The Wisdom of Solomon 16:24-29

[24] For creation, serving you who has made it, 
exerts itself to punish the unrighteous, 
and in kindness relaxes on behalf of those who trust in you. 
[25] Therefore at that time also, changed into all forms, 
it served your all-nourishing bounty, 
according to the desire of those who had need, 
[26] so that your sons, whom you did love, O Lord, might learn 
that it is not the production of crops that feeds man, 
but that your word preserves those who trust in you. 
[27] For what was not destroyed by fire 
was melted when simply warmed by a fleeting ray of the sun, 
[28] to make it known that one must rise before 
the sun to give you thanks, 
and must pray to you at the dawning of the light; 
[29] for the hope of an ungrateful man will melt like wintry frost,

and flow away like waste water. 

IMAGE: James Tissot, The Gathering of the Manna (c. 1896)