Nature at the Service of God’s Wisdom
Chapter 16
Frogs and Quail
1 Therefore, these idolaters were deservedly punished by creatures like these
and tormented by swarms of vermin.
2 But in contrast to this punishment, you treated your people with kindness,
sending them quail to eat,
a rare delicacy to satisfy their hunger.
3 Thus, the idolaters, repulsed by the sight of loathsome creatures sent to plague them,
lost their appetite even though suffering from hunger,
while your own people, after a short period of privation,
partook with pleasure of rare delicacies.
4 For these idolaters necessarily had to be afflicted with inexorable want,
sufficient to indicate to your people how their enemies were being tormented.
Locusts and the Bronze Serpent
5 Even when the venomous rage of wild animals terrorized your people
and they were perishing from the bites of wriggling serpents,
your anger did not continue to the uttermost.
6 They were afflicted for a short time as a warning,
and they were then given a symbol of salvation to remind them of the precepts of your law.
7 For he who turned toward it was saved,
not by what he beheld,
but by you, the Savior of all.
8 And by such means also you convinced our enemies
that it is you who deliver from every evil.
9 For they were slain from the bites of locusts and flies,
and no remedy was devised to save their lives
because their punishment by such creatures was well deserved.
10 However, not even the fangs of venomous snakes could overwhelm your people,
for your mercy intervened to heal them.
11 They were bitten so that they would be reminded of your decrees,
and then they were quickly healed
so that they would not fall into profound forgetfulness
and fail to respond to your kindness.
12 For it was neither herb nor poultice that cured them
but your all-healing word, O Lord.
13 For you have power over life and death,
bringing people down to the gates of the netherworld and then back again;
14 whereas, man may slay in malice,
but he has no power to restore the breath of life
or to set free the soul imprisoned by death.
Hailstones and Manna
15 However, from your hand it is impossible to escape.
16 For the godless who refused to acknowledge you
were scourged by the might of your arm,
pursued by unusual rains and hailstorms and unrelenting downpours
and devoured by fire.
17 And, defying all logic, in water, which quenches all things,
the fire raged more fiercely than ever,
for creation itself defends the righteous.
18 At one time the flames would die down
so that they would not consume the creatures inflicted upon the wicked,
but that, seeing this, the latter might know
that they were being pursued by the judgment of God.
19 At yet another time the flames would burn with far greater intensity, even in the water,
to destroy the products of a sinful land.
20 In contrast, you nourished your people with the food of angels,
and with no labor on their part, you supplied them with bread from heaven that was ready to eat,
filled with every delight and pleasing to every taste.
21 The sustenance you offered manifested your kindly mercy to your children,
for the bread that conformed to the desire of those who ate it
was transformed to appeal to each one’s preference.
22 Snow and ice withstood the fire and did not melt,
so that they would realize that the harvesters of their enemies
were destroyed by a fire that blazed in the hail
and flashed through the falling rain;
23 whereas, that same fire even forgot its own strength
so that the righteous might be fed.
24 For creation, at the service of you, its maker,
strains mightily to effect the punishment of the wicked,
but relaxes for the benefit of those who trust in you.
25 Therefore, at that time too, it was transformed in endless ways
to serve your all-nourishing bounty,
according to the desires of those in need,
26 so that your beloved children, O Lord, might learn
that it is not the various crops of the earth that nourish them,
but it is your word that sustains those who trust in you.
27 For whatever was not destroyed by fire
melted when merely warmed by a passing sunbeam,
28 to instruct us that we must rise before the sun to offer thanks to you
and must pray to you at the dawning of the day.
29 For the hope of an ungrateful person will melt like the frost of winter
and flow away like water no longer of any use.
Footnotes
- Wisdom 16:1
- Wisdom 16:1
- Wisdom 16:3
- Wisdom 16:6
- Wisdom 16:13
- Wisdom 16:20
- Wisdom 16:22
- Wisdom 16:26
- Wisdom 16:27
