Wisdom of Solomon 13-14
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
The Foolishness of Nature Worship
13 For all people who were ignorant of God were foolish by nature,
and they were unable from the good things that are seen to know the one who exists,
nor did they recognize the artisan while paying heed to his works;(A)
2 but they supposed that either fire or wind or swift air
or the circle of the stars or turbulent water
or the luminaries of heaven were the gods that rule the world.(B)
3 If through delight in the beauty of these things people assumed them to be gods,
let them know how much better than these is their Lord,
for the author of beauty created them.(C)
4 And if people[a] were amazed at their power and working,
let them perceive from them
how much more powerful is the one who formed them.(D)
5 For from the greatness and beauty of created things
comes a corresponding perception of their Creator.(E)
6 Yet these people are little to be blamed,
for perhaps they go astray
while seeking God and desiring to find him.(F)
7 For while they live among his works, they keep searching
and trust in what they see because the things that are seen are beautiful.(G)
8 Yet again, not even they are to be excused,(H)
9 for if they had the power to know so much
that they could investigate the world,
how did they not more quickly find the Lord of these things?
The Foolishness of Idolatry
10 But miserable, with their hopes set on dead things, are those
who give the name “gods” to the works of human hands,
gold and silver fashioned with skill
and likenesses of animals
or a useless stone, the work of an ancient hand.(I)
11 A skilled woodcutter may saw down a tree easy to handle
and skillfully strip off all its bark
and then with pleasing workmanship
make a useful vessel that serves life’s needs(J)
12 and burn the cast-off pieces of his work
to prepare his food and eat his fill.(K)
13 But a cast-off 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;[b]
he forms it in the likeness of a human being
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;(L)
15 then he makes a suitable niche for it
and sets it in the wall and fastens it there with iron.(M)
16 He takes thought for it so that it may not fall,
because he knows that it cannot help itself,
for it is only an image and has need of help.(N)
17 When he prays about possessions and his marriage and children,
he is not ashamed to address a lifeless thing.(O)
For health he appeals to a thing that is weak;
18 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;(P)
19 for money-making and work and success with his hands,
he asks strength of a thing whose hands have no strength.
Folly of a Navigator Praying to an Idol
14 Again, one preparing to sail and about to voyage over raging waves
calls upon a piece of wood more fragile than the ship that carries him.(Q)
2 For it was desire for gain that planned that vessel,
and wisdom was the artisan 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,(R)
4 showing that you can save from every danger,
so that even a person who lacks skill may put to sea.
5 It is your will that works of your wisdom should not be without effect;
therefore people trust their lives even to the smallest piece of wood,
and passing through the billows on a raft they come safely to land.(S)
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.(T)
7 For blessed is the wood by which righteousness comes.
8 But the idol made with hands is accursed, and so is the one who made it—
he for having made it, and the perishable thing because it was named a god.(U)
9 For equally hateful to God are the ungodly and their ungodliness,(V)
10 for what was done will be punished together with the one who did it.
11 Therefore there will be a visitation also upon the idols of the nations,
because, though part of what God created, they became an abomination,
stumbling blocks for human souls
and a trap for the feet of the foolish.(W)
The Origin and Evils of Idolatry
12 For the idea of making idols was the beginning of sexual immorality,
and the invention of them was the corruption of life,(X)
13 for they did not exist from the beginning,
nor will they last forever.(Y)
14 For through human vanity 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;
he now honored as a god what was once a dead human being
and handed on to his dependents secret rites and initiations.(Z)
16 Then the ungodly custom, grown strong with time, was kept as a law,
and at the command of monarchs carved images were worshiped.(AA)
17 When people could not honor monarchs[c] 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.(AB)
18 Then the ambition of the artisan impelled
even those who did not know the king[d] to intensify their worship.
19 For he, perhaps wishing to please his ruler,
skillfully forced the likeness to take more beautiful form,(AC)
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 human.(AD)
21 And this became a hidden trap for humankind,
because people, in bondage to misfortune or to royal authority,
bestowed on objects of stone or wood the name that ought not to be shared.(AE)
22 Then it was not enough for them to err about the knowledge of God,
but though living in great strife due to ignorance,
they call such great evils peace.(AF)
23 For whether they kill children in their initiations or celebrate secret mysteries
or hold frenzied revels with strange customs,(AG)
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,(AH)
26 confusion over what is good, forgetfulness of favors,
defiling of souls, sexual perversion,
disorder in marriages, adultery, and debauchery.(AI)
27 For the worship of idols not to be named
is the beginning and cause and end of every evil.(AJ)
28 For their worshipers[e] either rave in exultation
or prophesy lies or live unrighteously or readily commit perjury,(AK)
29 for because they trust in lifeless idols
they swear wicked oaths and expect to suffer no harm.(AL)
30 But just penalties will overtake them on two counts:
because they thought wrongly about God in devoting themselves to idols
and because in deceit they swore unrighteously through contempt for holiness.(AM)
31 For it is not the power of the things by which people swear[f]
but the just penalty for those who sin
that always pursues the transgression of the unrighteous.(AN)
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.