! guides it, for you have furnished even in the sea a road, and through the waves a steady path,
 wis:14.4    Showing that you can save from any danger, so that even one without skill may embark.
 wis:14.5    But you will that the products of your Wisdom be not idle; therefore men trust their lives even to frailest wood, and have been safe crossing the surge on a raft.
 wis:14.6    For of old, when the proud giants were being destroyed, the hope of the universe, who took refuge on a raft, left to the world a future for his race, under the guidance of your hand.
 wis:14.7    For blest is the wood through which justice comes about;
 wis:14.8    but the handmade idol is accursed, and its maker as well: he for having produced it, and it, because though corruptible, it was termed a god.
 wis:14.9    Equally odious to God are the evildoer and his evil deed;
 wis:14.10   and the thing made shall be punished with its contriver.
 wis:14.11   Therefore upon even the idols of the nations shall a visitation come, since they have become abominable amid God's works, Snares for the souls of men and a trap for the feet of the senseless.
 wis:14.12   For the source of wantoness is the devising of idols; and their invention was a corruption of life.
 wis:14.13   For in the beginning they were not, nor shall they continue forever;
 wis:14.14   for by the vanity of men they came into the world, and therefore a sudden end is devised for them.
 wis:14.15   For a father, afflicted with untimely mourning, made an image of the child so quickly taken from him, And now honored as a god what was formerly a dead man and handed down to his subjects mysteries and sacrifices.
 wis:14.16   Then, in time, the impious practice gained strength and was observed as law, and graven things were worshiped by princely decrees.
 wis:14.17   Men who lived so far away that they could not honor him in his presence copied the appearance of the distant king And made a public image of him they wished to honor, out of zeal to flatter him when absent, as though present.
 wis:14.18   And to promote this observance among those to whom it was strange, the artisan's ambition provided a stimulus.
 wis:14.19   For he, mayhap in his determination to please the ruler, labored over the likeness to the best of his skill;
 wis:14.20   And the masses, drawn by the charm of the workmanship, soon thought he should be worshiped who shortly before was honored as a man.
 wis:14.21   And this became a snare for mankind, that men enslaved to either grief or tyranny conferred the incommunicable Name on stocks and stones.
 wis:14.22   Then it was not enough for them to err in their knowledge of God; but even though they live in a great war of ignorance, they call such evils peace.
 wis:14.23   For while they celebrate either child-slaying sacrifices or clandestine mysteries, or frenzied carousals in unheard-of rites,
 wis:14.24   They no longer safeguard either lives or pure wedlock; but each either waylays and kills his neighbor, or aggrieves him by adultery.
 wis:14.25   And all is confusion-blood and murder, theft and guile, corruption, faithlessness, turmoil, perjury,
 wis:14.26   Disturbance of good men, neglect of gratitude, besmirching of souls, unnatural lust, disorder in marriage, adultery and shamelessness.
 wis:14.27   For the worship of infamous idols is the reason and source and extremity of all evil.
 wis:14.28   For they either go mad with enjoyment, or prophesy lies, or live lawlessly or lightly forswear themselves.
 wis:14.29   For as their trust is in soulless idols, they expect no harm when they have sworn falsely.
 wis:14.30   But on both counts shall justice overtake them: because they thought ill of God and devoted themselves to idols, and because they deliberately swore false oaths, despising piety.
 wis:14.31   For not the might of those that are sworn by but the retribution of sinners ever follows upon the transgression of the wicked.
   
 wis:15.1    But you, our God, are good and true, slow to anger, and governing all with mercy.
 wis:15.2    For even if we sin, we are yours, and know your might; but we will not sin, knowing that we belong to you.
 wis:15.3    For to know you well is complete justice, and to know your might is the root of immortality.
 wis:15.4    For neither did the evil creation of men's fancy deceive us, nor the fruitless labor of painters, A form smeared with varied colors,
 wis:15.5    the sight of which arouses yearning in the senseless man, till he longs for the inanimate form of a dead image.
 wis:15.6    Lovers of evil things, and worthy of such hopes are they who make them and long for them and worship them.
 wis:15.7    For truly the potter, laboriously working the soft earth, molds for our service each several article: Both the vessels that serve for clean purposes and their opposites, all alike; As to what shall be the use of each vessel of either class the worker in clay is the judge.
 wis:15.8    And with misspent toil he molds a meaningless god from the selfsame clay; though he himself shortly before was made from the earth And after a little, is to go whence he was taken, when the life that was lent him is demanded back.
 wis:15.9    But his concern is not that he is to die nor that his span of life is brief; Rather, he vies with goldsmiths and silversmiths and emulates molders of bronze, and takes pride in modeling counterfeits.
 wis:15.10   Ashes his heart is! more worthless than earth is his hope, and more ignoble than clay his life;
 wis:15.11   Because he knew not the one who fashioned him, and breathed into him a quickening soul, and infused a vital spirit.
 wis:15.12   Instead, he esteemed our life a plaything, and our span of life a holiday for gain; "For one must," says he, "make profit every way, be it even out of evil."
 wis:15.13   For this man more than any knows that he is sinning, when out of earthen stuff he creates fragile vessels and idols alike.
 wis:15.14   But all quite senseless, and worse than childish in mind, are the enemies of your people who enslaved them.
 wis:15.15   For they esteemed all the idols of the nations gods, which have no use of the eyes for vision, nor nostrils to snuff the air, Nor ears to hear, nor fingers on their hands for feeling; even their feet are useless to walk with.
 wis:15.16   For a man made them; one whose spirit has been lent him fashioned them. For no man succeeds in fashioning a god like himself;
 wis:15.17   being mortal, he makes a dead thing with his lawless hands. For he is better than the things he worships; he at least lives, but never they.
 wis:15.18   And besides, they worship the most loathsome beasts-- for compared as to folly, these are worse than the rest,
 wis:15.19   Nor for their looks are they good or desirable beasts, but they have escaped both the approval of God and his blessing.
   
 wis:16.1    Therefore they were fittingly punished by similar creatures, and were tormented by a swarm of insects.
 wis:16.2    Instead of this punishment, you benefited your people with a novel dish, the delight they craved, by providing quail for their food;
 wis:16.3    That those others, when they desired food, since the creatures sent to plague them were so loathsome, should be turned from even the craving of necessities, While these, after a brief period of privation, partook of a novel dish.
 wis:16.4    For upon those oppressors, inexorable want had to come; but these needed only be shown how their enemies were being tormented.
 wis:16.5    For when the dire venom of beasts came upon them and they were dying from the bite of crooked serpents, your anger endured not to the end.
 wis:16.6    But as a warning, for a short time they were terrorized, though they had a sign of salvation, to remind them of the precept of your law.
 wis:16.7    For he who turned toward it was saved, not by what he saw, but by you, the savior of all.
 wis:16.8    And by this also you convinced our foes that you are he who delivers from all evil.
 wis:16.9    For the bites of locusts and of flies slew them, and no remedy was found to save their lives because they deserved to be punished by such means;
 wis:16.10   But not even the fangs of poisonous reptiles overcame your sons, for your mercy brought the antidote to heal them.
 wis:16.11   For as a reminder of your injunctions, they were stung, and swiftly they were saved, Lest they should fall into deep forgetfulness and become unresponsive to your beneficence.
 wis:16.12   For indeed, neither herb nor application cured them, but your all-healing word, O LORD!
 wis:16.13   For you have dominion over life and death; you lead down to the gates of the nether world, and lead back.
 wis:16.14   Man, however, slays in his malice, but when the spirit has come away, it does not return, nor can he bring back the soul once it is confined.
 wis:16.15   But your hand none can escape.
 wis:16.16   For the wicked who refused to know you were punished by the might of your arm, Pursued by unwonted rains and hailstorms and unremitting downpours, and consumed by fire.
 wis:16.17   For against all expectation, in water which quenches anything, the fire grew more active; For the universe fights on behalf of the just.
 wis:16.18   For now the flame was tempered so that the beasts might not be burnt up that were sent upon the wicked, but that these might see and know they were struck by the judgment of God;
 wis:16.19   And again, even in the water, fire blazed beyond its strength so as to consume the produce of the wicked land.
 wis:16.20   Instead of this, you nourished your people with food of angels and furnished them bread from heaven, ready to hand, untoiled-for, endowed with all delights and conforming to every taste.
 wis:16.21   For this substance of yours revealed your sweetness toward your children, and serving the desire of him who received it, was blended to whatever flavor each one wished.
 wis:16.22   Yet snow and ice withstood fire and were not melted, that they might know that their enemies' fruits Were consumed by a fire that blazed in the hail and flashed lightning in the rain.
 wis:16.23   But this fire, again, that the just might be nourished, forgot even its proper strength;
 wis:16.24   For your creation, serving you, its maker, grows tense for punishment against the wicked, but is relaxed in benefit for those who trust in you.
 wis:16.25   Therefore at that very time, transformed in all sorts of ways, it was serving your all-nourishing bounty according to what they needed and desired;
 wis:16.26   That your sons whom you loved might learn, O LORD, that it is not the various kinds of fruits that nourish man, but it is your word that preserves those who believe you!
 wis:16.27   For what was not destroyed by fire, when merely warmed by a momentary sunbeam, melted;
 wis:16.28   So that men might know that one must give you thanks before the sunrise, and turn to you at daybreak.
 wis:16.29   For the hope of the ingrate melts like a wintry frost and runs off like useless water.
   
 wis:17.1    For great are your judgments, and hardly to be described; therefore the unruly souls were wrong.
 wis:17.2    For when the lawless thought to enslave the holy nation, shackled with darkness, fettered by the long night, they lay confined beneath their own roofs as exiles from the eternal providence.
 wis:17.3    For they who supposed their secret sins were hid under the dark veil of oblivion Were scattered in fearful trembling, terrified by apparitions.
 wis:17.4    For not even their inner chambers kept them fearless, for crashing sounds on all sides terrified them, and mute phantoms with somber looks appeared.
 wis:17.5    No force, even of fire, was able to give light, nor did the flaming brilliance of the stars succeed in lighting up that gloomy night.
 wis:17.6    But only intermittent, fearful fires flashed through upon them; And in their terror they thought beholding these was worse than the times when that sight was no longer to be seen.
 wis:17.7    And mockeries of the magic art were in readiness, and a jeering reproof of their vaunted shrewdness.
 wis:17.8    For they who undertook to banish fears and terrors from the sick soul themselves sickened with a ridiculous fear.
 wis:17.9    For even though no monstrous thing frightened them, they shook at the passing of insects and the hissing of reptiles, And perished trembling, reluctant to face even the air that they could nowhere escape.
 wis:17.10   For wickedness, of its nature cowardly, testifies in its own condemnation, and because of a distressed conscience, always magnifies misfortunes.
 wis:17.11   For fear is nought but the surrender of the helps that come from reason;
 wis:17.12   and the more one's expectation is of itself uncertain, the more one makes of not knowing the cause that brings on torment.
 wis:17.13   So they, during that night, powerless though it was, that had come upon them from the recesses of a powerless nether world, while all sleeping the same sleep,
 wis:17.14   Were partly smitten by fearsome apparitions and partly stricken by their souls' surrender; for fear came upon them, sudden and unexpected.
 wis:17.15   Thus, then, whoever was there fell into that unbarred prison and was kept confined.
 wis:17.16   For whether one was a farmer, or a shepherd, or a worker at tasks in the wasteland, Taken unawares, he served out the inescapable sentence;
 wis:17.17   for all were bound by the one bond of darkness. And were it only the whistling wind, or the melodious song of birds in the spreading branches, Or the steady sound of rushing water,
 wis:17.18   or the rude crash of overthrown rocks, Or the unseen gallop of bounding animals, or the roaring cry of the fiercest beasts, Or an echo resounding from the hollow of the hills, these sounds, inspiring terror, paralyzed them.
 wis:17.19   For the whole world shone with brilliant light and continued its works without interruption;
 wis:17.20   Over them alone was spread oppressive night, an image of the darkness that next should come upon them; yet they were to themselves more burdensome than the darkness.
   
 wis:18.1    But your holy ones had very great light; And those others, who heard their voices but did not see their forms, since now they themselves had suffered, called them blest;
 wis:18.2    And because they who formerly had been wronged did not harm them, they thanked them, and pleaded with them, for the sake of the difference between them.
 wis:18.3    Instead of this, you furnished the flaming pillar which was a guide on the unknown way, and the mild sun for an honorable migration.
 wis:18.4    For those deserved to be deprived of light and imprisoned by darkness, who had kept your sons confined through whom the imperishable light of the law was to be given to the world.
 wis:18.5    When they determined to put to death the infants of the holy ones, and when a single boy had been cast forth but saved, As a reproof you carried off their multitude of sons and made them perish all at once in the mighty water.
 wis:18.6    That night was known beforehand to our fathers, that, with sure knowledge of the oaths in which they put their faith, they might have courage.
 wis:18.7    Your people awaited the salvation of the just and the destruction of their foes.
 wis:18.8    For when you punished our adversaries, in this you glorified us whom you had summoned.
 wis:18.9    For in secret the holy children of the good were offering sacrifice and putting into effect with one accord the divine institution, That your holy ones should share alike the same good things and dangers, having previously sung the praises of the fathers.
 wis:18.10   But the discordant cry of their enemies responded, and the piteous wail of mourning for children was borne to them.
 wis:18.11   And the slave was smitten with the same retribution as his master; even the plebeian suffered the same as the king.
 wis:18.12   And all alike by a single death had countless dead; For the living were not even sufficient for the burial, since at a single instant their nobler offspring were destroyed.
 wis:18.13   For though they disbelieved at every turn on account of sorceries, at the destruction of the first-born they acknowledged that the people was God's son.
 wis:18.14   For when peaceful stillness compassed everything and the night in its swift course was half spent,
 wis:18.15   Your all-powerful word from heaven's royal throne bounded, a fierce warrior, into the doomed land,
 wis:18.16   bearing the sharp sword of your inexorable decree. And as he alighted, he filled every place with death; he still reached to heaven, while he stood upon the earth.
 wis:18.17   Then, forthwith, visions in horrible dreams perturbed them and unexpected fears assailed them;
 wis:18.18   And cast half-dead, one here, another there, each was revealing the reason for his dying.
 wis:18.19   For the dreams that disturbed them had proclaimed this beforehand, lest they perish unaware of why they suffered ill.
 wis:18.20   But the trial of death touched at one time even the just, and in the desert a plague struck the multitude; Yet not for long did the anger last.
 wis:18.21   For the blameless man hastened to be their champion, bearing the weapon of his special office, prayer and the propitiation of incense; He withstood the wrath and put a stop to the calamity, showing that he was your servant.
 wis:18.22   And he overcame the bitterness not by bodily strength, not by force of arms; But by word he overcame the smiter, recalling the sworn covenants with their fathers.
 wis:18.23   For when corpses had already fallen one on another in heaps, he stood in the midst and checked the anger, and cut off the way to the living.
 wis:18.24   For on his full-length robe was the whole world, and the glories of the fathers were carved in four rows upon the stones, and your grandeur was on the crown upon his head.
 wis:18.25   To these names the destroyer yielded, and these he feared; for the mere trial of anger was enough.
   
 wis:19.1    But the wicked, merciless wrath assailed until the end. For he knew beforehand what they were yet to do:
 wis:19.2    That though they themselves had agreed to the departure and had anxiously sent them on their way, they would regret it and pursue them.
 wis:19.3    For while they were still engaged in funeral rites and were mourning at the burials of the dead, They adopted another senseless plan; and those whom they had sent away with entreaty, they pursued as fugitives.
 wis:19.4    For a compulsion suited to this ending drew them on, and made them forgetful of what had befallen them, That they might fill out the torments of their punishment,
 wis:19.5    and your people might experience a glorious journey while those others met an extraordinary death.
 wis:19.6    For all creation, in its several kinds, was being made over anew, serving its natural laws, that your children might be preserved unharmed.
 wis:19.7    The cloud overshadowed their camp; and out of what had before been water, dry land was seen emerging: Out of the Red Sea an unimpeded road, and a grassy plain out of the mighty flood.
 wis:19.8    Over this crossed the whole nation sheltered by your hand, after they beheld stupendous wonders.
 wis:19.9    For they ranged about like horses, and bounded about like lambs, praising you, O LORD! their deliverer.
 wis:19.10   For they were still mindful of what had happened in their sojourn: how instead of the young of animals the land brought forth gnats, and instead of fishes the river swarmed with countless frogs.
 wis:19.11   And later they saw also a new kind of bird when, prompted by desire, they asked for pleasant foods;
 wis:19.12   For to appease them quail came to them from the sea.
 wis:19.13   And the punishments came upon the sinners only after forewarnings from the violence of the thunderbolts. For they justly suffered for their own misdeeds, since indeed they treated their guests with the more grievous hatred.
 wis:19.14   For those others did not receive unfamiliar visitors, but these were enslaving beneficent guests.
 wis:19.15   And not that only; but what punishment was to be theirs since they received strangers unwillingly!
 wis:19.16   Yet these, after welcoming them with festivities, oppressed with awful toils those who now shared with them the same rights.
 wis:19.17   And they were struck with blindness, as those others had been at the portals of the just- When, surrounded by yawning darkness, each sought the entrance of his own gate.
 wis:19.18   For the elements, in variable harmony among themselves, like strings of the harp, produce new melody, while the flow of music steadily persists. And this can be perceived exactly from a review of what took place.
 wis:19.19   For land creatures were changed into water creatures, and those that swam went over on to the land.
 wis:19.20   Fire in water maintained its own strength, and water forgot its quenching nature;
 wis:19.21   Flames, by contrast, neither consumed the flesh of the perishable animals that went about in them, nor melted the icelike, quick-melting kind of ambrosial food.
 wis:19.22   For every way, O LORD! you magnified and glorified your people; unfailing, you stood by them in every time and circumstance. [end of Wisdom]

