The Wisdom of Solomon 19:18-22

[18] For the elements changed places with one another,

as on a harp the notes vary the nature of the rhythm,
while each note remains the same. 
This may be clearly inferred from the sight of what took place. 
[19] For land animals were transformed into water creatures,
and creatures that swim moved over to the land. 
[20] Fire even in water retained its normal power,
and water forgot its fire-quenching nature. 
[21] Flames, on the contrary, failed to consume
the flesh of perishable creatures that walked among them,
nor did they melt the crystalline, easily melted
kind of heavenly food. 

[22] For in everything, O Lord, you have exalted
and glorified your people; 
and you have not neglected to help them at
all times and in all places. 

IMAGE: Emanuel Kratky, God Creating the Elements (c. 1880) 

The Wisdom of Solomon 19:13-17

[13] The punishments did not come upon the sinners 
without prior signs in the violence of thunder, 
for they justly suffered because of their wicked acts; 
for they practiced a more bitter hatred of strangers. 
[14] Others had refused to receive strangers when they came to them, 
but these made slaves of guests who were their benefactors. 
[15] And not only so, but punishment of some sort 
will come upon the former 
for their hostile reception of the aliens; 
[16] but the latter, after receiving them with festal celebrations, 
afflicted with terrible sufferings 
those who had already shared the same rights.
[17] They were stricken also with loss of sight—
just as were those at the door of the righteous man—
when, surrounded by yawning darkness, 
each tried to find the way through his own door. 

The Wisdom of Solomon 19:6-12

[6] For the whole creation in its nature was fashioned anew,
complying with your commands,
that your children might be kept unharmed.
[7] The cloud was seen overshadowing the camp,
and dry land emerging where water had stood before,
an unhindered way out of the Red Sea,
and a grassy plain out of the raging waves,
[8] where those protected by your hand passed through as one nation,
after gazing on marvelous wonders.
[9] For they ranged like horses,
and leaped like lambs,
praising you, O Lord, who did deliver them.
[10] For they still recalled the events of their sojourn,
how instead of producing animals the earth brought forth gnats,
and instead of fish the river spewed out vast numbers of frogs.
[11] Afterward they saw also a new kind of birds,
when desire led them to ask for luxurious food;
[12] for, to give them relief, quails came up from the sea.  

IMAGE: Nicolas Poussin, The Crossing of the Red Sea (1634) 

The Wisdom of Solomon 19:1-5

[1] But the ungodly were assailed to the end by pitiless anger, 
for God knew in advance even their future actions, 
[2] that, though they themselves had permitted your people to depart
and hastily sent them forth, 
they would change their minds and pursue them. 
[3] For while they were still busy at mourning, 
and were lamenting at the graves of their dead, 
they reached another foolish decision, 
and pursued as fugitives those whom they had 
begged and compelled to depart. 
[4] For the fate they deserved drew them on to this end, 
and made them forget what had happened, 
in order that they might fill up the punishment 
which their torments still lacked, 
[5] and that your people might experience an incredible journey, 
but they themselves might meet a strange death. 

IMAGE: Richard Dadd, The Flight out of Egypt (c. 1849) 

The Wisdom of Solomon 18:20-25

[20] The experience of death touched also the righteous,
and a plague came upon the multitude in the desert,
but the wrath did not long continue. 
[21] For a blameless man was quick to act as their champion;
he brought forward the shield of his ministry,
prayer and propitiation by incense;
he withstood the anger and put an end to the disaster,
showing that he was your servant. 
[22] He conquered the wrath not by strength of body,
and not by force of arms,
but by his word he subdued the punisher,
appealing to the oaths and covenants given to our fathers. 
[23] For when the dead had already fallen on one another in heaps,
he intervened and held back the wrath,
and cut off its way to the living. 
[24] For upon his long robe the whole world was depicted,
and the glories of the fathers were engraved
on the four rows of stones, 
and your majesty on the diadem upon his head. 
[25] To these the destroyer yielded, these he feared;
for merely to test the wrath was enough. 

IMAGE: Jacques Bergé, Aaron (c. 1740) 

The Wisdom of Solomon 18:5-19

[5] When they had resolved to kill the babes of your holy ones, 
and one child had been exposed and rescued, 
you did in punishment take away a multitude 
of their children; 
and you did destroy them all together by a mighty flood. 
[6] That night was made known beforehand to our fathers, 
so that they might rejoice in sure knowledge 
of the oaths in which they trusted. 
[7] The deliverance of the righteous and the destruction
of their enemies 
were expected by your people. 
[8] For by the same means by which you did punish our enemies 
you did call us to yourself and glorify us. 
[9] For in secret the holy children of good men offered sacrifices, 
and with one accord agreed to the divine law, 
that the saints would share alike the same things, 
both blessings and dangers; 
and already they were singing the praises of the fathers. 
[10] But the discordant cry of their enemies echoed back, 
and their piteous lament for their children was spread abroad. 
[11] The slave was punished with the same penalty as the master, 
and the common man suffered the same loss as the king; 
[12] and they all together, by the one form of death, 
had corpses too many to count. 
For the living were not sufficient even to bury them, 
since in one instant their most valued children 
had been destroyed. 
[13] For though they had disbelieved everything 
because of their magic arts, 
yet, when their first-born were destroyed, 
they acknowledged your people to be God's sons. 
[14] For while gentle silence enveloped all things, 
and night in its swift course was now half gone, 
[15] your all-powerful word leaped from heaven, from 
the royal throne, 
into the midst of the land that was doomed, 
a stern warrior 
[16] carrying the sharp sword of your authentic command, and stood and filled all things with death, 
and touched heaven while standing on the earth. 
[17] Then at once apparitions in dreadful dreams 
greatly troubled them, 
and unexpected fears assailed them; 
[18] and one here and another there, hurled down half dead, 
made known why they were dying; 
[19] for the dreams which disturbed them forewarned them of this, 
so that they might not perish without knowing 
why they suffered. 

IMAGE: Charles Sprague Pearce, Lamentations Over the Death of the First-Born of Egypt (1877) 

The Wisdom of Solomon 18:1-4

[1] But for your holy ones there was very great light.
Their enemies heard their voices but did not see their forms,
and counted them happy for not having suffered,
[2] and were thankful that your holy ones, though
previously wronged, were doing them no injury;
and they begged their pardon for having been
at variance with them.
[3] Therefore you did provide a flaming pillar of fire
as a guide for your people's unknown journey,
and a harmless sun for their glorious wandering.
[4] For their enemies deserved to be deprived of
light and imprisoned in darkness,
those who had kept your sons imprisoned,
through whom the imperishable light of the
law was to be given to the world. 

IMAGE: William West, The Israelites Led by the Pillar of Fire by Night (c. 1845) 

The Wisdom of Solomon 17:1-21

[1] Great are your judgments and hard to describe;
therefore uninstructed souls have gone astray.
[2] For when lawless men supposed that they held
the holy nation in their power,
they themselves lay as captives of darkness
and prisoners of long night,
shut in under their roofs, exiles from eternal providence.
[3] For thinking that in their secret sins they were unobserved
behind a dark curtain of forgetfulness,
they were scattered, terribly alarmed,
and appalled by specters.
[4] For not even the inner chamber that held them
protected them from fear,
but terrifying sounds rang out around them,
and dismal phantoms with gloomy faces appeared.
[5] And no power of fire was able to give light,
nor did the brilliant flames of the stars
avail to illumine that hateful night.
[6] Nothing was shining through to them
except a dreadful, self-kindled fire,
and in terror they deemed the things which they saw
to be worse than that unseen appearance.
[7] The delusions of their magic art lay humbled,
and their boasted wisdom was scornfully rebuked.
[8] For those who promised to drive off the fears
and disorders of a sick soul
were sick themselves with ridiculous fear.
[9] For even if nothing disturbing frightened them,
yet, scared by the passing of beasts and the
hissing of serpents,
[10] they perished in trembling fear,
refusing to look even at the air, though it
nowhere could be avoided.
[11] For wickedness is a cowardly thing, condemned
by its own testimony;
distressed by conscience, it has always exaggerated
the difficulties.
[12] For fear is nothing but surrender of the helps
that come from reason;
[13] and the inner expectation of help, being weak,
prefers ignorance of what causes the torment.
[14] But throughout the night, which was really powerless,
and which beset them from the recesses of powerless Hades,
they all slept the same sleep,
[15] and now were driven by monstrous specters,
and now were paralyzed by their souls' surrender,
for sudden and unexpected fear overwhelmed them.
[16] And whoever was there fell down,
and thus was kept shut up in a prison not made of iron;
[17] for whether he was a farmer or a shepherd
or a workman who toiled in the wilderness,
he was seized, and endured the inescapable fate;
for with one chain of darkness they all were bound.
[18] Whether there came a whistling wind,
or a melodious sound of birds in wide-spreading branches,
or the rhythm of violently rushing water,
[19] or the harsh crash of rocks hurled down,
or the unseen running of leaping animals,
or the sound of the most savage roaring beasts,
or an echo thrown back from a hollow of the mountains,
it paralyzed them with terror.
[20] For the whole world was illumined with brilliant light,
and was engaged in unhindered work,
[21] while over those men alone heavy night was spread,
an image of the darkness that was destined to receive them;
but still heavier than darkness were they to themselves. 

IMAGE: Gustave Doré, The Ninth Plague: Darkness (1866) 

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) 

The Wisdom of Solomon 16:15-23

[15] To escape from your hand is impossible;
[16] for the ungodly, refusing to know you,
were scourged by the strength of your arm,
pursued by unusual rains and hail and relentless storms,
and utterly consumed by fire.
[17] For—most incredible of all—in the water,
which quenches all things,
the fire had still greater effect,
for the universe defends the righteous.
[18] At one time the flame was restrained,
so that it might not consume the creatures
sent against the ungodly,
but that seeing this they might know
that they were being pursued by the judgment of God;
[19] and at another time even in the midst of water
it burned more intensely than fire,
to destroy the crops of the unrighteous land.
[20] Instead of these things you did give your
people food of angels,
and without their toil you did supply them
from heaven with bread ready to eat,
providing every pleasure and suited to every taste.
[21] For your sustenance manifested your sweetness
toward your children;
and the bread, ministering to the desire of
the one who took it,
was changed to suit everyone's liking.
[22] Snow and ice withstood fire without melting,
so that they might know that the crops of their enemies
were being destroyed by the fire that blazed in the hail
and flashed in the showers of rain;
[23] whereas the fire, in order that the righteous might be fed,
even forgot its native power. 

IMAGE: John Martin, The Seventh Plague of Egypt (1823) 

The Wisdom of Solomon 16:5-14

[5] For when the terrible rage of wild beasts came upon your people
and they were being destroyed by the bites
of writhing serpents,
your wrath did not continue to the end;
[6] they were troubled for a little while as a warning,
and received a token of deliverance to remind
them of your law's command.
[7] For he who turned toward it was saved, not by what he saw,
but by you, the Savior of all.
[8] And by this also you did convince our enemies
that it is you who delivers from every evil.
[9] For they were killed by the bites of locusts and flies,
and no healing was found for them,
because they deserved to be punished by such things;
[10] but your sons were not conquered even by the
teeth of venomous serpents,
for your mercy came to their help and healed them.
[11] To remind them of your oracles they were bitten,
and then were quickly delivered,
lest they should fall into deep forgetfulness
and become unresponsive to your kindness.
[12] For neither herb nor poultice cured them,
but it was your word, O Lord, which heals all men.
[13] For you have power over life and death;
you do lead men down to the gates of Hades and back again.
[14] A man in his wickedness kills another,
but he cannot bring back the departed spirit,
nor set free the imprisoned soul. 

The Wisdom of Solomon 16:1-4

[1] Therefore those men were deservedly punished 
through such creatures, 
and were tormented by a multitude of animals. 
[2] Instead of this punishment you did show 
kindness to your people, 
and you did prepare quails to eat, 
a delicacy to satisfy the desire of appetite; 
[3] in order that those men, when they desired food,
might lose the least remnant of appetite
because of the odious creatures sent to them, 
while your people, after suffering want a short time, 
might partake of delicacies. 
[4] For it was necessary that upon those oppressors 
inexorable want should come, 
while to these it was merely shown how their 
enemies were being tormented. 

The Wisdom of Solomon 15:18-19

[18] The enemies of your people worship even the
most hateful animals,
which are worse than all others, when judged
by their lack of intelligence;
[19] and even as animals they are not so beautiful
in appearance that one would desire them,
but they have escaped both the praise of God and his blessing. 

The Wisdom of Solomon 15:14-17

[14] But most foolish, and more miserable than an infant,
are all the enemies who oppressed your people.
[15] For they thought that all their heathen idols were gods,
though these have neither the use of their eyes to see with,
nor nostrils with which to draw breath,
nor ears with which to hear,
nor fingers to feel with,
and their feet are of no use for walking.
[16] For a man made them,
and one whose spirit is borrowed formed them;
for no man can form a god which is like himself.
[17] He is mortal, and what he makes with lawless hands is dead,
for he is better than the objects he worships,
since he has life, but they never have. 

IMAGE: Roger Reutimann, False Idol (2016) 

The Wisdom of Solomon 15:7-13

[7] For when a potter kneads the soft earth
and laboriously molds each vessel for our service,
he fashions out of the same clay
both the vessels that serve clean uses
and those for contrary uses, making all in like manner;
but which shall be the use of each of these
the worker in clay decides.
[8] With misspent toil, he forms a futile god from the same clay—  

this man who was made of earth a short time before
and after a little while goes to the earth
from which he was taken,
when he is required to return the soul that was lent him.
[9] But he is not concerned that he is destined to die
or that his life is brief,
but he competes with workers in gold and silver,
and imitates workers in copper;
and he counts it his glory that he molds counterfeit gods.
[10] His heart is ashes, his hope is cheaper than dirt,
and his life is of less worth than clay,
[11] because he failed to know the one who formed him
and inspired him with an active soul
and breathed into him a living spirit.
[12] But he considered our existence an idle game,
and life a festival held for profit,
for he says one must get money however one
can, even by base means.
[13] For this man, more than all others, knows that he sins
when he makes from earthy matter fragile vessels
and graven images. 

IMAGE: Jacob Hogers, The Idolatry of King Solomon (c. 1650) 

The Wisdom of Solomon 15:1-6

[1] But you, our God, are kind and true,
patient, and ruling all things in mercy.
[2] For even if we sin we are yours, knowing your power;
but we will not sin, because we know that we
are accounted yours.
[3] For to know you is complete righteousness,
and to know your power is the root of immortality.
[4] For neither has the evil intent of human art misled us,
nor the fruitless toil of painters,
a figure stained with varied colors,
[5] whose appearance arouses yearning in fools,
so that they desire the lifeless form of a dead image.
[6] Lovers of evil things and fit for such objects of hope
are those who either make or desire or worship them. 

IMAGE: William Blake, Moses Indignant at the Golden Calf (c. 1800) 

The Wisdom of Solomon 14:12-31

[12] For the idea of making idols was the beginning of fornication,

and the invention of them was the corruption of life,
[13] for neither have they existed from the beginning
nor will they exist forever.
[14] For through the vanity of men they entered the world,
and therefore their speedy end has been planned.
[15] For a father, consumed with grief at an untimely bereavement,
made an image of his child, who had been suddenly
taken from him;
and he now honored as a god what was once a dead human being,
and handed on to his dependents secret rites and initiations.
[16] Then the ungodly custom, grown strong with
time, was kept as a law,
and at the command of monarchs graven images were worshiped.
[17] When men could not honor monarchs in their
presence, since they lived at a distance,
they imagined their appearance far away,
and made a visible image of the king whom they honored,
so that by their zeal they might flatter the
absent one as though present.
[18] Then the ambition of the craftsman impelled
even those who did not know the king to intensify
their worship.
[19] For he, perhaps wishing to please his ruler,
skilfully forced the likeness to take more beautiful form,
[20] and the multitude, attracted by the charm of his work,
now regarded as an object of worship the one
whom shortly before they had honored as a man.
[21] And this became a hidden trap for mankind,
because men, in bondage to misfortune or to royal authority,
bestowed on objects of stone or wood the name
that ought not to be shared.
[22] Afterward it was not enough for them to err
about the knowledge of God,
but they live in great strife due to ignorance,
and they call such great evils peace.
[23] For whether they kill children in their initiations,
or celebrate secret mysteries,
or hold frenzied revels with strange customs,
[24] they no longer keep either their lives or their marriages pure,
but they either treacherously kill one another,
or grieve one another by adultery,
[25] and all is a raging riot of blood and murder,
theft and deceit, corruption, faithlessness, tumult, perjury,
[26] confusion over what is good, forgetfulness of favors,
pollution of souls, sex perversion,
disorder in marriage, adultery, and debauchery.
[27] For the worship of idols not to be named
is the beginning and cause and end of every evil.
[28] For their worshipers either rave in exultation,
or prophesy lies,
or live unrighteously, or readily commit perjury;
[29] for because they trust in lifeless idols
they swear wicked oaths and expect to suffer no harm.
[30] But just penalties will overtake them on two counts:
because they thought wickedly of God in devoting
themselves to idols,
and because in deceit they swore unrighteously
through contempt for holiness.
[31] For it is not the power of the things by which men swear,
but the just penalty for those who sin,
that always pursues the transgression of the unrighteous. 

IMAGE: Nicolas Poussin, The Adoration of the Golden Calf (c. 1634) 

The Wisdom of Solomon 14:8-11

[8] But the idol made with hands is accursed, and
so is he who made it; 
because he did the work, and the perishable
thing was named a god. 
[9] For equally hateful to God are the ungodly
man and his ungodliness, 
[10] for what was done will be punished together
with him who did it. 
[11] Therefore there will be a visitation also upon
the heathen idols, 
because, though part of what God created, they
became an abomination, 
and became traps for the souls of men 
and a snare to the feet of the foolish. 

IMAGE: Frans Francken the Younger, The Idolatry of Solomon (1622) 

The Wisdom of Solomon 14:1-7

[1] Again, one preparing to sail and about to voyage
over raging waves
calls upon a piece of wood more fragile than
the ship which carries him.
[2] For it was desire for gain that planned that vessel,
and wisdom was the craftsman who built it;
[3] but it is your providence, O Father, that steers its course,
because you have given it a path in the sea,
and a safe way through the waves,
[4] showing that you can save from every danger,
so that even if a man lacks skill, he may put to sea.
[5] It is your will that works of your wisdom should
not be without effect;
therefore men trust their lives even to the
smallest piece of wood,
and passing through the billows on a raft they
come safely to land.
[6] For even in the beginning, when arrogant giants were perishing,
the hope of the world took refuge on a raft,
and guided by your hand left to the world the
seed of a new generation.
[7] For blessed is the wood by which righteousness comes. 

IMAGE: Simon de Myle, Noah's Ark on Mount Ararat (1570) 

The Wisdom of Solomon 13:10-19

[10] But miserable, with their hopes set on dead things, are the men
who give the name "gods" to the works of men's hands,
gold and silver fashioned with skill,
and likenesses of animals,
or a useless stone, the work of an ancient hand.
[11] A skilled woodcutter may saw down a tree easy to handle
and skilfully strip off all its bark,
and then with pleasing workmanship
make a useful vessel that serves life's needs,
[12] and burn the castoff pieces of his work
to prepare his food, and eat his fill.
[13] But a castoff piece from among them, useful for nothing,
a stick crooked and full of knots,
he takes and carves with care in his leisure,
and shapes it with skill gained in idleness;
he forms it like the image of a man,
[14] or makes it like some worthless animal,
giving it a coat of red paint and coloring its surface red
and covering every blemish in it with paint;
[15] then he makes for it a niche that befits it,
and sets it in the wall, and fastens it there with iron.
[16] So he takes thought for it, that it may not fall,
because he knows that it cannot help itself,
for it is only an image and has need of help.
[17] When he prays about possessions and his marriage and children,
he is not ashamed to address a lifeless thing.
[18] For health he appeals to a thing that is weak;
for life he prays to a thing that is dead;
for aid he entreats a thing that is utterly inexperienced;
for a prosperous journey, a thing that cannot take a step;
[19] for money-making and work and success with his hands
he asks strength of a thing whose hands have no strength.