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Wisdom 10

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1 αὕτη πρωτόπλαστον πατέρα κόσμου μόνον κτισθέντα διεφύλαξεν καὶ ἐξείλατο αὐτὸν ἐκ παραπτώματος ἰδίου 2 ἔδωκέν τε αὐτῷ ἰσχὺν κρατῆσαι ἁπάντων 3 ἀποστὰς δὲ ἀ{P'} αὐτῆς ἄδικος ἐν ὀργῇ αὐτοῦ ἀδελφοκτόνοις συναπώλετο θυμοῖς 4 δ{I'} ὃν κατακλυζομένην γῆν πάλιν ἔσωσεν σοφία δ{I'} εὐτελοῦς ξύλου τὸν δίκαιον κυβερνήσασα 5 αὕτη καὶ ἐν ὁμονοίᾳ πονηρίας ἐθνῶν συγχυθέντων ἔγνω τὸν δίκαιον καὶ ἐτήρησεν αὐτὸν ἄμεμπτον θεῷ καὶ ἐπὶ τέκνου σπλάγχνοις ἰσχυρὸν ἐφύλαξεν 6 αὕτη δίκαιον ἐξαπολλυμένων ἀσεβῶν ἐρρύσατο φυγόντα καταβάσιον πῦρ Πενταπόλεως 7 ἧς ἔτι μαρτύριον τῆς πονηρίας καπνιζομένη καθέστηκε χέρσος καὶ ἀτελέσιν ὥραις καρποφοροῦντα φυτά ἀπιστούσης ψυχῆς μνημεῖον ἑστηκυῖα στήλη ἁλός 8 σοφίαν γὰρ παροδεύσαντες οὐ μόνον ἐβλάβησαν τοῦ μὴ γνῶναι τὰ καλά ἀλλὰ καὶ τῆς ἀφροσύνης ἀπέλιπον τῷ βίῳ μνημόσυνον ἵνα ἐν οἷς ἐσφάλησαν μηδὲ λαθεῖν δυνηθῶσιν

1 When man was but newly made, the lonely father of this created world, she it was that watched over him, 2 and set him free from wrong-doing of his own,[1] and gave him the mastery over all things else. 3 Against her Cain rebelled,[2] when he did foul wrong, and by murderous spite against his brother compassed his own ruin. 4 Who but she, when the world was a-drowning for Cain’s fault,[3] gave it a second term of life, steering, on a paltry raft, one innocent man to safety? 5 And when the nations went their several ways,[4] banded in a single conspiracy of wickedness, of one man’s innocence she still took note; Abraham must be kept irreproachable in God’s service, and steeled against pity for his own child. 6 Here was another innocent man, Lot, that owed his preservation to Wisdom, when godless folk were perishing all around him. Escape he should, when fire came down upon the Cities of the Plain; 7 those five cities whose shame is yet unforgotten, while smoke issues from the barren soil, and never tree bears seasonable fruit, and the pillar of salt stands monument to an unbelieving soul. 8 Fatal neglect of Wisdom’s guidance, that could blind their eyes to the claims of honour, and leave the world such a memorial of their folly, as should make the record of their sins unmistakable!

1

Hæc illum qui primus formatus est a Deo patre orbis terrarum,
cum solus esset creatus, custodivit, 2
et eduxit illum a delicto suo,
et dedit illi virtutem continendi omnia. 3
Ab hac ut recessit injustus in ira sua,
per iram homicidii fraterni deperiit. 4
Propter quem cum aqua deleret terram, sanavit iterum sapientia,
per contemptibile lignum justum gubernans. 5
Hæc et in consensu nequitiæ, cum se nationes contulissent,
scivit justum, et conservavit sine querela Deo,
et in filii misericordia fortem custodivit. 6
Hæc justum a pereuntibus impiis liberavit fugientem,
descendente igne in Pentapolim: 7
quibus in testimonium nequitiæ
fumigabunda constat deserta terra,
et incerto tempore fructus habentes arbores:
et incredibilis animæ memoria stans figmentum salis. 8
Sapientiam enim prætereuntes,
non tantum in hoc lapsi sunt ut ignorarent bona,
sed et insipientiæ suæ reliquerunt hominibus memoriam,
ut in his quæ peccaverunt nec latere potuissent.

9 σοφία δὲ τοὺς θεραπεύοντας αὐτὴν ἐκ πόνων ἐρρύσατο 10 αὕτη φυγάδα ὀργῆς ἀδελφοῦ δίκαιον ὡδήγησεν ἐν τρίβοις εὐθείαις ἔδειξεν αὐτῷ βασιλείαν θεοῦ καὶ ἔδωκεν αὐτῷ γνῶσιν ἁγίων εὐπόρησεν αὐτὸν ἐν μόχθοις καὶ ἐπλήθυνεν τοὺς πόνους αὐτοῦ 11 ἐν πλεονεξίᾳ κατισχυόντων αὐτὸν παρέστη καὶ ἐπλούτισεν αὐτόν 12 διεφύλαξεν αὐτὸν ἀπὸ ἐχθρῶν καὶ ἀπὸ ἐνεδρευόντων ἠσφαλίσατο καὶ ἀγῶνα ἰσχυρὸν ἐβράβευσεν αὐτῷ ἵνα γνῷ ὅτι παντὸς δυνατωτέρα ἐστὶν εὐσέβεια 13 αὕτη πραθέντα δίκαιον οὐκ ἐγκατέλιπεν ἀλλὰ ἐξ ἁμαρτίας ἐρρύσατο αὐτόν 14 συγκατέβη αὐτῷ εἰς λάκκον καὶ ἐν δεσμοῖς οὐκ ἀφῆκεν αὐτόν ἕως ἤνεγκεν αὐτῷ σκῆπτρα βασιλείας καὶ ἐξουσίαν τυραννούντων αὐτοῦ ψευδεῖς τε ἔδειξεν τοὺς μωμησαμένους αὐτὸν καὶ ἔδωκεν αὐτῷ δόξαν αἰώνιον

9 But those who cherish her, Wisdom brings safely out of all their striving. 10 When Jacob, her faithful servant, was in flight from his brother’s anger, she guided him straight to his goal, and on the way shewed him the heavenly kingdom, gave him knowledge of holy things. She enriched him by his toil, and gave all his labours a happy issue. 11 Knavery went about to get the better of him, but she stood by him and prospered him; 12 kept him safe from his enemies, protected him from their scheming. She would have him wrestle manfully, and prove that there is no strength like the strength of wisdom. 13 When Joseph, in his innocence, was sold for a slave, Wisdom did not desert him, did not leave him among the guilty, but went down with him into his dungeon. 14 Fast he was bound, but she had not finished with him till she gave him dominion over a whole kingdom, and power to do what he would with his persecutors. So she brought home the lie to those who had traduced him, and won him everlasting fame.

9
Sapientia autem hos qui se observant
a doloribus liberavit. 10
Hæc profugum iræ fratris justum deduxit per vias rectas,
et ostendit illi regnum Dei,
et dedit illi scientiam sanctorum;
honestavit illum in laboribus,
et complevit labores illius. 11
In fraude circumvenientium illum affuit illi,
et honestum fecit illum. 12
Custodivit illum ab inimicis,
et a seductoribus tutavit illum:
et certamen forte dedit illi ut vinceret,
et sciret quoniam omnium potentior est sapientia. 13
Hæc venditum justum non dereliquit,
sed a peccatoribus liberavit eum;
descenditque cum illo in foveam, 14
et in vinculis non dereliquit illum,
donec afferret illi sceptrum regni,
et potentiam adversus eos qui eum deprimebant:
et mendaces ostendit qui maculaverunt illum,
et dedit illi claritatem æternam.

15 αὕτη λαὸν ὅσιον καὶ σπέρμα ἄμεμπτον ἐρρύσατο ἐξ ἔθνους θλιβόντων 16 εἰσῆλθεν εἰς ψυχὴν θεράποντος κυρίου καὶ ἀντέστη βασιλεῦσιν φοβεροῖς ἐν τέρασι καὶ σημείοις 17 ἀπέδωκεν ὁσίοις μισθὸν κόπων αὐτῶν ὡδήγησεν αὐτοὺς ἐν ὁδῷ θαυμαστῇ καὶ ἐγένετο αὐτοῖς εἰς σκέπην ἡμέρας καὶ εἰς φλόγα ἄστρων τὴν νύκτα 18 διεβίβασεν αὐτοὺς θάλασσαν ἐρυθρὰν καὶ διήγαγεν αὐτοὺς δ{I'} ὕδατος πολλοῦ 19 τοὺς δὲ ἐχθροὺς αὐτῶν κατέκλυσεν καὶ ἐκ βάθους ἀβύσσου ἀνέβρασεν αὐτούς 20 διὰ τοῦτο δίκαιοι ἐσκύλευσαν ἀσεβεῖς καὶ ὕμνησαν κύριε τὸ ὄνομα τὸ ἅγιόν σου τήν τε ὑπέρμαχόν σου χεῖρα ᾔνεσαν ὁμοθυμαδόν 21 ὅτι ἡ σοφία ἤνοιξεν στόμα κωφῶν καὶ γλώσσας νηπίων ἔθηκεν τρανάς

15 So, too, with that innocent people of Israel, that unoffending race; did she not deliver them from the nations that kept them under? 16 Did she not enter into the heart of God’s servant, confronting dread rulers with portent and with miracle? 17 Did she not restore to men ill-used the just reward of their labours? She, too, led them out on their miraculous journey, affording them shelter by day and starry radiance at night. 18 She made a passage for them through the Red Sea, brought them safely through those leagues of water, 19 and churned up the bodies of their drowned enemy from those unfathomed depths. So, enriched by the spoils of the godless, 20 they extolled, O Lord, thy holy name, proclaimed with one voice thy sovereign power; 21 Wisdom opened the dumb mouths, and made the lips of infants[5] vocal with praise.

15

Hæc populum justum et semen sine querela liberavit
a nationibus quæ illum deprimebant. 16
Intravit in animam servi Dei,
et stetit contra reges horrendos in portentis et signis. 17
Et reddidit justis mercedem laborum suorum,
et deduxit illos in via mirabili:
et fuit illis in velamento diei,
et in luce stellarum per noctem; 18
transtulit illos per mare Rubrum,
et transvexit illos per aquam nimiam. 19
Inimicos autem illorum demersit in mare,
et ab altitudine inferorum eduxit illos.
Ideo justi tulerunt spolia impiorum, 20
et decantaverunt, Domine, nomen sanctum tuum,
et victricem manum tuam laudaverunt pariter: 21
quoniam sapientia aperuit os mutorum,
et linguas infantium fecit disertas.

[1] It is not clear whether the final words of this verse refer to Adam’s original innocence, or to his deliverance from the death-penalty after he had sinned.

[2] This chapter, in the original, mentions no proper names; a few of them have here been supplied, in accordance with modern usage.

[3] ‘For Cain’s fault’ is an expression difficult to account for, except on the view that the ‘sons of God’ mentioned in Gen. 6.2, are the descendants of Seth, the ‘children of men’ those of Cain.

[4] The Latin here obscures the sense of the original, by describing the nations as ‘coming together’. According to the Greek text, they ‘were confounded’, almost certainly a reference to Gen. 11.7, where the same verb is used. Mankind, for its sin, was split up into a multitude of nations, but Wisdom saw to it that one of these, with Abraham as its founder, should be different from the rest.

[5] Unless the word ‘infants’ is to be understood metaphorically (of the Jews, as a people newly born by their ransoming from Egypt), this verse seems to preserve a tradition not found in Ex. 15.1, that even little children took part in the song of Moses.

Knox Translation Copyright © 2013 Westminster Diocese
Nihil Obstat. Father Anton Cowan, Censor.
Imprimatur. +Most Rev. Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster. 8th January 2012.
Re-typeset and published in 2012 by Baronius Press Ltd