Chapter 11
1 Through the holy prophet, Wisdom gave them success in everything.
2 They journeyed through an inhospitable wilderness
and pitched their tents in untrodden wastes;
3 they stood firm against their enemies and turned back their foes.
4 When they were thirsty they cried out to you,
and water was given to them out of unyielding rock,
a refreshment for their thirst out of hard stone.
5 The very means that had served to punish their enemies
became a benefit for them in their need.
6 Instead of the spring of an ever-flowing river
befouled by blood mingled with water
7 as a rebuke for the decree to slaughter infants,
you gave them abundant water unexpectedly,
8 showing them by their thirst at that time
how you punished their enemies.
9 For when they themselves were tested, although they were only chastised in mercy,
they comprehended the torments of the godless who had been judged in anger.
10 You tested the former, admonishing them like a father,
but the latter you sifted as a stern king does in condemnation.
11 Whether far off or close by, they were afflicted alike,
12 for a twofold grief seized them,
and a groaning over the remembrances of the past.
13 When they heard that through their punishment the righteous had received benefits,
they perceived the presence of the Lord.
14 For the one whom long before they had cast out, exposed, and rejected with scorn,
they regarded with admiration at the end of the events,
when they experienced thirst vastly different from that of the righteous.
God’s Kindness toward the Peoples
A Dose of Chastisement for Egypt
15 In return for the foolish reasonings of their wickedness,
which misled them into worshiping serpents bereft of reason and insects devoid of worth,
you sent as punishment upon them hordes of irrational creatures,
16 so that they might learn that the agents of one’s sin are the instruments of one’s punishment.
17 For your all-powerful hand,
which created the world out of formless matter,
had the wherewithal to send upon them a host of bears or savage lions,
18 or newly created, ferocious, unknown beasts
either breathing fiery blasts
or belching forth thick smoke
or flashing frightful sparks from their eyes.
19 These could not only destroy people by the harm they did
but also strike them dead by their terrifying appearance alone.
20 Even without these, a single breath would have sufficed to overcome them
when pursued by justice
and dispersed by your powerful spirit.
But you have ordered all things by measure, number, and weight.
You Have Compassion on All Because You Can Do All Things
21 For you always have the option to exert great strength,
and who can withstand the might of your arm?
22 Indeed, before you, the whole world is like a speck that tips the scales,
or like a drop of morning dew that falls on the ground.
23 Yet you are merciful to all, for you can do all things,
and you overlook men’s sins so that they may repent.
24 For you love everything that exists
and abhor nothing that you have created,
since you would not have fashioned anything that you hated.
25 How could anything have continued to exist unless you had willed it,
or be preserved if it had not been called forth by you?
26 You spare all things,
for they are yours, O Lord, you who love souls.
Footnotes
- Wisdom 11:1
- Wisdom 11:4
- Wisdom 11:5
- Wisdom 11:6
- Wisdom 11:11
- Wisdom 11:13
- Wisdom 11:14
- Wisdom 11:15
- Wisdom 11:15
- Wisdom 11:15
- Wisdom 11:16
- Wisdom 11:17
- Wisdom 11:24
