HOLY BIBLE: Wisdom 16 (original) (raw)

15 τὴν δὲ σὴν χεῖρα φυγεῖν ἀδύνατόν ἐστιν 16 ἀρνούμενοι γάρ σε εἰδέναι ἀσεβεῖς ἐν ἰσχύι βραχίονός σου ἐμαστιγώθησαν ξένοις ὑετοῖς καὶ χαλάζαις καὶ ὄμβροις διωκόμενοι ἀπαραιτήτοις καὶ πυρὶ καταναλισκόμενοι 17 τὸ γὰρ παραδοξότατον ἐν τῷ πάντα σβεννύντι ὕδατι πλεῖον ἐνήργει τὸ πῦρ ὑπέρμαχος γὰρ ὁ κόσμος ἐστὶν δικαίων 18 ποτὲ μὲν γὰρ ἡμεροῦτο φλόξ ἵνα μὴ καταφλέξῃ τὰ ἐ{P'} ἀσεβεῖς ἀπεσταλμένα ζῷα ἀλ{L'} αὐτοὶ βλέποντες εἰδῶσιν ὅτι θεοῦ κρίσει ἐλαύνονται 19 ποτὲ δὲ καὶ μεταξὺ ὕδατος ὑπὲρ τὴν πυρὸς δύναμιν φλέγει ἵνα ἀδίκου γῆς γενήματα διαφθείρῃ 20 ἀν{Q'} ὧν ἀγγέλων τροφὴν ἐψώμισας τὸν λαόν σου καὶ ἕτοιμον ἄρτον ἀ{P'} οὐρανοῦ παρέσχες αὐτοῖς ἀκοπιάτως πᾶσαν ἡδονὴν ἰσχύοντα καὶ πρὸς πᾶσαν ἁρμόνιον γεῦσιν 21 ἡ μὲν γὰρ ὑπόστασίς σου τὴν σὴν πρὸς τέκνα ἐνεφάνιζεν γλυκύτητα τῇ δὲ τοῦ προσφερομένου ἐπιθυμίᾳ ὑπηρετῶν πρὸς ὅ τις ἐβούλετο μετεκιρνᾶτο 22 χιὼν δὲ καὶ κρύσταλλος ὑπέμεινε πῦρ καὶ οὐκ ἐτήκετο ἵνα γνῶσιν ὅτι τοὺς τῶν ἐχθρῶν καρποὺς κατέφθειρε πῦρ φλεγόμενον ἐν τῇ χαλάζῃ καὶ ἐν τοῖς ὑετοῖς διαστράπτον 23 τοῦτο πάλιν {D'} ἵνα τραφῶσιν δίκαιοι καὶ τῆς ἰδίας ἐπιλέλησται δυνάμεως 24 ἡ γὰρ κτίσις σοὶ τῷ ποιήσαντι ὑπηρετοῦσα ἐπιτείνεται εἰς κόλασιν κατὰ τῶν ἀδίκων καὶ ἀνίεται εἰς εὐεργεσίαν ὑπὲρ τῶν ἐπὶ σοὶ πεποιθότων

15 Truly, thine is a power there is no escaping; 16 the uplifted arm that plagued impious Egypt, where thou wast treated as a stranger. Strange, indeed, to that country were the rains that hunted them down, the fierce hail-storms; the fire, too, that wasted them. 17 Wonder beyond all wont, that in water, the all-quenching, fire should rage its fiercest; no element but must rally in the cause of right. 18 Here the flame would burn low, to spare those creatures a scorching, that were thy emissaries against the godless; doubt there should be none, for any who saw it, but divine justice was at his heels. 19 Here, in the very midst of the water it would burn as never fire burned yet, to blast all the fruits of that accursed land. 20 And thy own people, Lord? Them thou didst foster with the food of angels; bread from heaven thou didst set before them, which no labour of theirs had made ready, every taste uniting that could bring content, of every appetite the welcome choice. 21 So would thy own nature manifest a father’s universal love; this food should humour the eater’s whim, turning itself into that which he craved most. 22 In Egypt, snow and ice had resisted the fire, never melting; plain it was that this fire, which shone out amid the hailstones and the rain, was in alliance with them to burn up and destroy the enemy’s harvest. 23 Now, once again, fire forgot its own nature, this time, to give faithful souls their nourishment![2] 24 So well does thy creation obey thee, its author, now exerting all its powers to punish the wicked, now abating its force to do thy loyal followers a service!

15
Sed tuam manum effugere impossibile est. 16
Negantes enim te nosse impii,
per fortitudinem brachii tui flagellati sunt:
novis aquis, et grandinibus,
et pluviis persecutionem passi,
et per ignem consumpti. 17
Quod enim mirabile erat, in aqua, quæ omnia extinguit,
plus ignis valebat:
vindex est enim orbis justorum. 18
Quodam enim tempore mansuetabatur ignis,
ne comburerentur quæ ad impios missa erant animalia,
sed ut ipsi videntes scirent
quoniam Dei judicio patiuntur persecutionem. 19
Et quodam tempore in aqua
supra virtutem ignis exardescebat undique,
ut iniquæ terræ nationem exterminaret. 20
Pro quibus angelorum esca nutrivisti populum tuum,
et paratum panem de cælo præstitisti illis sine labore,
omne delectamentum in se habentem,
et omnis saporis suavitatem. 21
Substantia enim tua dulcedinem tuam,
quam in filios habes, ostendebat;
et deserviens uniuscujusque voluntati,
ad quod quisque volebat convertebatur. 22
Nix autem et glacies sustinebant vim ignis, et non tabescebant:
ut scirent quoniam fructus inimicorum exterminabat
ignis ardens in grandine et pluvia coruscans; 23
hic autem iterum ut nutrirentur justi,
etiam suæ virtutis oblitus est. 24
Creatura enim tibi factori deserviens,
exardescit in tormentum adversus injustos,
et lenior fit ad benefaciendum pro his qui in te confidunt.

[1] The names ‘Egypt’ and ‘Egyptian’ have, as before, been inserted to make the sense of the original plainer. The same is to be said of the following words: ‘frogs’ in verse 3, ‘brazen serpent’ in verse 7, and ‘manna’ in verse 27.

[2] vv. 22, 23: The meaning here is not very clearly expressed; it is, that fire twice failed to produce its natural effect, once when it did not melt the hailstones which fell in Egypt, and again when it did not melt the manna in the cooking-pots of the Israelites (see verse 27 below, and Ex. 16.21).

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