19
1 But upon the ungodly there came unto the end indignation without mercy;
For their future also God foreknew,
2 How that, having changed their minds to let thy people go,
And having speeded them eagerly on their way,
They would repent themselves and pursue them.
3 For while they were yet in the midst of their mourning,
And making lamentation at the graves of the dead,
They drew upon themselves another counsel of folly,
And pursued as fugitives those whom with intreaties they had cast out.
4 For * the doom which they deserved was drawing them † unto this end,
And it made them forget the things that had befallen them,
That they might fill up the punishment which was yet wanting to their torments,
5 And that thy people might ‡ journey on by a marvellous road,
But they themselves might find a strange death.
6 For the whole creation, each part in its several kind, was fashioned again anew,
Ministering to thy several commandments,
That thy § servants might be guarded free from hurt.
7 Then was beheld the cloud that shadowed the camp,
And dry land rising up out of what before was water,
Out of the Red sea an unhindered highway,
And a grassy plain out of the violent surge;
8 ** By which they passed over with all their hosts,
These that were covered with thy hand,
Having beheld strange marvels.
9 For like horses they roamed at large,
And they skipped about like lambs,
Praising thee, O Lord, who wast their deliverer.
10 For they still remembered the things that came to pass in the time of their sojourning,
How that instead of †† bearing ‡‡ cattle the land brought forth §§ lice,
And instead of *** fish the river cast up a multitude of frogs.
11 But afterwards they saw also a new ††† race of birds,
When, led on by desire, they asked for luxurious dainties;
12 For, to solace them, there came up for them quails from the sea.
13 And upon the sinners came the punishments
Not without the tokens that were given ‡‡‡ beforehand by the force of the thunders;
For justly did they suffer through their own wickednesses,
For §§§ grievous indeed was the hatred which they practised toward guests.
14 * For whereas the men of Sodom received not † the strangers when they came among them;
‡ The Egyptians made slaves of guests who were their benefactors.
15 And not only so, but God shall § visit ** the men of Sodom after another sort,
Since they received as enemies them that were aliens;
16 Whereas these first welcomed with feastings,
And then afflicted with dreadful toils,
Them that had already shared with them in the same rights.
17 And moreover they were stricken with loss of sight
(Even as were those others at the righteous man’s doors),
When, being compassed about with yawning darkness,
They sought every one the passage through his own door.
18 For as the notes of a psaltery vary the character of the rhythm,
Even so did the elements, changing their order one with another,
Continuing always the same, each in its several sound;
As may clearly be †† divined from the sight of the things that are come to pass.
19 For creatures of the dry land were turned into creatures of the waters,
And creatures that swim trode now upon the earth:
20 Fire kept the mastery of its own power in the midst of water,
And water forgat its quenching nature:
21 Contrariwise, flames wasted not the flesh of perishable creatures that walked among them;
Neither ‡‡ melted they the §§ ice-like grains of ambrosial food, that were of nature apt to melt.
22 For in all things, O Lord, thou didst magnify thy people,
And thou didst glorify them and not lightly regard them;
Standing by their side in every time and place.
* 19:4 Or, their desert by necessity was † 19:4 Some authorities read unto this at last. ‡ 19:5 Some authorities read make trial of. § 19:6 Or, children ** 19:8 Or, Through †† 19:10 Or, birth of cattle ‡‡ 19:10 Gr. living creatures. §§ 19:10 Or, sandflies *** 19:10 Gr. creatures of the waters. ††† 19:11 Or, production Gr. generation. ‡‡‡ 19:13 Some authorities omit beforehand. §§§ 19:13 Or, yet more grievous was * 19:14 The Greek text of this and the following verse is perhaps corrupt. † 19:14 Gr. them who knew them not. ‡ 19:14 Gr. These. § 19:15 Or, visit them...sort: since the men of Sodom received...aliens ** 19:15 Gr. them. †† 19:18 Gr. conjectured. ‡‡ 19:21 The Greek authorities read could be melted. The Latin seems to have preserved the original Greek text. §§ 19:21 Gr. ice-like kind.