11 Wisdom^[a] prospered their works by the hand of a holy prophet.
² They journeyed through an uninhabited wilderness,
and pitched their tents in untrodden places.
³ They withstood their enemies and fought off their foes.
⁴ When they thirsted they called upon thee,
and water was given them out of flinty rock,
and slaking of thirst from hard stone.
⁵ For through the very things by which their enemies were punished,
they themselves received benefit in their need.
⁶ Instead of the fountain of an ever-flowing river,
stirred up and defiled with blood
⁷ in rebuke for the decree to slay the infants,
thou gavest them abundant water unexpectedly,
⁸ showing by their thirst at that time
how thou didst punish their enemies.
⁹ For when they were tried, though they were being disciplined in mercy,
they learned how the ungodly were tormented when judged in wrath.
¹⁰ For thou didst test them as a father does in warning,
but thou didst examine the ungodly^[b] as a stern king does in condemnation.
¹¹ Whether absent or present, they were equally distressed,
¹² for a twofold grief possessed them,
and a groaning at the memory of what had occurred.
¹³ For when they heard that through their own punishments
the righteous^[c] had received benefit, they perceived it was the Lord’s doing.
¹⁴ For though they had mockingly rejected him who long before had been cast out and exposed,
at the end of the events they marveled at him,
for their thirst was not like that of the righteous.

¹⁵ In return for their foolish and wicked thoughts,
which led them astray to worship irrational serpents and worthless animals,
thou didst send upon them a multitude of irrational creatures to punish them,
¹⁶ that they might learn that one is punished by the very things by which he sins.
¹⁷ For thy all-powerful hand,
which created the world out of formless matter,
did not lack the means to send upon them a multitude of bears, or bold lions,
¹⁸ or newly created unknown beasts full of rage,
or such as breathe out fiery breath,
or belch forth a thick pall of smoke,
or flash terrible sparks from their eyes;
¹⁹ not only could their damage exterminate men,^[d]
but the mere sight of them could kill by fright.
²⁰ Even apart from these, men^[e] could fall at a single breath
when pursued by justice
and scattered by the breath of thy power.
But thou hast arranged all things by measure and number and weight.

²¹ For it is always in thy power to show great strength,
and who can withstand the might of thy arm?
²² Because the whole world before thee is like a speck that tips the scales,
and like a drop of morning dew that falls upon the ground.
²³ But thou art merciful to all, for thou canst do all things,
and thou dost overlook men’s sins, that they may repent.
²⁴ For thou lovest all things that exist,
and hast loathing for none of the things which thou hast made,
for thou wouldst not have made anything if thou hadst hated it.
²⁵ How would anything have endured if thou hadst not willed it?
Or how would anything not called forth by thee have been preserved?
²⁶ Thou sparest all things, for they are thine, O Lord who lovest the living.^[f]
12 For thy immortal spirit is in all things.
² Therefore thou dost correct little by little those who trespass,
and dost remind and warn them of the things wherein they sin,
that they may be freed from wickedness and put their trust in thee, O Lord.

³ Those who dwelt of old in thy holy land
⁴ thou didst hate for their detestable practices,
their works of sorcery and unholy rites,
⁵ their merciless slaughter^[g] of children,
and their sacrificial feasting on human flesh and blood.
These initiates from the midst of a heathen cult,^[h]
6 these parents who murder helpless lives,
thou didst will to destroy by the hands of our fathers,
⁷ that the land most precious of all to thee
might receive a worthy colony of the servants^[i] of God.
⁸ But even these thou didst spare, since they were but men,
and didst send wasps^[j] as forerunners of thy army,
to destroy them little by little,
⁹ though thou wast not unable to give the ungodly into the hands of the righteous in battle,
or to destroy them at one blow by dread wild beasts or thy stern word.
¹⁰ But judging them little by little thou gavest them a chance to repent,
though thou wast not unaware that their origin^[k] was evil
and their wickedness inborn,
and that their way of thinking would never change.
¹¹ For they were an accursed race from the beginning,
and it was not through fear of any one that thou didst leave them unpunished for their sins.

¹² For who will say, “What hast thou done?”
Or will resist thy judgment?
Who will accuse thee for the destruction of nations which thou didst make?
Or who will come before thee to plead as an advocate for unrighteous men?
¹³ For neither is there any god besides thee, whose care is for all men,^[l]
to whom thou shouldst prove that thou hast not judged unjustly;
¹⁴ nor can any king or monarch confront thee about those whom thou hast punished.
¹⁵ Thou art righteous and rulest all things righteously,
deeming it alien to thy power
to condemn him who does not deserve to be punished.
¹⁶ For thy strength is the source of righteousness,
and thy sovereignty over all causes thee to spare all.
¹⁷ For thou dost show thy strength when men doubt the completeness of thy power,
and dost rebuke any insolence among those who know it.^[m]
18 Thou who art sovereign in strength dost judge with mildness,
and with great forbearance thou dost govern us;
for thou hast power to act whenever thou dost choose.

¹⁹ Through such works thou has taught thy people
that the righteous man must be kind,
and thou hast filled thy sons with good hope,
because thou givest repentance for sins.
²⁰ For if thou didst punish with such great care and indulgence^[n]
the enemies of thy servants^[o] and those deserving of death,
granting them time and opportunity to give up their wickedness,
²¹ with what strictness thou hast judged thy sons,
to whose fathers thou gavest oaths and covenants full of good promises!
²² So while chastening us thou scourgest our enemies ten thousand times more,
so that we may meditate upon thy goodness when we judge,
and when we are judged we may expect mercy.

²³ Therefore those who in folly of life lived unrighteously
thou didst torment through their own abominations.
²⁴ For they went far astray on the paths of error,
accepting as gods those animals which even their enemies^[p] despised;
they were deceived like foolish babes.
²⁵ Therefore, as to thoughtless children,
thou didst send thy judgment to mock them.
²⁶ But those who have not heeded the warning of light rebukes
will experience the deserved judgment of God.
²⁷ For when in their suffering they became incensed
at those creatures which they had thought to be gods, being punished by means of them,
they saw and recognized as the true God him whom they had before refused to know.
Therefore the utmost condemnation came upon them.

⁸     do not hastily bring into court;
for^[a] what will you do in the end,
    when your neighbor puts you to shame?
⁹ Argue your case with your neighbor himself,
    and do not disclose another’s secret;
¹⁰ lest he who hears you bring shame upon you,
    and your ill repute have no end.