Wisdom of Solomon 13-15

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

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?

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.

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.

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

⁷ A potter kneads the soft earth
and laboriously molds each vessel for our service,
fashioning out of the same clay
both the vessels that serve clean uses
and those for contrary uses, making all alike,
but which shall be the use of each of them
the worker in clay decides.^(AT)
8 With misspent toil, these workers form a futile god from the same clay—
these mortals who were made of earth a short time before
and after a little while go to the earth from which all mortals are taken,
when the time comes to return the souls that were borrowed.^(AU)
9 But the workers are not concerned that mortals are destined to die
or that their life is brief,
but they compete with workers in gold and silver
and imitate workers in copper,
and they count it a glorious thing to mold counterfeit gods.^(AV)
10 Their heart is ashes, their hope is cheaper than dirt,
and their lives are of less worth than clay,^(AW)
11 because they failed to know the one who formed them
and inspired them with active souls
and breathed a living spirit into them.^(AX)
12 But they considered our existence an idle game
and life a festival held for profit,
for they say one must get money however one can, even by base means.^(AY)
13 For these persons, more than all others, know that they sin
when they make from earthy matter fragile vessels and carved images.^(AZ)

¹⁸ Moreover, they worship even the most hateful animals,
which are worse than all others when judged by their lack of intelligence,^(BD)
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.^(BE)