Wisdom Led the Israelites through the Desert

1Wisdom11.1 Gk She prospered their works by the hand of a holy prophet.

2They journeyed through an uninhabited wilderness,

and pitched their tents in untrodden places.

3They withstood their enemies and fought off their foes.

4When they were thirsty, they called upon you,

and water was given them out of flinty rock,

and from hard stone a remedy for their thirst.

5For through the very things by which their enemies were punished,

they themselves received benefit in their need.

6Instead of the fountain of an ever-flowing river,

stirred up and defiled with blood

7in rebuke for the decree to kill the infants,

you gave them abundant water unexpectedly,

8showing by their thirst at that time

how you punished their enemies.

9For when they were tried, though they were being disciplined in mercy,

they learned how the ungodly were tormented when judged in wrath.

10For you tested them as a parent11.10 Gk a father does in warning,

but you examined the ungodly11.10 Gk those as a stern king does in condemnation.

11Whether absent or present, they were equally distressed,

12for a twofold grief possessed them,

and a groaning at the memory of what had occurred.

13For when they heard that through their own punishments

the righteous11.13 Gk they had received benefit, they perceived it was the Lord's doing.

14For though they had mockingly rejected him who long before had been cast out and exposed,

at the end of the events they marvelled at him,

when they felt thirst in a different way from the righteous.

Punishment of the Wicked

15In return for their foolish and wicked thoughts,

which led them astray to worship irrational serpents and worthless animals,

you sent upon them a multitude of irrational creatures to punish them,

16so that they might learn that one is punished by the very things by which one sins.

17For your all-powerful hand,

which created the world out of formless matter,

did not lack the means to send upon them a multitude of bears, or bold lions,

18or newly-created unknown beasts full of rage,

or such as breathe out fiery breath,

or belch forth a thick pall of smoke,

or flash terrible sparks from their eyes;

19not only could the harm they did destroy people,11.19 Gk them

but the mere sight of them could kill by fright.

20Even apart from these, people11.20 Gk they could fall at a single breath

when pursued by justice

and scattered by the breath of your power.

But you have arranged all things by measure and number and weight.

God Is Powerful and Merciful

21For it is always in your power to show great strength,

and who can withstand the might of your arm?

22Because the whole world before you is like a speck that tips the scales,

and like a drop of morning dew that falls on the ground.

23But you are merciful to all, for you can do all things,

and you overlook people's sins, so that they may repent.

24For you love all things that exist,

and detest none of the things that you have made,

for you would not have made anything if you had hated it.

25How would anything have endured if you had not willed it?

Or how would anything not called forth by you have been preserved?

26You spare all things, for they are yours, O Lord, you who love the living.