\NormalFont\ShortTitle{The Wisdom Of Solomon}

{\MT THE WISDOM OF SOLOMON



\par }\PoetryChap{1}{\Q \VerseOne{1}Love righteousness, ye that be judges of the earth,

\par }{\Q Think ye of the Lord with a good mind,

\par }{\Q And in singleness of heart seek ye him;


\par }{\Q \VS{2}Because he is found of them that tempt him not,

\par }{\Q And is manifested to them that do not distrust him.


\par }{\Q \VS{3}For crooked thoughts separate from God;

\par }{\Q And the
{\ADD{supreme}} Power, when it is brought to the proof, putteth to confusion the foolish:


\par }{\Q \VS{4}Because wisdom will not enter into a soul that deviseth evil,

\par }{\Q Nor dwell in a body that is held in pledge by sin.


\par }{\Q \VS{5}For a holy spirit of discipline will flee deceit.

\par }{\Q And will start away from thoughts that are without understanding,

\par }{\Q And will be put to confusion when unrighteousness hath come in.


\par }{\Q \VS{6}For wisdom is a spirit that loveth man,

\par }{\Q And she will not hold a blasphemer guiltless for his lips;

\par }{\Q Because God beareth witness of his heart,

\par }{\Q And is a true overseer of his mind,

\par }{\Q And a hearer of his tongue:


\par }{\Q \VS{7}Because the spirit of the Lord hath filled the world,

\par }{\Q And that which holdeth all things together hath knowledge of
{\ADD{every}} voice.


\par }{\Q \VS{8}Therefore no man that uttereth unrighteous things shall be unseen;

\par }{\Q Neither shall Justice, when it convicteth, pass him by.


\par }{\Q \VS{9}For in
{\ADD{the midst of}} his counsels the ungodly shall be searched out;

\par }{\Q And the sound of his words shall come unto the Lord

\par }{\Q To bring to conviction his lawless deeds:


\par }{\Q \VS{10}Because
{\ADD{there is}} an ear of jealousy
{\ADD{that}} listeneth to all things,

\par }{\Q And the noise of murmurings is not hidden.


\par }{\Q \VS{11}Beware then of unprofitable murmuring,

\par }{\Q And refrain your tongue from backbiting;

\par }{\Q Because no secret utterance shall go on its way void,

\par }{\Q And a mouth that belieth destroyeth a soul.


\par }{\Q \VS{12}Court not death in the error of your life;

\par }{\Q Neither draw upon yourselves destruction by the works of your hands:


\par }{\Q \VS{13}Because God made not death;

\par }{\Q Neither delighteth he when the living perish:


\par }{\Q \VS{14}For he created all things that they might have being:

\par }{\Q And the generative powers of the world
{\ADD{are}} healthsome,

\par }{\Q And there is no poison of destruction in them:

\par }{\Q Nor hath Hades royal dominion upon earth,


\par }{\Q \VS{15}For righteousness is immortal:


\par }{\Q \VS{16}But ungodly men by their hands and their words called death unto them:

\par }{\Q Deeming him a friend they consumed away,

\par }{\Q And they made a covenant with him,

\par }{\Q Because they are worthy to be of his portion.


\par }{\BB \par }


\PoetryChap{2}{\Q \VerseOne{1}For they said within themselves, reasoning not aright,

\par }{\Q Short and sorrowful is our life;

\par }{\Q And there is no healing when a man cometh to his end,

\par }{\Q And none was ever known that gave release from Hades.


\par }{\Q \VS{2}Because by mere chance were we born,

\par }{\Q And hereafter we shall be as though we had never been:

\par }{\Q Because the breath in our nostrils is smoke,

\par }{\Q And while our heart beateth reason is a spark,


\par }{\Q \VS{3}Which being extinguished, the body shall be turned into ashes,

\par }{\Q And the spirit shall be dispersed as thin air;


\par }{\Q \VS{4}And our name shall be forgotten in time,

\par }{\Q And no man shall remember our works;

\par }{\Q And our life shall pass away as the traces of a cloud,

\par }{\Q And shall be scattered as is a mist,

\par }{\Q When it is chased by the beams of the sun,

\par }{\Q And overcome by the heat thereof.


\par }{\Q \VS{5}For our allotted time is the passing of a shadow,

\par }{\Q And our end retreateth not;

\par }{\Q Because it is fast sealed, and none turneth it back.


\par }{\Q \VS{6}Come therefore and let us enjoy the good things that
{\ADD{now}} are;

\par }{\Q And let us use the creation with all our soul as youth’s
{\ADD{possession.}}


\par }{\Q \VS{7}Let us fill ourselves with costly wine and perfumes;

\par }{\Q And let no flower of spring pass us by:


\par }{\Q \VS{8}Let us crown ourselves with rosebuds, before they be withered:


\par }{\Q \VS{9}Let none of us go without his share in our proud revelry:

\par }{\Q Everywhere let us leave tokens of
{\ADD{our}} mirth:

\par }{\Q Because this is our portion, and our lot is this.


\par }{\Q \VS{10}Let us oppress the righteous poor;

\par }{\Q Let us not spare the widow,

\par }{\Q Nor reverence the hairs of the old man gray for length of years.


\par }{\Q \VS{11}But let our strength be
{\ADD{to us}} a law of righteousness;

\par }{\Q For that which is weak is found to be of no service.


\par }{\Q \VS{12}But let us lie in wait for the righteous man,

\par }{\Q Because he is of disservice to us,

\par }{\Q And is contrary to our works,

\par }{\Q And upbraideth us for sins against the law,

\par }{\Q And layeth to our charge sins against our discipline.


\par }{\Q \VS{13}He professeth to have knowledge of God,

\par }{\Q And nameth himself servant of the Lord.


\par }{\Q \VS{14}He became to us a reproof of our thoughts.


\par }{\Q \VS{15}He is grievous unto us even to behold,

\par }{\Q Because his life is unlike other men’s,

\par }{\Q And his paths are of strange fashion.


\par }{\Q \VS{16}We were accounted of him as base metal,

\par }{\Q And he abstaineth from our ways as from uncleannesses.

\par }{\Q The latter end of the righteous he calleth happy;

\par }{\Q And he vaunteth that God is his father.


\par }{\Q \VS{17}Let us see if his words be true,

\par }{\Q And let us try what shall befall in the ending of his
{\ADD{life.}}


\par }{\Q \VS{18}For if the righteous man is God’s son, he will uphold him,

\par }{\Q And he will deliver him out of the hand of his adversaries.


\par }{\Q \VS{19}With outrage and torture let us put him to the test,

\par }{\Q That we may learn his gentleness,

\par }{\Q And may prove his patience under wrong.


\par }{\Q \VS{20}Let us condemn him to a shameful death;

\par }{\Q For he shall be visited according to his words.


\par }{\BB \par }
{\Q \VS{21}Thus reasoned they, and they were led astray;

\par }{\Q For their wickedness blinded them,


\par }{\Q \VS{22}And they knew not the mysteries of God,

\par }{\Q Neither hoped they for wages of holiness,

\par }{\Q Nor did they judge
{\ADD{that there is}} a prize for blameless souls.


\par }{\Q \VS{23}Because God created man for incorruption,

\par }{\Q And made him an image of his own proper being;


\par }{\Q \VS{24}But by the envy of the devil death entered into the world,

\par }{\Q And they that are of his portion make trial thereof.




\par }\PoetryChap{3}{\Q \VerseOne{1}But the souls of the righteous are in the hand of God,

\par }{\Q And no torment shall touch them.


\par }{\Q \VS{2}In the eyes of the foolish they seemed to have died;

\par }{\Q And their departure was accounted
{\ADD{to be their}} hurt,


\par }{\Q \VS{3}And their journeying away from us
{\ADD{to be their}} ruin:

\par }{\Q But they are in peace.


\par }{\Q \VS{4}For even if in the sight of men they be punished,

\par }{\Q Their hope is full of immortality;


\par }{\Q \VS{5}And having borne a little chastening, they shall receive great good;

\par }{\Q Because God made trial of them, and found them worthy of himself.


\par }{\Q \VS{6}As gold in the furnace he proved them,

\par }{\Q And as a whole burnt offering he accepted them.


\par }{\Q \VS{7}And in the time of their visitation they shall shine forth,

\par }{\Q And as sparks among stubble they shall run to and fro.


\par }{\Q \VS{8}They shall judge nations, and have dominion over peoples;

\par }{\Q And the Lord shall reign over them forevermore.


\par }{\Q \VS{9}They that trust on him shall understand truth,

\par }{\Q And the faithful shall abide with him in love;

\par }{\Q Because grace and mercy are to his chosen.


\par }{\BB \par }
{\Q \VS{10}But the ungodly shall be requited even as they reasoned,

\par }{\Q They that lightly regarded the righteous
{\ADD{man,}} and revolted from the Lord;


\par }{\Q \VS{11}(For he that setteth at nought wisdom and discipline is miserable;)

\par }{\Q And void is their hope and their toils unprofitable,

\par }{\Q And useless are their works:


\par }{\Q \VS{12}Their wives are foolish, and wicked are their children;


\par }{\Q \VS{13}Accursed is their begetting.

\par }{\Q Because happy is the barren that is undefiled,

\par }{\Q She who hath not conceived in transgression;

\par }{\Q She shall have fruit when
{\ADD{God}} visiteth souls.


\par }{\Q \VS{14}And
{\ADD{happy is}} the eunuch who hath wrought no lawless deed with his hands,

\par }{\Q Nor imagined wicked things against the Lord;

\par }{\Q For there shall be given him for his faithfulness a peculiar favor,

\par }{\Q And a lot in the sanctuary of the Lord more delightsome
{\ADD{than wife or children.}}


\par }{\Q \VS{15}For good labors have fruit of great renown;

\par }{\Q And the root of understanding cannot fail.


\par }{\Q \VS{16}But children of adulterers shall not come to maturity,

\par }{\Q And the seed of an unlawful bed shall vanish away.


\par }{\Q \VS{17}For if they live long, they shall be held in no account,

\par }{\Q And at the last their old age shall be without honor.


\par }{\Q \VS{18}And if they die quickly, they shall have no hope,

\par }{\Q Nor in the day of decision
{\ADD{shall they have}} consolation.


\par }{\Q \VS{19}For the end of an unrighteous generation is always grievous.




\par }\PoetryChap{4}{\Q \VerseOne{1}Better
{\ADD{than this}} is childishness with virtue;

\par }{\Q For in the memory of virtue is immortality:

\par }{\Q Because it is recognized both before God and before men.


\par }{\Q \VS{2}When it is present,
{\ADD{men}} imitate it;

\par }{\Q And they long after it when it is departed:

\par }{\Q And throughout all time it marcheth crowned in triumph,

\par }{\Q Victorious in the strife for the prizes that are undefiled.


\par }{\Q \VS{3}But the multiplying brood of the ungodly shall be of no profit,

\par }{\Q And with bastard slips they shall not strike deep root,

\par }{\Q Nor shall they establish a sure hold.


\par }{\Q \VS{4}For even if these put forth boughs and flourish for a season,

\par }{\Q {\ADD{Yet,}} standing unsure, they shall be shaken by the wind,

\par }{\Q And by the violence of winds they shall be rooted out.


\par }{\Q \VS{5}{\ADD{Their}} branches shall be broken off before they come to maturity,

\par }{\Q And their fruit
{\ADD{shall be}} useless,

\par }{\Q Never ripe to eat, and fit for nothing.


\par }{\Q \VS{6}For children unlawfully begotten are witnesses of wickedness

\par }{\Q Against parents when
{\ADD{God}} searcheth them out.


\par }{\BB \par }
{\Q \VS{7}But a righteous man, though he die before his time, shall be at rest.


\par }{\Q \VS{8}(For honorable old age is not that which standeth in length of time,

\par }{\Q Nor is its measure given by number of years:


\par }{\Q \VS{9}But understanding is gray hairs unto men,

\par }{\Q And an unspotted life is ripe old age.)


\par }{\Q \VS{10}Being found well-pleasing unto God he was beloved
{\ADD{of him,}}

\par }{\Q And while living among sinners he was translated:


\par }{\Q \VS{11}He was caught away, lest wickedness should change his understanding,

\par }{\Q Or guile deceive his soul.


\par }{\Q \VS{12}(For the bewitching of naughtiness obscureth the things which are good,

\par }{\Q And the giddy whirl of desire perverteth an innocent mind.)


\par }{\Q \VS{13}Being made perfect in a little while, he fulfilled long years;


\par }{\Q \VS{14}For his soul was pleasing unto the Lord:

\par }{\Q Therefore hasted he out of the midst of wickedness.


\par }{\Q \VS{15}But as for the peoples, seeing and understanding not,

\par }{\Q Neither laying this to heart,

\par }{\Q That grace and mercy are with his chosen,

\par }{\Q And that he visiteth his holy ones—


\par }{\Q \VS{16}But a righteous man that is dead shall condemn the ungodly that are living,

\par }{\Q And youth that is quickly perfected the many years of an unrighteous man’s old age;


\par }{\Q \VS{17}For
{\ADD{the ungodly}} shall see a wise man’s end,

\par }{\Q And shall not understand what the Lord purposed concerning him,

\par }{\Q And for what he safely kept him—


\par }{\Q \VS{18}They shall see, and they shall despise;

\par }{\Q But them the Lord shall laugh to scorn.

\par }{\Q And after this they shall become a dishonored carcass,

\par }{\Q And a reproach among the dead forever:


\par }{\Q \VS{19}Because he shall dash them speechless to the ground,

\par }{\Q And shall shake them from the foundations,

\par }{\Q And they shall lie utterly waste, and they shall be in anguish,

\par }{\Q And their memory shall perish.


\par }{\BB \par }
{\Q \VS{20}They shall come, when their sins are reckoned up, with coward fear;

\par }{\Q And their lawless deeds shall convict them to their face.




\par }\PoetryChap{5}{\Q \VerseOne{1}Then shall the righteous man stand in great boldness

\par }{\Q Before the face of them that afflicted him,

\par }{\Q And them that make his labors of no account.


\par }{\Q \VS{2}When they see it, they shall be troubled with terrible fear,

\par }{\Q And shall be amazed at the marvel of
{\ADD{God’s}} salvation.


\par }{\Q \VS{3}They shall say within themselves repenting,

\par }{\Q And for distress of spirit shall they groan,

\par }{\Q This was he whom aforetime we had in derision,

\par }{\Q And
{\ADD{made}} a parable of reproach:


\par }{\Q \VS{4}We fools accounted his life madness,

\par }{\Q And his end without honor:


\par }{\Q \VS{5}How was he numbered among sons of God?

\par }{\Q And
{\ADD{how}} is his lot among saints?


\par }{\Q \VS{6}Verily we went astray from the way of truth,

\par }{\Q And the light of righteousness shined not for us,

\par }{\Q And the sun rose not for us.


\par }{\Q \VS{7}We took our fill of the paths of lawlessness and destruction,

\par }{\Q And we journeyed through trackless deserts,

\par }{\Q But the way of the Lord we knew not.


\par }{\Q \VS{8}What did our arrogancy profit us?

\par }{\Q And what good have riches and vaunting brought us?


\par }{\Q \VS{9}Those things all passed away as a shadow,

\par }{\Q And as a message that runneth by:


\par }{\Q \VS{10}As a ship passing through the billowy water,

\par }{\Q Whereof, when it is gone by, there is no trace to be found,

\par }{\Q Neither pathway of its keel in the billows:


\par }{\Q \VS{11}Or as when a bird flieth through the air,

\par }{\Q No token of
{\ADD{its}} passage is found,

\par }{\Q But the light wind, lashed with the stroke of its pinions,

\par }{\Q And rent asunder with the violent rush of the moving wings, is passed through,

\par }{\Q And afterward no sign of
{\ADD{its}} coming is found therein:


\par }{\Q \VS{12}Or as when an arrow is shot at a mark,

\par }{\Q The air disparted closeth up again immediately,

\par }{\Q So that men know not where it passed through:


\par }{\Q \VS{13}So we also, as soon as we were born, ceased to be;

\par }{\Q And of virtue we had no sign to show,

\par }{\Q But in our wickedness we were utterly consumed.


\par }{\Q \VS{14}Because the hope of the ungodly man is as chaff carried by the wind,

\par }{\Q And as foam vanishing before a tempest;

\par }{\Q And is scattered as smoke
{\ADD{is scattered}} by the wind,

\par }{\Q And passeth by as the remembrance of a guest that tarrieth but a day.


\par }{\BB \par }
{\Q \VS{15}But the righteous live forever,

\par }{\Q And in the Lord is their reward,

\par }{\Q And the care for them with the Most High.


\par }{\Q \VS{16}Therefore shall they receive the crown of royal dignity

\par }{\Q And the diadem of beauty from the Lord’s hand;

\par }{\Q Because with his right hand shall he cover them,

\par }{\Q And with his arm shall he shield them.


\par }{\Q \VS{17}He shall take his jealousy as complete armor,

\par }{\Q And shall make the
{\ADD{whole}} creation his weapons for vengeance on
{\ADD{his}} enemies:


\par }{\Q \VS{18}He shall put on righteousness as a breastplate,

\par }{\Q And shall array himself with judgment unfeigned as with a helmet;


\par }{\Q \VS{19}He shall take holiness as an invincible shield,


\par }{\Q \VS{20}And he shall sharpen stern wrath for a sword:

\par }{\Q And the world shall go forth with him to fight against
{\ADD{his}} insensate
{\ADD{foes.}}


\par }{\Q \VS{21}Shafts of lightning shall fly with true aim,

\par }{\Q And from the clouds, as from a well drawn bow, shall they leap to the mark.


\par }{\Q \VS{22}And
{\ADD{as}} from an engine of war shall be hurled hailstones full of wrath;

\par }{\Q The water of the sea shall be angered against them,

\par }{\Q And rivers shall sternly overwhelm them;


\par }{\Q \VS{23}A mighty blast shall encounter them,

\par }{\Q And as a tempest shall it winnow them away:

\par }{\Q And
{\ADD{so}} shall lawlessness make all the land desolate,

\par }{\Q And their evildoing shall overturn the thrones of princes.


\par }{\BB \par }


\PoetryChap{6}{\Q \VerseOne{1}Hear therefore, ye kings, and understand;

\par }{\Q Learn, ye judges of the ends of the earth:


\par }{\Q \VS{2}Give ear, ye that have dominion over much people,

\par }{\Q And make your boast in multitudes of nations.


\par }{\Q \VS{3}Because your dominion was given you from the Lord,

\par }{\Q And your sovereignty from the Most High;

\par }{\Q Who shall search out your works,

\par }{\Q And shall make inquisition of your counsels:


\par }{\Q \VS{4}Because being officers of his kingdom ye did not judge aright,

\par }{\Q Neither kept ye law, nor walked after the counsel of God.


\par }{\Q \VS{5}Terribly and swiftly shall he come upon you;

\par }{\Q Because a stern judgment befalleth them that be in high place:


\par }{\Q \VS{6}For the man of low estate may be pardoned in mercy,

\par }{\Q But mighty men shall be searched out mightily.


\par }{\Q \VS{7}For the Sovereign Lord of all will not refrain himself for any
{\ADD{man’s}} person,

\par }{\Q Neither will he reverence greatness;

\par }{\Q Because it is he that made
{\ADD{both}} small and great,

\par }{\Q And alike he taketh thought for all;


\par }{\Q \VS{8}But strict is the scrutiny that cometh upon the powerful.


\par }{\Q \VS{9}Unto you therefore, O princes, are my words,

\par }{\Q That ye may learn wisdom and fall not from the right way.


\par }{\Q \VS{10}For they that have kept holily the things that are holy shall
{\ADD{themselves}} be hallowed;

\par }{\Q And they that have been taught them shall find what to answer;


\par }{\Q \VS{11}Set your desire therefore on my words;

\par }{\Q Long for
{\ADD{them,}} and ye shall be trained by
{\ADD{their}} discipline.


\par }{\BB \par }
{\Q \VS{12}Wisdom is radiant and fadeth not away;

\par }{\Q And easily is she beheld of them that love her,

\par }{\Q And found of them that seek her.


\par }{\Q \VS{13}She forestalleth them that desire
{\ADD{to know her,}} making herself first known.


\par }{\Q \VS{14}He that riseth up early to
{\ADD{seek}} her shall have no toil,

\par }{\Q For he shall find her sitting at his gates.


\par }{\Q \VS{15}For to think upon her is perfectness of understanding,

\par }{\Q And he that watcheth for her sake shall quickly be free from care.


\par }{\Q \VS{16}Because she goeth about, herself seeking them that are worthy of her,

\par }{\Q And in their paths she appeareth unto them graciously,

\par }{\Q And in every purpose she meeteth them.


\par }{\Q \VS{17}For her true beginning is desire of discipline;

\par }{\Q And the care for discipline is love
{\ADD{of her;}}


\par }{\Q \VS{18}And love
{\ADD{of her}} is observance of her laws;

\par }{\Q And to give heed to
{\ADD{her}} laws confirmeth incorruption;


\par }{\Q \VS{19}And incorruption bringeth near unto God;


\par }{\Q \VS{20}So then desire of wisdom promoteth to a kingdom.


\par }{\Q \VS{21}If therefore ye delight in thrones and scepters, ye princes of peoples,

\par }{\Q Honor wisdom, that ye may reign forever.


\par }{\Q \VS{22}But what wisdom is, and how she came into being, I will declare,

\par }{\Q And I will not hide mysteries from you;

\par }{\Q But I will trace
{\ADD{her}} out from the beginning of creation,

\par }{\Q And bring the knowledge of her into clear light,

\par }{\Q And I will not pass by the truth;


\par }{\Q \VS{23}Neither indeed will I take pining envy for my companion in the way,

\par }{\Q Because envy shall have no fellowship with wisdom.


\par }{\Q \VS{24}But a multitude of wise men is salvation to the world,

\par }{\Q And an understanding king is tranquility to
{\ADD{his}} people.


\par }{\Q \VS{25}Wherefore be disciplined by my words, and
{\ADD{thereby}} shall ye profit.


\par }{\BB \par }


\PoetryChap{7}{\Q \VerseOne{1}I myself also am mortal, like to all,

\par }{\Q And am sprung from one born of the earth,
{\ADD{the man}} first formed,


\par }{\Q \VS{2}And in the womb of a mother was I molded into flesh in the time of ten months,

\par }{\Q Being compacted in blood of the seed of man and pleasure that came with sleep.


\par }{\Q \VS{3}And I also, when I was born, drew in the common air,

\par }{\Q And fell upon the kindred earth,

\par }{\Q Uttering, like all, for my first voice, the selfsame wail:


\par }{\Q \VS{4}In swaddling clothes was I nursed, and with
{\ADD{watchful}} cares.


\par }{\Q \VS{5}For no king had any other first beginning;


\par }{\Q \VS{6}But all men have one entrance into life, and a like departure.


\par }{\Q \VS{7}For this cause I prayed, and understanding was given me:

\par }{\Q I called upon
{\ADD{God,}} and there came to me a spirit of wisdom.


\par }{\Q \VS{8}I preferred her before scepters and thrones,

\par }{\Q And riches I esteemed nothing in comparison of her.


\par }{\Q \VS{9}Neither did I liken to her any priceless gem,

\par }{\Q Because all the gold
{\ADD{of the earth}} in her presence is a little sand,

\par }{\Q And silver shall be accounted as clay before her.


\par }{\Q \VS{10}Above health and comeliness I loved her,

\par }{\Q And I chose to have her rather than light,

\par }{\Q Because her bright shining is never laid to sleep.


\par }{\Q \VS{11}But with her there came to me all good things together,

\par }{\Q And in her hands innumerable riches:


\par }{\Q \VS{12}And I rejoiced over
{\ADD{them}} all because wisdom leadeth them;

\par }{\Q Though I knew not that she was the mother of them.


\par }{\Q \VS{13}As I learned without guile, I impart without grudging;

\par }{\Q I do not hide her riches.


\par }{\Q \VS{14}For she is unto men a treasure that faileth not,

\par }{\Q And they that use it obtain friendship with God,

\par }{\Q Commended
{\ADD{to him}} by the gifts which they through discipline present
{\ADD{to him.}}


\par }{\BB \par }
{\Q \VS{15}But to me may God give to speak with judgment,

\par }{\Q And to conceive thoughts worthy of what hath been given
{\ADD{me;}}

\par }{\Q Because himself is one that guideth even wisdom and that correcteth the wise.


\par }{\Q \VS{16}For in his hand are both we and our words;

\par }{\Q All understanding, and
{\ADD{all}} acquaintance with diverse crafts.


\par }{\Q \VS{17}For himself gave me an unerring knowledge of the things that are,

\par }{\Q To know the constitution of the world, and the operation of the elements;


\par }{\Q \VS{18}The beginning and end and middle of times,

\par }{\Q The alternations of the solstices and the changes of seasons,


\par }{\Q \VS{19}The circuits of years and the positions of stars;


\par }{\Q \VS{20}The natures of living creatures and the ragings of wild beasts,

\par }{\Q The violences of winds and the thoughts of men,

\par }{\Q The diversities of plants and the virtues of roots:


\par }{\Q \VS{21}All things that are either secret or manifest I learned,


\par }{\Q \VS{22}For she that is the artificer of all things taught me,
{\ADD{even}} wisdom.

\par }{\BB \par }
{\Q For there is in her a spirit quick of understanding, holy,

\par }{\Q Alone in kind, manifold,

\par }{\Q Subtle, freely moving,

\par }{\Q Clear in utterance, unpolluted,

\par }{\Q Distinct, unharmed,

\par }{\Q Loving what is good, keen, unhindered,


\par }{\Q \VS{23}Beneficent, loving toward man,

\par }{\Q Steadfast, sure, free from care,

\par }{\Q All-powerful, all-surveying,

\par }{\Q And penetrating through all spirits

\par }{\Q That are quick of understanding, pure, most subtle:


\par }{\Q \VS{24}For wisdom is more mobile than any motion;

\par }{\Q Yea, she pervadeth and penetrateth all things by reason of her pureness.


\par }{\Q \VS{25}For she is a breath of the power of God,

\par }{\Q And a clear effluence of the glory of the Almighty;

\par }{\Q Therefore can nothing defiled find entrance into her.


\par }{\Q \VS{26}For she is an effulgence from everlasting light,

\par }{\Q And an unspotted mirror of the working of God,

\par }{\Q And an image of his goodness.


\par }{\Q \VS{27}And she, being one, hath power to do all things;

\par }{\Q And remaining in herself, reneweth all things:

\par }{\Q And from generation to generation passing into holy souls

\par }{\Q She maketh
{\ADD{men}} friends of God and prophets.


\par }{\Q \VS{28}For nothing doth God love save him that dwelleth with wisdom.


\par }{\Q \VS{29}For she is fairer than the sun,

\par }{\Q And above all the constellations of the stars:

\par }{\Q Being compared with light, she is found
{\ADD{to be}} before it;


\par }{\Q \VS{30}For to the light
{\ADD{of day}} succeedeth night,

\par }{\Q But against wisdom evil doth not prevail;




\par }\PoetryChap{8}{\Q \VerseOne{1}But she reacheth from one end
{\ADD{of the world}} to the other with full strength,

\par }{\Q And ordereth all things graciously.


\par }{\BB \par }
{\Q \VS{2}Her I loved and sought out from my youth,

\par }{\Q And I sought to take her for my bride,

\par }{\Q And I became enamored of her beauty.


\par }{\Q \VS{3}She glorifieth
{\ADD{her}} noble birth in that it is given her to live with God,

\par }{\Q And the Sovereign Lord of all loved her.


\par }{\Q \VS{4}For she is initiated into the knowledge of God,

\par }{\Q And she chooseth out
{\ADD{for him}} his works.


\par }{\Q \VS{5}But if riches are a desired possession in life,

\par }{\Q What is richer than wisdom, which worketh all things?


\par }{\Q \VS{6}And if understanding worketh,

\par }{\Q Who more than wisdom is an artificer of the things that are?


\par }{\Q \VS{7}And if a man loveth righteousness,

\par }{\Q The fruits of wisdom’s labor are virtues,

\par }{\Q For she teacheth soberness and understanding, righteousness and courage;

\par }{\Q And there is nothing in life for men more profitable than these.


\par }{\Q \VS{8}And if a man longeth even for much experience,

\par }{\Q She knoweth the things of old, and divineth the things to come:

\par }{\Q She understandeth subtleties of speeches and interpretations of dark sayings:

\par }{\Q She foreseeth signs and wonders, and the issues of seasons and times.


\par }{\Q \VS{9}I determined therefore to take her unto me to live with me,

\par }{\Q Knowing that she is one who would give me good
{\ADD{thoughts}} for counsel,

\par }{\Q And encourage me in cares and grief.


\par }{\Q \VS{10}Because of her I shall have glory among multitudes,

\par }{\Q And honor in the sight of elders, though I be young.


\par }{\Q \VS{11}I shall be found of a quick conceit when I give judgment,

\par }{\Q And in the presence of princes I shall be admired.


\par }{\Q \VS{12}When I am silent, they shall wait for me;

\par }{\Q And when I open my lips, they shall give heed unto me;

\par }{\Q And if I continue speaking, they shall lay their hand upon their mouth.


\par }{\Q \VS{13}Because of her I shall have immortality,

\par }{\Q And leave behind an eternal memory to them that come after me.


\par }{\Q \VS{14}I shall govern peoples,

\par }{\Q And nations shall be subjected to me.


\par }{\Q \VS{15}Dread princes shall fear me when they hear
{\ADD{of me:}}

\par }{\Q Among
{\ADD{my}} people I shall show myself a good
{\ADD{ruler,}} and in war courageous.


\par }{\Q \VS{16}When I am come into my house, I shall find rest with her;

\par }{\Q For converse with her hath no bitterness,

\par }{\Q And to live with her hath no pain, but gladness and joy.


\par }{\Q \VS{17}When I considered these things in myself,

\par }{\Q And took thought in my heart how that in kinship unto wisdom is immortality,


\par }{\Q \VS{18}And in her friendship is good delight,

\par }{\Q And in the labors of her hands is wealth that faileth not,

\par }{\Q And in assiduous communing with her is understanding,

\par }{\Q And great renown in having fellowship with her words,

\par }{\Q I went about seeking how to take her unto myself.


\par }{\Q \VS{19}Now I was a child of parts, and a good soul fell to my lot;


\par }{\Q \VS{20}Nay rather, being good, I came into a body undefiled.


\par }{\Q \VS{21}But perceiving that I could not otherwise possess
{\ADD{wisdom}} except God gave
{\ADD{her}} me

\par }{\Q (Yea and to know by whom the grace is given, this
{\ADD{too}} came of understanding),

\par }{\Q I pleaded with the Lord and besought him, and with my whole heart I said,


\par }{\BB \par }


\PoetryChap{9}{\Q \VerseOne{1}O God of the fathers, and Lord who keepest thy mercy,

\par }{\Q Who madest all things by thy word;


\par }{\Q \VS{2}And by thy wisdom thou formedst man,

\par }{\Q That he should have dominion over the creatures that were made by thee,


\par }{\Q \VS{3}And rule the world in holiness and righteousness,

\par }{\Q And execute judgment in uprightness of soul;


\par }{\Q \VS{4}Give me wisdom, her that sitteth by thee on thy throne;

\par }{\Q And reject me not from among thy servants:


\par }{\Q \VS{5}Because I am thy bondman and the son of thy handmaid,

\par }{\Q A man weak and short-lived,

\par }{\Q And of small power to understand judgment and laws.


\par }{\Q \VS{6}For even if a man be perfect among the sons of men,

\par }{\Q {\ADD{Yet}} if the wisdom that cometh from thee be not with him, he shall be held in no account.


\par }{\Q \VS{7}Thou didst choose me before
{\ADD{my brethren}} to be king of thy people,

\par }{\Q And to do judgment for thy sons and daughters.


\par }{\Q \VS{8}Thou gavest command to build a sanctuary in thy holy mountain,

\par }{\Q And an altar in the city of thy habitation,

\par }{\Q A copy of the holy tabernacle which thou preparedst beforehand from the beginning.


\par }{\Q \VS{9}And with thee is wisdom, which knoweth thy works,

\par }{\Q And was present when thou wast making the world,

\par }{\Q And which understandeth what is pleasing in thine eyes,

\par }{\Q And what is right according to thy commandments.


\par }{\Q \VS{10}Send her forth out of the holy heavens,

\par }{\Q And from the throne of thy glory bid her come,

\par }{\Q That being present with me she may toil
{\ADD{with me,}}

\par }{\Q And
{\ADD{that}} I may learn what is well-pleasing before thee.


\par }{\Q \VS{11}For she knoweth all things and hath understanding
{\ADD{thereof,}}

\par }{\Q And in my doings she shall guide me in
{\ADD{ways of}} soberness,

\par }{\Q And she shall guard me in her glory.


\par }{\Q \VS{12}And
{\ADD{so}} shall my works be acceptable,

\par }{\Q And I shall judge thy people righteously,

\par }{\Q And I shall be worthy of my father’s throne.


\par }{\Q \VS{13}For what man shall know the counsel of God?

\par }{\Q Or who shall conceive what the Lord willeth?


\par }{\Q \VS{14}For the thoughts of mortals are timorous,

\par }{\Q And our devices are prone to fail.


\par }{\Q \VS{15}For a corruptible body weigheth down the soul,

\par }{\Q And the earthy frame lieth heavy on a mind that is full of cares.


\par }{\Q \VS{16}And hardly do we divine the things that are on earth,

\par }{\Q And the things that are close at hand we find with labor;

\par }{\Q But the things that are in the heavens who
{\ADD{ever yet}} traced out?


\par }{\Q \VS{17}And who
{\ADD{ever}} gained knowledge of thy counsel, except thou gavest wisdom,

\par }{\Q And sentest thy holy spirit from on high?


\par }{\Q \VS{18}And it was thus that the ways of them who are on earth were corrected,

\par }{\Q And men were taught the things that are pleasing unto thee;

\par }{\Q And through wisdom were they saved.


\par }{\BB \par }


\PoetryChap{10}{\Q \VerseOne{1}Wisdom guarded to the end the first formed father of the world, that was created alone,

\par }{\Q And delivered him out of his own transgression,


\par }{\Q \VS{2}And gave him strength to get dominion over all things.


\par }{\Q \VS{3}But when an unrighteous man fell away from her in his anger,

\par }{\Q He perished himself in the rage wherewith he slew his brother.


\par }{\Q \VS{4}And when for his cause the earth was drowning with a flood,

\par }{\Q Wisdom again saved it,

\par }{\Q Guiding the righteous man’s course by a poor piece of wood.


\par }{\BB \par }
{\Q \VS{5}Moreover, when nations consenting together in wickedness had been confounded,

\par }{\Q Wisdom knew the righteous man, and preserved him blameless unto God,

\par }{\Q And kept him strong when his heart yearned toward his child.


\par }{\BB \par }
{\Q \VS{6}While the ungodly were perishing, wisdom delivered a righteous man,

\par }{\Q When he fled from the fire that descended out of heaven on Pentapolis.


\par }{\Q \VS{7}To whose wickedness a smoking waste still witnesseth,

\par }{\Q And plants bearing fair fruit that cometh not to ripeness;

\par }{\Q {\ADD{Yea and}} a disbelieving soul hath a memorial
{\ADD{there,}} a pillar of salt
{\ADD{still}} standing.


\par }{\Q \VS{8}For having passed wisdom by,

\par }{\Q Not only were they disabled from recognizing the things which are good,

\par }{\Q But they also left behind them for
{\ADD{human}} life a monument of their folly;

\par }{\Q To the end that where they went astray they might fail even to be unseen:


\par }{\Q \VS{9}But wisdom delivered out of troubles those that waited on her.


\par }{\BB \par }
{\Q \VS{10}When a righteous man was a fugitive from a brother’s wrath, wisdom guided him in straight paths;

\par }{\Q She showed him God’s kingdom, and gave him knowledge of holy things;

\par }{\Q She prospered him in his toils, and multiplied the fruits of his labor;


\par }{\Q \VS{11}When in their covetousness
{\ADD{men}} dealt hardly with him,

\par }{\Q She stood by him and made him rich;


\par }{\Q \VS{12}She guarded him from enemies,

\par }{\Q And from those that lay in wait she kept him safe,

\par }{\Q And over his sore conflict she watched as judge,

\par }{\Q That he might know that godliness is more powerful than all.


\par }{\BB \par }
{\Q \VS{13}When a righteous man was sold, wisdom forsook him not,

\par }{\Q But from sin she delivered him;

\par }{\Q She went down with him into a dungeon,


\par }{\Q \VS{14}And in bonds she left him not,

\par }{\Q Till she brought him the scepter of a kingdom,

\par }{\Q And authority over those that dealt tyrannously with him;

\par }{\Q She showed them also to be false that had mockingly accused him,

\par }{\Q And gave him eternal glory.


\par }{\BB \par }
{\Q \VS{15}Wisdom delivered a holy people and a blameless seed from a nation of oppressors.


\par }{\Q \VS{16}She entered into the soul of a servant of the Lord,

\par }{\Q And withstood terrible kings in wonders and signs.


\par }{\Q \VS{17}She rendered unto holy men a reward of their toils;

\par }{\Q She guided them along a marvelous way,

\par }{\Q And became unto them a covering in the daytime,

\par }{\Q And a flame of stars through the night.


\par }{\Q \VS{18}She brought them over the Red Sea,

\par }{\Q And led them through much water;


\par }{\Q \VS{19}But their enemies she drowned,

\par }{\Q And out of the bottom of the deep she cast them up.


\par }{\Q \VS{20}Therefore the righteous plundered the ungodly;

\par }{\Q And they sang praise to thy holy name, O Lord,

\par }{\Q And extolled with one accord thy hand that fought for them:


\par }{\Q \VS{21}Because wisdom opened the mouth of the dumb,

\par }{\Q And made the tongues of babes to speak clearly.


\par }{\BB \par }


\PoetryChap{11}{\Q \VerseOne{1}She prospered their works in the hand of a holy prophet.


\par }{\BB \par }
{\Q \VS{2}They journeyed through a desert without inhabitant,

\par }{\Q And in trackless regions they pitched their tents.


\par }{\Q \VS{3}They withstood enemies, and repelled foes.


\par }{\Q \VS{4}They thirsted, and they called upon thee,

\par }{\Q And there was given them water out of the flinty rock,

\par }{\Q And healing of their thirst out of the hard stone.


\par }{\Q \VS{5}For by what things their foes were punished,

\par }{\Q By these they in their need were benefited.


\par }{\Q \VS{6}When
{\ADD{the enemy}} were troubled with clotted blood instead of a river’s ever-flowing fountain,


\par }{\Q \VS{7}To rebuke the decree for the slaying of babes,

\par }{\Q Thou gavest them abundant water beyond all hope,


\par }{\Q \VS{8}Having shown
{\ADD{them}} by the thirst which they had suffered how thou didst punish the adversaries.


\par }{\Q \VS{9}For when they were tried, albeit but in mercy chastened,

\par }{\Q They learned how the ungodly were tormented, being judged with wrath:


\par }{\Q \VS{10}For these, as a father, admonishing them, thou didst prove;

\par }{\Q But those, as a stern king, condemning them, thou didst search out.


\par }{\Q \VS{11}Yea and whether they were far off
{\ADD{from the righteous}} or near
{\ADD{them,}} they were alike distressed;


\par }{\Q \VS{12}For a double grief took hold on them,

\par }{\Q And a groaning at the remembrance of things past.


\par }{\Q \VS{13}For when they heard that through their own punishments the others had been benefited,

\par }{\Q They felt
{\ADD{the presence of}} the Lord;


\par }{\Q \VS{14}For him who long before was cast forth and exposed they left off mocking:

\par }{\Q In the last issue of what came to pass they marveled,

\par }{\Q Having thirsted in another manner than the righteous.


\par }{\Q \VS{15}But in requital of the senseless imaginings of their unrighteousness,

\par }{\Q Wherein they were led astray to worship irrational reptiles and wretched vermin,

\par }{\Q Thou didst send upon them a multitude of irrational creatures for vengeance;


\par }{\Q \VS{16}That they might learn, that by what things a man sinneth, by these he is punished.


\par }{\Q \VS{17}For thine all-powerful hand,

\par }{\Q That created the world out of formless matter,

\par }{\Q Lacked not means to send upon them a multitude of bears, or fierce lions,


\par }{\Q \VS{18}Or new-created wild beasts, full of rage,
{\ADD{of}} unknown
{\ADD{kind,}}

\par }{\Q Either breathing out a blast of fiery breath,

\par }{\Q Or blowing forth
{\ADD{from their nostrils}} noisome smoke,

\par }{\Q Or flashing dreadful sparkles from their eyes;


\par }{\Q \VS{19}Which had power not only to consume them by their violence,

\par }{\Q But to destroy them even by the terror of their sight.


\par }{\Q \VS{20}Yea and without these might they have fallen by a single breath,

\par }{\Q Being pursued by Justice, and scattered abroad by the breath of thy power.

\par }{\Q But by measure and number and weight thou didst order all things.


\par }{\BB \par }
{\Q \VS{21}For to be greatly strong is thine at all times;

\par }{\Q And the might of thine arm who shall withstand?


\par }{\Q \VS{22}Because the whole world before thee is as a grain in a balance,

\par }{\Q And as a drop of dew that at morning cometh down upon the earth.


\par }{\Q \VS{23}But thou hast mercy on all men, because thou hast power to do all things,

\par }{\Q And thou overlookest the sins of men to the end they may repent.


\par }{\Q \VS{24}For thou lovest all things that are,

\par }{\Q And abhorrest none of the things which thou didst make;

\par }{\Q For never wouldest thou have formed anything if thou didst hate it.


\par }{\Q \VS{25}And how would anything have endured, except thou hadst willed it?

\par }{\Q Or that which was not called by thee,
{\ADD{how would}} it have been preserved?


\par }{\Q \VS{26}But thou sparest all things, because they are thine,

\par }{\Q O Sovereign Lord, thou lover of
{\ADD{men’s}} lives;




\par }\PoetryChap{12}{\Q \VerseOne{1}For thine incorruptible spirit is in all things.


\par }{\Q \VS{2}Wherefore thou convictest by little and little them that fall from the right way,

\par }{\Q And, putting them in remembrance by the
{\ADD{very}} things wherein they sin, dost thou admonish them,

\par }{\Q That escaping from their wickedness they may believe on thee, O Lord.


\par }{\BB \par }
{\Q \VS{3}For verily the old inhabitants of thy holy land,


\par }{\Q \VS{4}Hating
{\ADD{them}} because they practiced detestable works of enchantments and unholy rites


\par }{\Q \VS{5}(Merciless slaughters of children,

\par }{\Q And sacrificial banquets of men’s flesh and of blood),


\par }{\Q \VS{6}Confederates in an impious fellowship,

\par }{\Q And murderers of their own helpless babes,

\par }{\Q It was thy counsel to destroy by the hands of our fathers;


\par }{\Q \VS{7}That the land which in thy sight is most precious of all
{\ADD{lands}}

\par }{\Q Might receive a worthy colony of God’s servants.


\par }{\Q \VS{8}Nevertheless even these thou didst spare as
{\ADD{being}} men,

\par }{\Q And thou sentest hornets as forerunners of thy host,

\par }{\Q To cause them to perish by little and little;


\par }{\Q \VS{9}Not that thou wast unable to subdue the ungodly under the hand of the righteous in battle,

\par }{\Q Or by terrible beasts or by
{\ADD{one}} stern word to make away with them at once;


\par }{\Q \VS{10}But judging them by little and little thou gavest them a place of repentance,

\par }{\Q Not being ignorant that their nature by birth was evil, and their wickedness inborn,

\par }{\Q And that their manner of thought would in no wise ever be changed,


\par }{\Q \VS{11}For they were a seed accursed from the beginning:

\par }{\Q Neither was it through fear of any that thou didst leave them
{\ADD{then}} unpunished for their sins.


\par }{\BB \par }
{\Q \VS{12}For who shall say, What hast thou done?

\par }{\Q Or who shall withstand thy judgment?

\par }{\Q And who shall accuse thee for the perishing of nations which thou didst make?

\par }{\Q Or who shall come and stand before thee as an avenger for unrighteous men?


\par }{\Q \VS{13}For neither is there any God beside thee that careth for all,

\par }{\Q That thou mightest show
{\ADD{unto him}} that thou didst not judge unrighteously:


\par }{\Q \VS{14}Neither shall king or prince be able to look thee in the face
{\ADD{to plead}} for those whom thou hast punished.


\par }{\Q \VS{15}But being righteous thou rulest all things righteously,

\par }{\Q Deeming it a thing alien from thy power

\par }{\Q To condemn one that doth not himself deserve to be punished.


\par }{\Q \VS{16}For thy strength is the beginning of righteousness,

\par }{\Q And thy sovereignty over all maketh thee to forbear all.


\par }{\Q \VS{17}For when men believe not that thou art perfect in power, thou showest thy strength,

\par }{\Q And in dealing with them that know
{\ADD{it}} thou puttest their boldness to confusion.


\par }{\Q \VS{18}But thou, being sovereign over
{\ADD{thy}} strength, judgest in gentleness,

\par }{\Q And with great forbearance dost thou govern us;

\par }{\Q For the power is thine whensoever thou hast the will.


\par }{\BB \par }
{\Q \VS{19}But thou didst teach thy people by such works as these,

\par }{\Q How that the righteous must be a lover of men;

\par }{\Q And thou didst make thy sons to be of good hope,

\par }{\Q Because thou givest repentance when men have sinned.


\par }{\Q \VS{20}For if on them that were enemies of thy servants and due to death

\par }{\Q Thou didst take vengeance with so great heedfulness and indulgence,

\par }{\Q Giving them times and place whereby they might escape from their wickedness;


\par }{\Q \VS{21}With how great carefulness didst thou judge thy sons,

\par }{\Q To whose fathers thou gavest oaths and covenants of good promises!


\par }{\Q \VS{22}While therefore thou dost chasten us, thou scourgest our enemies ten thousand times more,

\par }{\Q To the intent that we may ponder thy goodness when we judge,

\par }{\Q And when we are judged may look for mercy.


\par }{\Q \VS{23}Wherefore also the unrighteous that lived in folly of life

\par }{\Q Thou didst torment through their own abominations.


\par }{\Q \VS{24}For verily they went astray very far in the ways of error,

\par }{\Q Taking as gods those animals which even among their enemies were held in dishonor,

\par }{\Q Deceived like foolish babes.


\par }{\Q \VS{25}Therefore, as unto unreasoning children, thou didst send thy judgment to mock them.


\par }{\Q \VS{26}But they that would not be admonished by a mocking correction as of children

\par }{\Q Shall have experience of a judgment worthy of God.


\par }{\Q \VS{27}For through the sufferings whereat they were indignant,

\par }{\Q Being punished in these creatures which they supposed to be gods,

\par }{\Q They saw, and recognized as the true God him whom before they refused to know:

\par }{\Q Wherefore also the last end of condemnation came upon them.


\par }{\BB \par }


\PoetryChap{13}{\Q \VerseOne{1}For verily all men by nature
{\ADD{were but}} vain who had no perception of God,

\par }{\Q And from the good things that are seen they gained not power to know him that is,

\par }{\Q Neither by giving heed to the works did they recognize the artificer;


\par }{\Q \VS{2}But either fire, or wind, or swift air,

\par }{\Q Or circling stars, or raging water, or luminaries of heaven,

\par }{\Q They thought to be gods that rule the world.


\par }{\Q \VS{3}And if it was through delight in their beauty that they took them to be gods,

\par }{\Q Let them know how much better than these is their Sovereign Lord;

\par }{\Q For the first author of beauty created them:


\par }{\Q \VS{4}But if it was through astonishment at their power and influence,

\par }{\Q Let them understand from them how much more powerful is he that formed them;


\par }{\Q \VS{5}For from the greatness of the beauty even of created things

\par }{\Q In like proportion doth man form the image of their first maker.


\par }{\Q \VS{6}But yet for these men there is but small blame,

\par }{\Q For they too peradventure do
{\ADD{but}} go astray

\par }{\Q While they are seeking God and desiring to find him.


\par }{\Q \VS{7}For living among his works they make diligent search,

\par }{\Q And they yield themselves up to sight, because the things that they look upon are beautiful.


\par }{\Q \VS{8}But again even they are not to be excused.


\par }{\Q \VS{9}For if they had power to know so much,

\par }{\Q That they should be able to explore the course
{\ADD{of things,}}

\par }{\Q How is it that they did not sooner find the Sovereign Lord of these
{\ADD{his works?}}


\par }{\BB \par }
{\Q \VS{10}But miserable
{\ADD{were}} they, and in dead things
{\ADD{were}} their hopes,

\par }{\Q Who called them gods which are works of men’s hands,

\par }{\Q Gold and silver, wrought with careful art, and likenesses of animals,

\par }{\Q Or a useless stone, the work of an ancient hand.


\par }{\Q \VS{11}Yea and if some woodcutter, having sawn down a tree that is easily moved,

\par }{\Q Skillfully strippeth away all its bark,

\par }{\Q And fashioning it in comely form maketh a vessel useful for the service of life;


\par }{\Q \VS{12}And burning the refuse of his handiwork to dress his food, eateth his fill;


\par }{\Q \VS{13}And taking the very refuse thereof which served to no use,

\par }{\Q A crooked piece of wood and full of knots,

\par }{\Q Carveth it with the diligence of his idleness,

\par }{\Q And shapeth it by the skill of his indolence;

\par }{\Q {\ADD{Then}} he giveth it the semblance of the image of a man,


\par }{\Q \VS{14}Or maketh it like some paltry animal,

\par }{\Q Smearing it with vermilion, and with paint coloring it red,

\par }{\Q And smearing over every stain that is therein;


\par }{\Q \VS{15}And having made for it a chamber worthy of it,

\par }{\Q He setteth it in a wall, making it fast with iron.


\par }{\Q \VS{16}While then he taketh thought for it that it may not fall down,

\par }{\Q Knowing that it is unable to help itself;

\par }{\Q (For verily it is an image, and hath need of help;)


\par }{\Q \VS{17}When he maketh his prayer concerning goods and his marriage and children,

\par }{\Q He is not ashamed to speak to that which hath no life;


\par }{\Q \VS{18}Yea for health he calleth upon that which is weak,

\par }{\Q And for life he beseecheth that which is dead,

\par }{\Q And for aid he supplicateth that which hath least experience.

\par }{\Q And for a
{\ADD{good}} journey that which cannot so much as move a step,


\par }{\Q \VS{19}And for gaining and getting and good success of his hands

\par }{\Q He asketh ability of that which with its hands is most unable.


\par }{\BB \par }


\PoetryChap{14}{\Q \VerseOne{1}Again, one preparing to sail, and about to journey over raging waves,

\par }{\Q Calleth upon a piece of wood more rotten than the vessel that carrieth him;


\par }{\Q \VS{2}For that
{\ADD{vessel}} the hunger for gains devised,

\par }{\Q And an artificer,
{\ADD{even}} wisdom, built it;


\par }{\Q \VS{3}And thy providence, O Father, guideth it along,

\par }{\Q Because even in the sea thou gavest a way,

\par }{\Q And in the waves a sure path,


\par }{\Q \VS{4}Showing that thou canst save out of every
{\ADD{danger,}}

\par }{\Q That
{\ADD{so}} even without art a man may put to sea;


\par }{\Q \VS{5}And it is thy will that the works of thy wisdom should be not idle;

\par }{\Q Therefore also do men entrust their lives to a little piece of wood,

\par }{\Q And passing through the surge on a raft are brought safe
{\ADD{to land.}}


\par }{\Q \VS{6}For in the old time also, when proud giants were perishing,

\par }{\Q The hope of the world, taking refuge on a raft,

\par }{\Q Left to the race of men a seed of generations
{\ADD{to come,}}

\par }{\Q Thy hand guiding the helm.


\par }{\Q \VS{7}For blessed hath been wood through which cometh righteousness:


\par }{\Q \VS{8}But the
{\ADD{idol}} made with hands is accursed, itself and he that made it;

\par }{\Q Because his was the working, and the corruptible thing was named a god:


\par }{\Q \VS{9}For both the ungodly doer and his ungodliness are alike hateful to God;


\par }{\Q \VS{10}For verily the deed shall be punished together with him that committed it.


\par }{\Q \VS{11}Therefore also among the idols of the nations shall there be a visitation,

\par }{\Q Because, though formed of things which God created, they were made an abomination,

\par }{\Q And stumbling blocks to the souls of men,

\par }{\Q And a snare to the feet of the foolish.


\par }{\BB \par }
{\Q \VS{12}For the devising of idols was the beginning of fornication,

\par }{\Q And the invention of them the corruption of life:


\par }{\Q \VS{13}For neither were they from the beginning, neither shall they be forever;


\par }{\Q \VS{14}For by the vaingloriousness of men they entered into the world,

\par }{\Q And therefore was a speedy end devised for them.


\par }{\Q \VS{15}For a father worn with untimely grief,

\par }{\Q Making an image of the child quickly taken away,

\par }{\Q Now honored him as a god who was then a dead man,

\par }{\Q And delivered to those that were under him mysteries and solemn rites.


\par }{\Q \VS{16}Afterward the ungodly custom, in process of time grown strong, was kept as a law,

\par }{\Q And by the commandments of princes the graven images received worship.


\par }{\Q \VS{17}And when men could not honor them in presence because they dwelt far off,

\par }{\Q Imagining the likeness from afar,

\par }{\Q They made a visible image of the king whom they honored,

\par }{\Q That by their zeal they might flatter the absent as if present.


\par }{\Q \VS{18}But unto a yet higher pitch was worship raised even by them that knew
{\ADD{him}} not,

\par }{\Q Urged forward by the ambition of the artificer:


\par }{\Q \VS{19}For he, wishing peradventure to please one in authority,

\par }{\Q Used his art to force the likeness toward a greater beauty;


\par }{\Q \VS{20}And the multitude, allured by reason of the grace of his handiwork,

\par }{\Q Now accounted as an object of devotion him that a little before was honored as a man.


\par }{\Q \VS{21}And this became a hidden danger unto life,

\par }{\Q Because men, in bondage either to calamity or to tyranny,

\par }{\Q Invested stones and stocks with the incommunicable Name.


\par }{\BB \par }
{\Q \VS{22}Afterward it was not enough for them to go astray as touching the knowledge of God;

\par }{\Q But also, while they live in sore conflict through ignorance
{\ADD{of him.}}

\par }{\Q That multitude of evils they call peace.


\par }{\Q \VS{23}For either slaughtering children in solemn rites, or celebrating secret mysteries,

\par }{\Q Or holding frantic revels of strange ordinances,


\par }{\Q \VS{24}No longer do they guard either life or purity of marriage,

\par }{\Q But one bringeth upon another either death by treachery, or anguish by adulterate offspring.


\par }{\Q \VS{25}And all things confusedly are filled with blood and murder, theft and deceit,

\par }{\Q Corruption, faithlessness, tumult, perjury,

\VS{26}turmoil,

\par }{\Q Ingratitude for benefits
{\ADD{received,}}

\par }{\Q Defiling of souls, confusion of sex,

\par }{\Q Disorder in marriage, adultery and wantonness.


\par }{\Q \VS{27}For the worship of those nameless idols

\par }{\Q Is a beginning and cause and end of every evil.


\par }{\Q \VS{28}For
{\ADD{their worshipers}} either make merry unto madness, or prophesy lies,

\par }{\Q Or live unrighteously, or lightly forswear themselves.


\par }{\Q \VS{29}For putting their trust in lifeless idols,

\par }{\Q When they have sworn a wicked oath, they expect not to suffer harm.


\par }{\Q \VS{30}But for both
{\ADD{sins}} shall the just doom pursue them,

\par }{\Q Because they had evil thoughts of God by giving heed to idols,

\par }{\Q And sware unrighteously in deceit through contempt for holiness.


\par }{\Q \VS{31}For it is not the power of them by whom men swear,

\par }{\Q But it is that Justice which hath regard to them that sin,

\par }{\Q That visiteth always the transgression of the unrighteous.


\par }{\BB \par }


\PoetryChap{15}{\Q \VerseOne{1}But thou, our God, art gracious and true,

\par }{\Q Long-suffering, and in mercy ordering all things.


\par }{\Q \VS{2}For even if we sin, we are thine, knowing thy dominion;

\par }{\Q But we shall not sin, knowing that we have been accounted thine:


\par }{\Q \VS{3}For to be acquainted with thee is perfect righteousness,

\par }{\Q And to know thy dominion is the root of immortality.


\par }{\Q \VS{4}For neither were we led astray by any evil device of men’s art,

\par }{\Q Nor yet by painters’ fruitless labor,

\par }{\Q A form stained with varied colors;


\par }{\Q \VS{5}The sight whereof leadeth fools into lust:

\par }{\Q {\ADD{Their}} desire is for the breathless form of a dead image.


\par }{\Q \VS{6}Lovers of evil things, and worthy of such hopes
{\ADD{as these,}}

\par }{\Q Are both they that do, and they that desire, and they that worship.


\par }{\BB \par }
{\Q \VS{7}For a potter, kneading soft earth,

\par }{\Q Laboriously moldeth each several
{\ADD{vessel}} for our service:

\par }{\Q Nay, out of the same clay doth he fashion

\par }{\Q Both the vessels that minister to clean uses, and those of a contrary sort,

\par }{\Q All in like manner;

\par }{\Q But what shall be the use of each
{\ADD{vessel}} of either sort,

\par }{\Q The craftsman
{\ADD{himself}} is the judge.


\par }{\Q \VS{8}And also, laboring to an evil end, he moldeth a vain god out of the same clay,

\par }{\Q He who, having but a little before been made of earth,

\par }{\Q After a short space goeth his way
{\ADD{to the earth}} out of which he was taken,

\par }{\Q When he is required to render back the soul which was lent him.


\par }{\Q \VS{9}Howbeit he hath anxious care,

\par }{\Q Not because his powers must fail,

\par }{\Q Nor because his span of life is short;

\par }{\Q But he matcheth himself against goldsmiths and silversmiths,

\par }{\Q And he imitateth molders in brass,

\par }{\Q And esteemeth it glory that he moldeth counterfeits.


\par }{\Q \VS{10}His heart is ashes,

\par }{\Q And his hope of less value than earth,

\par }{\Q And his life of less honor than clay:


\par }{\Q \VS{11}Because he was ignorant of him that molded him,

\par }{\Q And of him that inspired into him an active soul,

\par }{\Q And breathed into him a vital spirit.


\par }{\Q \VS{12}But he accounted our
{\ADD{very}} life to be a plaything,

\par }{\Q And our lifetime a gainful fair;

\par }{\Q For, saith he, one must get gain whence one can, though it be by evil.


\par }{\Q \VS{13}For this man beyond all others knoweth that he sinneth,

\par }{\Q Out of earthy matter making brittle vessels and graven images.


\par }{\Q \VS{14}But most foolish
{\ADD{were}} they all, and of feebler soul than a babe,

\par }{\Q The enemies of thy people, who oppressed them;


\par }{\Q \VS{15}Because they even accounted all the idols of the nations
{\ADD{to be}} gods;

\par }{\Q Which have neither the use of eyes for seeing,

\par }{\Q Nor nostrils for drawing breath,

\par }{\Q Nor ears to hear,

\par }{\Q Nor fingers for handling,

\par }{\Q And their feet are helpless for walking.


\par }{\Q \VS{16}For a man made them,

\par }{\Q And one whose own spirit is borrowed molded them;

\par }{\Q For no one hath power,
{\ADD{being}} a man, to mold a god like unto himself,


\par }{\Q \VS{17}But, being mortal, he maketh a dead thing by the work of lawless hands;

\par }{\Q For he is better than the objects of his worship,

\par }{\Q Forasmuch as he indeed had life, but they never.


\par }{\BB \par }
{\Q \VS{18}Yea, and the creatures that are most hateful do they worship,

\par }{\Q For, being compared as to want of sense, these are worse than all others;


\par }{\Q \VS{19}Neither, as seen beside
{\ADD{other}} creatures, are they beautiful, so that one should desire them,

\par }{\Q But they have escaped both the praise of God and his blessing.




\par }\PoetryChap{16}{\Q \VerseOne{1}For this cause were
{\ADD{these men}} worthily punished through
{\ADD{creatures}} like
{\ADD{those which they worship,}}

\par }{\Q And tormented through a multitude of vermin.


\par }{\Q \VS{2}Instead of which punishment, thou, bestowing benefits on thy people,

\par }{\Q Preparedst quails for food,

\par }{\Q {\ADD{Food of}} rare taste, to
{\ADD{satisfy}} the desire of
{\ADD{their}} appetite;


\par }{\Q \VS{3}To the end that thine enemies, desiring food,

\par }{\Q Might for the hideousness of the
{\ADD{creatures}} sent among them

\par }{\Q Loathe even the necessary appetite;

\par }{\Q But these,
{\ADD{thy people,}} having for a short space suffered want,

\par }{\Q Might even partake of
{\ADD{food of}} rare taste.


\par }{\Q \VS{4}For it was needful that upon those should come inexorable want in their tyrannous dealing,

\par }{\Q But that to these it should only be shown how their enemies were tormented.


\par }{\Q \VS{5}For even when terrible raging of wild beasts came upon thy people,

\par }{\Q And they were perishing by the bites of crooked serpents,

\par }{\Q Thy wrath continued not to the uttermost;


\par }{\Q \VS{6}But for admonition were they troubled for a short space,

\par }{\Q Having a token of salvation,

\par }{\Q To put them in remembrance of the commandment of thy law:


\par }{\Q \VS{7}For he that turned toward it was not saved because of that which was beheld,

\par }{\Q But because of thee, the Savior of all.


\par }{\Q \VS{8}Yea, and in this didst thou persuade our enemies,

\par }{\Q That thou art he that delivereth out of every evil.


\par }{\Q \VS{9}For them verily the bites of locusts and flies did slay,

\par }{\Q And there was not found a healing for their life,

\par }{\Q Because they were worthy to be punished by such
{\ADD{as these;}}


\par }{\Q \VS{10}But thy sons not the very teeth of venomous dragons overcame,

\par }{\Q For thy mercy passed by where they were, and healed them.


\par }{\Q \VS{11}For they were bitten, to put them in remembrance of thine oracles;

\par }{\Q And were quickly saved, lest, falling into deep forgetfulness,

\par }{\Q They should become unable to be roused by thy beneficence:


\par }{\Q \VS{12}For of a truth it was neither herb nor mollifying plaster that cured them,

\par }{\Q But thy word, O Lord, which healeth all things;


\par }{\Q \VS{13}For thou hast authority over life and death,

\par }{\Q And thou leadest down to the gates of Hades, and leadest up again.


\par }{\Q \VS{14}But though a man
{\ADD{may}} slay by his wickedness,

\par }{\Q Yet the spirit that is gone forth he turneth not again,

\par }{\Q Neither giveth release to the soul that
{\ADD{Hades}} hath received.


\par }{\BB \par }
{\Q \VS{15}But thy hand it is not possible to escape;


\par }{\Q \VS{16}For ungodly men, refusing to know thee, were scourged in the strength of thine arm,

\par }{\Q Pursued with strange rains and hails and showers inexorable,

\par }{\Q And utterly consumed with fire;


\par }{\Q \VS{17}For, what was most marvelous
{\ADD{of all,}}

\par }{\Q In the water which quencheth all things the fire wrought yet more mightily;

\par }{\Q For the world fighteth for the righteous.


\par }{\Q \VS{18}For at one time the flame lost its fierceness,

\par }{\Q That it might not burn up the creatures sent against the ungodly,

\par }{\Q But that
{\ADD{these}} themselves as they looked might see that they were chased through the judgment of God:


\par }{\Q \VS{19}And at another time even in the midst of water it burneth above the power of fire,

\par }{\Q That it may destroy the fruits of an unrighteous land.


\par }{\Q \VS{20}Instead whereof thou gavest thy people angels’ food to eat,

\par }{\Q And bread ready
{\ADD{for their use}} didst thou provide for them from heaven without
{\ADD{their}} toil,

\par }{\Q {\ADD{Bread}} having the virtue of every pleasant savor,

\par }{\Q And agreeing to every taste;


\par }{\Q \VS{21}For thy nature manifested thy sweetness toward
{\ADD{thy}} children;

\par }{\Q While
{\ADD{that bread,}} ministering to the desire of the eater,

\par }{\Q Tempered itself according to every man’s choice.


\par }{\Q \VS{22}But snow and ice endured fire, and melted not,

\par }{\Q That
{\ADD{men}} might know that fire was destroying the fruits of the enemies,

\par }{\Q Burning in the hail and flashing in the rains;


\par }{\Q \VS{23}And that this
{\ADD{element}} again, in order that righteous men may be nourished,

\par }{\Q Hath even forgotten its own power.


\par }{\Q \VS{24}For the creation, ministering to thee its maker,

\par }{\Q Straineth its force against the unrighteous, for punishment,

\par }{\Q And slackeneth it in behalf of them that trust in thee, for beneficence.


\par }{\Q \VS{25}Therefore at that time also, converting itself into all forms,

\par }{\Q It ministered to thine all-nourishing bounty,

\par }{\Q According to the desire of them that made supplication;


\par }{\Q \VS{26}That thy sons, whom thou lovedst, O Lord, might learn

\par }{\Q That it is not the growth of
{\ADD{the earth’s}} fruits that nourisheth a man,

\par }{\Q But that thy word preserveth them that trust thee.


\par }{\Q \VS{27}For that which was not marred by fire,

\par }{\Q When it was simply warmed by a faint sunbeam melted away;


\par }{\Q \VS{28}That it might be known that
{\ADD{we}} must rise before the sun to give thee thanks,

\par }{\Q And must plead with thee at the dawning of the light:


\par }{\Q \VS{29}For the hope of the unthankful shall melt as the winter’s hoar frost,

\par }{\Q And shall flow away as water that hath no use.


\par }{\BB \par }


\PoetryChap{17}{\Q \VerseOne{1}For great are thy judgments, and hard to interpret;

\par }{\Q Therefore souls undisciplined went astray.


\par }{\Q \VS{2}For when lawless men had supposed that they held a holy nation in their power,

\par }{\Q They,
{\ADD{themselves,}} prisoners of darkness, and bound in the fetters of a long night,

\par }{\Q Close kept beneath their roofs,

\par }{\Q Lay exiled from the eternal providence.


\par }{\Q \VS{3}For while they thought that they were unseen in
{\ADD{their}} secret sins,

\par }{\Q They were sundered one from another by a dark curtain of forgetfulness,

\par }{\Q Stricken with terrible awe, and sore troubled by spectral forms.


\par }{\Q \VS{4}For neither did the dark recesses that held them guard them from fears,

\par }{\Q But sounds rushing down rang around them,

\par }{\Q And phantoms appeared, cheerless with unsmiling faces.


\par }{\Q \VS{5}And no force of fire prevailed to give
{\ADD{them}} light,

\par }{\Q Neither were the brightest flames of the stars strong enough to illumine that gloomy night:


\par }{\Q \VS{6}But only there appeared to them the glimmering of a fire self-kindled, full of fear;

\par }{\Q And in terror they deemed the things which they saw

\par }{\Q To be worse than that sight, on which they could not gaze.


\par }{\Q \VS{7}And they lay
{\ADD{helpless,}} made the sport of magic art,

\par }{\Q And a shameful rebuke of their vaunts of understanding:


\par }{\Q \VS{8}For they that promised to drive away terrors and troublings from a sick soul,

\par }{\Q These were
{\ADD{themselves}} sick with a ludicrous fearfulness:


\par }{\Q \VS{9}For even if no troublous thing affrighted them,

\par }{\Q Yet, scared with the creepings of vermin and hissings of serpents,


\par }{\Q \VS{10}They perished for very trembling,

\par }{\Q Refusing even to look on the air, which could on no side be escaped.


\par }{\Q \VS{11}For wickedness, condemned by a witness within, is a coward thing,

\par }{\Q And, being pressed hard by conscience, always forecasteth the worst
{\ADD{lot:}}


\par }{\Q \VS{12}For fear is nothing else but a surrender of the succors which reason offereth;


\par }{\Q \VS{13}And from within
{\ADD{the heart}} the expectation
{\ADD{of them}} being less

\par }{\Q Maketh of greater account the ignorance of the cause that bringeth the torment.


\par }{\Q \VS{14}But they, all through the night which was powerless indeed,

\par }{\Q And which came upon them out of the recesses of powerless Hades,

\par }{\Q {\ADD{All}} sleeping the same sleep,


\par }{\Q \VS{15}Now were haunted by monstrous apparitions,

\par }{\Q And now were paralyzed by their soul’s surrendering;

\par }{\Q For fear sudden and unlooked for came upon them.


\par }{\Q \VS{16}So then
{\ADD{every man,}} whosoever it might be, sinking down in his place,

\par }{\Q Was kept in ward shut up in that prison which was barred not with iron:


\par }{\Q \VS{17}For whether he were a husbandman, or a shepherd,

\par }{\Q Or a laborer whose toils were in the wilderness,

\par }{\Q He was overtaken, and endured that inevitable necessity,

\par }{\Q For with one chain of darkness were they all bound.


\par }{\Q \VS{18}Whether there were a whistling wind,

\par }{\Q Or a melodious noise of birds among the spreading branches,

\par }{\Q Or a measured fall of water running violently,


\par }{\Q \VS{19}Or a harsh crashing of rocks hurled down,

\par }{\Q Or the swift course of animals bounding along unseen,

\par }{\Q Or the voice of wild beasts harshly roaring,

\par }{\Q Or an echo rebounding from the hollows of the mountains,

\par }{\Q {\ADD{All these things}} paralyzed them with terror.


\par }{\Q \VS{20}For the whole world
{\ADD{beside}} was enlightened with clear light,

\par }{\Q And was occupied with unhindered works;


\par }{\Q \VS{21}While over them alone was spread a heavy night,

\par }{\Q An image of the darkness that should afterward receive them;

\par }{\Q But yet heavier than darkness were they unto themselves.




\par }\PoetryChap{18}{\Q \VerseOne{1}But for thy holy ones there was great light;

\par }{\Q And
{\ADD{the Egyptians,}} hearing their voice but seeing not their form,

\par }{\Q Counted it a happy thing that they too had suffered,


\par }{\Q \VS{2}Yet for that they do not hurt them
{\ADD{now,}} though wronged
{\ADD{by them}} before, they are thankful;

\par }{\Q And because they had been at variance
{\ADD{with them,}} they made supplication
{\ADD{to them.}}


\par }{\Q \VS{3}Whereas thou didst provide
{\ADD{for thy people}} a burning pillar of fire,

\par }{\Q To be a guide for
{\ADD{their}} unknown journey,

\par }{\Q And withal a kindly sun for
{\ADD{their}} proud exile.


\par }{\Q \VS{4}For well did the Egyptians deserve to be deprived of light and imprisoned by darkness,

\par }{\Q They who had kept in close ward thy sons,

\par }{\Q Through whom the incorruptible light of the law was to be given to the race of men.


\par }{\BB \par }
{\Q \VS{5}After they had taken counsel to slay the babes of the holy ones,

\par }{\Q And when a single child had been cast forth and saved to convict
{\ADD{them of their sin,}}

\par }{\Q Thou tookest away from them their multitude of children,

\par }{\Q And destroyedst all
{\ADD{their host}} together in a mighty flood.


\par }{\Q \VS{6}Of that night were our fathers made aware beforehand,

\par }{\Q That, having sure knowledge, they might be cheered by the oaths which they had trusted:


\par }{\Q \VS{7}{\ADD{So}} by thy people was expected salvation of the righteous and destruction of the enemies;


\par }{\Q \VS{8}For as thou didst take vengeance on the adversaries,

\par }{\Q By the same means, calling us unto thyself, thou didst glorify us.


\par }{\Q \VS{9}For holy children of good men offered sacrifice in secret,

\par }{\Q And with one consent they took upon themselves the covenant of the divine law,

\par }{\Q That they would partake alike in the same good things and the same perils;

\par }{\Q The fathers already leading the sacred songs of praise.


\par }{\Q \VS{10}But there sounded back in discord the cry of the enemies,

\par }{\Q And a piteous voice of lamentation for children was borne abroad.


\par }{\Q \VS{11}And servant along with master punished with a like just doom,

\par }{\Q And commoner suffering the same as king,


\par }{\Q \VS{12}Yea, all
{\ADD{the people}} together, under one form of death,

\par }{\Q Had
{\ADD{with them}} corpses without number;

\par }{\Q For the living were not sufficient even to bury them,

\par }{\Q Since at a single stroke their nobler offspring was consumed.


\par }{\Q \VS{13}For while they were disbelieving all things by reason of the enchantments,

\par }{\Q Upon the destruction of the firstborn they confessed the people to be God’s son.


\par }{\Q \VS{14}For while peaceful silence enwrapped all things,

\par }{\Q And night in her own swiftness was in midcourse,


\par }{\Q \VS{15}Thine all-powerful word leaped from heaven out of
{\ADD{the}} royal throne,

\par }{\Q A stern warrior, into the midst of the doomed land,


\par }{\Q \VS{16}Bearing as a sharp sword thine unfeigned commandment;

\par }{\Q And standing it filled all things with death;

\par }{\Q And while it touched the heaven it trod upon the earth.


\par }{\Q \VS{17}Then forthwith apparitions in dreams terribly troubled them,

\par }{\Q And fears came upon them unlooked for.


\par }{\Q \VS{18}And
{\ADD{each,}} one thrown here half dead, another there,

\par }{\Q Made manifest wherefore he was dying:


\par }{\Q \VS{19}For the dreams, perturbing them, did foreshow this,

\par }{\Q That they might not perish without knowing why they were afflicted.


\par }{\BB \par }
{\Q \VS{20}But it befell the righteous also to make trial of death,

\par }{\Q And a multitude were stricken in the wilderness:

\par }{\Q Howbeit the wrath endured not for long.


\par }{\Q \VS{21}For a blameless man hasted to be their champion:

\par }{\Q Bringing the weapon of his own ministry,

\par }{\Q {\ADD{Even}} prayer and the propitiation of incense,

\par }{\Q He withstood the indignation, and set an end to the calamity,

\par }{\Q Showing that he was thy servant.


\par }{\Q \VS{22}And he overcame the anger,

\par }{\Q Not by strength of body, not by efficacy of weapons;

\par }{\Q But by word did he subdue the minister of punishment,

\par }{\Q By bringing to remembrance oaths and covenants made with the fathers.


\par }{\Q \VS{23}For when the dead were already fallen in heaps one upon another,

\par }{\Q Standing between he stopped the
{\ADD{advancing}} wrath,

\par }{\Q And cut off the way to the living.


\par }{\Q \VS{24}For upon
{\ADD{his}} long
{\ADD{high-priestly}} robe was the whole world,

\par }{\Q And the glories of the fathers
{\ADD{were}} upon the graving of the four rows of precious stones,

\par }{\Q And thy majesty
{\ADD{was}} upon the diadem of his head.


\par }{\Q \VS{25}To these the destroyer gave place, and these
{\ADD{the people}} feared;

\par }{\Q For it was enough only to make trial of the wrath.


\par }{\BB \par }


\PoetryChap{19}{\Q \VerseOne{1}But upon the ungodly there came unto the end indignation without mercy;

\par }{\Q For their future also
{\ADD{God}} foreknew,


\par }{\Q \VS{2}How that, having changed their minds to
{\ADD{let thy people}} go,

\par }{\Q And having speeded them eagerly on their way,

\par }{\Q They would repent themselves and pursue them.


\par }{\Q \VS{3}For while they were yet in the midst of their mourning,

\par }{\Q And making lamentation at the graves of the dead,

\par }{\Q They drew upon themselves another counsel of folly,

\par }{\Q And pursued as fugitives those whom with entreaties they had cast out.


\par }{\Q \VS{4}For the doom which they deserved was drawing them unto this end,

\par }{\Q And it made them forget the things that had befallen them,

\par }{\Q That they might fill up the punishment which was yet wanting to their torments,


\par }{\Q \VS{5}And that thy people might journey on by a marvelous road,

\par }{\Q But they
{\ADD{themselves}} might find a strange death.


\par }{\BB \par }
{\Q \VS{6}For the whole creation,
{\ADD{each part}} in its several kind, was fashioned again anew,

\par }{\Q Ministering to
{\ADD{thy}} several commandments,

\par }{\Q That thy servants might be guarded free from hurt.


\par }{\Q \VS{7}{\ADD{Then}} was beheld the cloud that shadowed the camp,

\par }{\Q And dry land rising up out of what before was water,

\par }{\Q Out of the Red Sea an unhindered highway,

\par }{\Q And a grassy plain out of the violent surge;


\par }{\Q \VS{8}By which they passed over with all their hosts,

\par }{\Q These that were covered with thy hand,

\par }{\Q Having beheld strange marvels.


\par }{\Q \VS{9}For like horses they roamed at large,

\par }{\Q And they skipped about like lambs,

\par }{\Q Praising thee, O Lord, who wast their deliverer.


\par }{\Q \VS{10}For they still remembered the things that came to pass in the time of their sojourning,

\par }{\Q How that instead of bearing cattle the land brought forth lice,

\par }{\Q And instead of fish the river cast up a multitude of frogs.


\par }{\Q \VS{11}But afterward they saw also a new race of birds,

\par }{\Q When, led on by desire, they asked for luxurious dainties;


\par }{\Q \VS{12}For, to solace them, there came up for them quails from the sea.


\par }{\BB \par }
{\Q \VS{13}And upon the sinners came the punishments

\par }{\Q Not without the tokens that were given beforehand by the force of the thunders;

\par }{\Q For justly did they suffer through their own wickednesses,

\par }{\Q For grievous indeed was the hatred which they practiced toward guests.


\par }{\Q \VS{14}For whereas the
{\ADD{men of Sodom}} received not the strangers when they came among
{\ADD{them;}}

\par }{\Q The Egyptians made slaves of guests who were their benefactors.


\par }{\Q \VS{15}And not only so,
{\ADD{but God}} shall visit the men of Sodom after another sort,

\par }{\Q Since they received as enemies them that were aliens;


\par }{\Q \VS{16}Whereas these
{\ADD{first}} welcomed with feastings,

\par }{\Q And
{\ADD{then}} afflicted with dreadful toils,

\par }{\Q Them that had already shared
{\ADD{with them}} in the same rights.


\par }{\Q \VS{17}And moreover they were stricken with loss of sight

\par }{\Q (Even as were those
{\ADD{others}} at the righteous man’s doors),

\par }{\Q When, being compassed about with yawning darkness,

\par }{\Q They sought every one the passage through his own door.


\par }{\Q \VS{18}For as the notes of a psaltery vary the character of the rhythm,

\par }{\Q Even so
{\ADD{did}} the elements, changing their order one with another,

\par }{\Q Continuing always
{\ADD{the same, each}} in its
{\ADD{several}} sound;

\par }{\Q As may clearly be divined from the sight of the things that are come to pass.


\par }{\Q \VS{19}For creatures of the dry land were turned into creatures of the waters,

\par }{\Q And creatures that swim trod
{\ADD{now}} upon the earth:


\par }{\Q \VS{20}Fire kept the mastery of its own power in
{\ADD{the midst of}} water,

\par }{\Q And water forgat its quenching nature:


\par }{\Q \VS{21}Contrariwise, flames wasted not the flesh of perishable creatures that walked among them;

\par }{\Q Neither melted they the ice-like grains of ambrosial food, that were
{\ADD{of nature}} apt to melt.


\par }{\Q \VS{22}For in all things, O Lord, thou didst magnify thy people,

\par }{\Q And thou didst glorify them and not lightly regard them;

\par }{\Q Standing by their side in every time and place.


\par }