The Bible, Douay Rheims, Book 25: Wisdom
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Unknown >> The Bible, Douay Rheims, Book 25: Wisdom
Wisdom Chapter 9
Solomon's prayer for wisdom.
9:1. God of my fathers, and Lord of mercy, who hast made all things with
thy word,
9:2. And by thy wisdom hast appointed man, that he should have dominion
over the creature that was made by thee,
9:3. That he should order the world according to equity and justice, and
execute justice with an upright heart:
9:4. Give me wisdom, that sitteth by thy throne, and cast me not off
from among thy children:
9:5. For I am thy servant, and the son of thy handmaid, a weak man, and
of short time, and falling short of the understanding of judgment and
laws.
9:6. For if one be perfect among the children of men, yet if thy wisdom
be not with him, he shall be nothing regarded.
9:7. Thou hast chosen me to be king of thy people, and a judge of thy
sons and daughters:
9:8. And hast commanded me to build a temple on thy holy mount, and an
altar in the city of thy dwelling place, a resemblance of thy holy
tabernacle, which thou hast prepared from the beginning:
9:9. And thy wisdom with thee, which knoweth thy works, which then also
was present when thou madest the world, and knew what was agreeable to
thy eyes, and what was right in thy commandments.
9:10. Send her out of thy holy heaven, and from the throne of thy
majesty, that she may be with me, and may labour with me, that I may
know what is acceptable with thee:
9:11. For she knoweth and understandeth all things, and shall lead me
soberly in my works, and shall preserve me by her power.
9:12. So shall my works be acceptable, and I shall govern thy people
justly, and shall be worthy of the throne of my father.
9:13. For who among men is he that can know the counsel of God? or who
can think what the will of God is?
9:14. For the thoughts of mortal men are fearful, and our counsels
uncertain.
9:15. For the corruptible body is a load upon the soul, and the earthly
habitation presseth down the mind that museth upon many things.
9:16. And hardly do we guess aright at things that are upon earth: and
with labour do we find the things that are before us. But the things
that are in heaven, who shall search out?
9:17. And who shall know thy thought, except thou give wisdom, and send
thy holy Spirit from above:
9:18. And so the ways of them that are upon earth may be corrected, and
men may learn the things that please thee?
9:19. For by wisdom they were healed, whosoever have pleased thee, O
Lord, from the beginning.
Wisdom Chapter 10
What wisdom did for Adam, Noe, Abraham, Lot, Jacob, Joseph, and the
people of Israel.
10:1. She preserved him, that was first formed by God, the father of the
world, when he was created alone,
10:2. And she brought him out of his sin, and gave him power to govern
all things.
10:3. But when the unjust went away from her in his anger, he perished
by the fury wherewith he murdered his brother.
The unjust... Cain.
10:4. For whose cause, when water destroyed the earth, wisdom healed it
again, directing the course of the just by contemptible wood.
For whose cause... Viz., for the wickedness of the race of Cain.-Ibid.
The just... Noe.
10:5. Moreover, when the nations had conspired together to consent to
wickedness, she knew the just, and preserved him without blame to God,
and kept him strong against the compassion for his son.
She knew the just... She found out and approved Abraham. Ibid. And kept
him strong, etc... Gave him strength to stand firm against the efforts
of his natural tenderness, when he was ordered to sacrifice his son.
10:6. She delivered the just man, who fled from the wicked that were
perishing, when the fire came down upon Pentapolis:
The just man... Lot.-Ibid. Pentapolis... The land of the five cities,
Sodom, Gomorrha, etc.
10:7. Whose land, for a testimony of their wickedness, is desolate, and
smoketh to this day, and the trees bear fruits that ripen not, and a
standing pillar of salt is a monument of an incredulous soul.
10:8. For regarding not wisdom, they did not only slip in this, that
they were ignorant of good things; but they left also unto men a
memorial of their folly, so that in the things in which they sinned,
they could not so much as lie hid.
10:9. But wisdom hath delivered from sorrow them that attend upon her.
10:10. She conducted the just, when he fled from his brother's wrath,
through the right ways, and shewed him the kingdom of God, and gave him
the knowledge of the holy things, made him honourable in his labours,
and accomplished his labours.
The just... Jacob.
10:11. In the deceit of them that overreached him, she stood by him, and
made him honourable.
10:12. She kept him safe from his enemies, and she defended him from
seducers, and gave him a strong conflict, that he might overcome, and
know that wisdom is mightier than all.
Conflict... Viz., with the angel.
10:13. She forsook not the just when he was sold, but delivered him from
sinners: she went down with him into the pit.
The just when he was sold... Viz., Joseph.
10:14. And in bands she left him not, till she brought him the sceptre
of the kingdom, and power against those that oppressed him: and shewed
them to be liars that had accused him, and gave him everlasting glory.
10:15. She delivered the just people, and blameless seed, from the
nations that oppressed them.
10:16. She entered into the soul of the servant of God and stood against
dreadful kings in wonders and signs.
The servant of God... Viz., Moses.
10:17. And she rendered to the just the wages of their labours, and
conducted them in a wonderful way: and she was to them for a covert by
day, and for the light of stars by night:
10:18. And she brought them through the Red Sea, and carried them over
through a great water.
10:19. But their enemies she drowned in the sea, and from the depth of
hell she brought them out. Therefore the just took the spoils of the
wicked.
10:20. And they sung to thy holy name, O Lord, and they praised with one
accord thy victorious hand.
10:21. For wisdom opened the mouth of the dumb, and made the tongues of
infants eloquent.
Wisdom Chapter 11
Other benefits of wisdom to the people of God.
11:1. She prospered their works in the hands of the holy prophet.
The holy prophet... Moses.
11:2. They went through wildernesses that were not inhabited, and in
desert places they pitched their tents.
11:3. They stood against their enemies, and revenged themselves of their
adversaries.
Their enemies... The Amalecites.
11:4. They were thirsty, and they called upon thee, and water was given
them out of the high rock, and a refreshment of their thirst out of the
hard stone.
11:5. For by what things their enemies were punished, when their drink
failed them, while the children of Israel abounded therewith, and
rejoiced:
By what things, etc... The meaning is, that God, who wrought a miracle
to punish the Egyptians by thirst, when he turned all their waters into
blood, (at which time the Israelites, who were exempt from those
plagues, had plenty of water,) wrought another miracle in favour of his
own people in their thirst, by giving them water out of the rock.
11:6. By the same things they in their need were benefited.
11:7. For instead of a fountain of an ever running river, thou gavest
human blood to the unjust.
11:8. And whilst they were diminished for a manifest reproof of their
murdering the infants, thou gavest to thine abundant water unlooked for:
11:9. Shewing by the thirst that was then, how thou didst exalt thine,
and didst kill their adversaries.
11:10. For when they were tried, and chastised with mercy, they knew how
the wicked were judged with wrath, and tormented.
11:11. For thou didst admonish and try them as a father: but the others,
as a severe king, thou didst examine and condemn.
11:12. For whether absent or present, they were tormented alike.
11:13. For a double affliction came upon them, and a groaning for the
remembrance of things past.
11:14. For when they heard that by their punishments the others were
benefited, they remembered the Lord, wondering at the end of what was
come to pass.
By their punishments, etc... That is, that the Israelites had been
benefited and miraculously favoured in the same kind, in which they had
been punished.
11:15. For whom they scorned before, when he was thrown out at the time
of his being wickedly exposed to perish, him they admired in the end,
when they saw the event: their thirsting being unlike to that of the
just.
11:16. But for the foolish devices of their iniqnity, because some being
deceived worshipped dumb serpents and worthless beasts, thou didst send
upon them a multitude of dumb beasts for vengeance:
Dumb beasts... Viz., frogs, sciniphs, flies, and locusts.
11:17. That they might know that by what things a man sinneth, by the
same also he is tormented.
11:18. For thy almighty hand, which made the world of matter without
form, was not unable to send upon them a multitude of bears, or fierce
lions,
11:19. Or unknown beasts of a new kind, full of rage; either breathing
out a fiery vapour, or sending forth a stinking smoke, or shooting
horrible sparks out of their eyes:
11:20. Whereof not only the hurt might be able to destroy them, but also
the very sight might kill them through fear.
11:21. Yea, and without these, they might have been slain with one
blast, persecuted by their own deeds, and scattered by the breath of thy
power: but thou hast ordered all things in measure, and number, and
weight.
11:22. For great power always belonged to thee alone: and who shall
resist the strength of thy arm?
11:23. For the whole world before thee is as the least grain of the
balance, and as a drop of the morning dew, that falleth down upon tho
earth.
11:24. But thou hast mercy upon all, because thou canst do all things,
and overlookest the sins of men for the sake of repentance.
11:25. For thou lovest all things that are, and hatest none of the
things which thou hast made: for thou didst not appoint, or make any
thing hating it.
11:26. And how could any thing endure, if thou wouldst not? or be
preserved, if not called by thee?
11:27. But thou sparest all: because they are thine, O Lord, who lovest
souls.
Wisdom Chapter 12
God's wisdom and mercy in his proceedings with the Chanaanites.
12:1. O how good and sweet is thy Spirit, O Lord, in all things!
12:2. And therefore thou chastisest them that err, by little and little:
and admonishest them, and speakest to them, concerning the things
wherein they offend: that leaving their wickedness, they may believe in
thee, O Lord.
12:3. For those ancient inhabitants of thy holy land, whom thou didst
abhor,
12:4. Because they did works hateful to thee by their sorceries, and
wicked sacrifices,
12:5. And those merciless murderers of their own children, and eaters of
men's bowels, and devourers of blood from the midst of thy consecration,
From the midst of thy consecration... Literally, sacrament. That is, the
land sacred to thee, in which thy temple was to be established, and
man's redemption to be wrought.
12:6. And those parents sacrificing with their own hands helpless souls,
it was thy will to destroy by the hands of our parents,
12:7. That the land which of all is most dear to thee, might receive a
worthy colony of the children of God.
12:8. Yet even those thou sparedst as men, and didst send wasps
forerunners of thy host, to destroy them by little and little.
12:9. Not that thou wast unable to bring the wicked under the just by
war, or by cruel beasts, or with one rough word to destroy them at once:
12:10. But executing thy judgments by degrees, thou gavest them place of
repentance, not being ignorant that they were a wicked generation, and
their malice natural, and that their thought could never be changed.
12:11. For it was a cursed seed from the beginning: neither didst thou
for fear of any one give pardon to their sins.
12:12. For who shall say to thee: What hast thou done? or who shall
withstand thy judgment? or who shall come before thee to be a revenger
of wicked men? or who shall accuse thee, if the nations perish, which
thou hast made?
12:13. For there is no other God but thou, who hast care of all, that
thou shouldst shew that thou dost not give judgment unjustly.
12:14. Neither shall king, nor tyrant, in thy sight inquire about them
whom thou hast destroyed.
12:15. For so much then, as thou art just, thou orderest all things
justly: thinking it not agreeable to the power, to condemn him who
deserveth not to be punished.
12:16. For thy power is the beginning of justice: and because thou art
Lord of all, thou makest thyself gracious to all.
12:17. For thou shewest thy power, when men will not believe thee to be
absolute in power, and thou convincest the boldness of them that know
thee not.
12:18. But thou being master of power, judgest with tranquillity, and
with great favour disposest of us: for thy power is at hand when thou
wilt.
12:19. But thou hast taught thy people by such works, that they must be
just and humane, and hast made thy children to be of a good hope:
because in judging, thou givest place for repentance for sins.
12:20. For if thou didst punish the enemies of thy servants, and that
deserved to die, with so great deliberation, giving them time and place
whereby they might be changed from their wickedness:
12:21. With what circumspection hast thou judged thy own children, to
whose parents thou hast sworn, and made covenants of good promises?
12:22. Therefore whereas thou chastisest us, thou scourgest our enemies
very many ways, to the end that when we judge we may think on thy
goodness: and when we are judged, we may hope for thy mercy.
12:23. Wherefore thou hast also greatly tormented them, who, in their
life, have lived foolishly and unjustly, by the same things which they
worshipped.
12:24. For they went astray for a long time in the ways of error,
holding those things for gods which are the most worthless among beasts,
living after the manner of children without understanding.
12:25. Therefore thou hast sent a judgment upon them, as senseless
children, to mock them.
12:26. But they that were not amended by mockeries and reprehensions,
experienced the worthy judgment of God.
12:27. For seeing, with indignation, that they suffered by those very
things which they took for gods, when they were destroyed by the same,
they acknowledged him the true God, whom in time past they denied that
they knew: for which cause the end also of their condemnation came upon
them.
Wisdom Chapter 13
Idolaters are inexcusable: and those most of all that worship for gods
the works of the hands of men.
13:1. But all men are vain, in whom there is not the knowledge of God:
and who by these good things that are seen, could not understand him
that is, neither by attending to the works have acknowledged who was the
workman:
13:2. But have imagined either the fire, or the wind, or the swift air,
or the circle of the stars, or the great water, or the sun and moon, to
be the gods that rule the world.
13:3. With whose beauty, if they, being delighted, took them to be gods:
let them know how much the Lord of them is more beautiful than they: for
the first author of beauty made all those things.
13:4. Or if they admired their power, and their effects, let them
understand by them, that he that made them, is mightier than they:
13:5. For by the greatness of the beauty, and of the creature, the
creator of them may be seen, so as to be known thereby.
13:6. But yet as to these they are less to be blamed. For they perhaps
err, seeking God, and desirous to find him.
13:7. For being conversant among his works, they search: and they are
persuaded that the things are good which are seen.
13:8. But then again they are not to be pardoned.
13:9. For if they were able to know so much as to make a judgment of the
world: how did they not more easily find out the Lord thereof?
13:10. But unhappy are they, and their hope is among the dead, who have
called gods the works of the hand of men, gold and silver, the
inventions of art, and the resemblances of beasts, or an unprofitable
stone the work of an ancient hand.
13:11. Or if an artist, a carpenter, hath cut down a tree proper for his
use in the wood, and skilfully taken off all the bark thereof, and with
his art, diligently formeth a vessel profitable for the common uses of
life,
13:12. And useth the chips of his work to dress his meat:
13:13. And taking what was left thereof, which is good for nothing,
being a crooked piece of wood, and full of knots, carveth it diligently
when he hath nothing else to do, and by the skill of his art fashioneth
it, and maketh it like the image of a man:
13:14. Or the resemblance of some beast, laying it over with vermilion,
and painting it red, and covering every spot that is in it:
13:15. And maketh a convenient dwelling place for it, and setting it in
a wall, and fastening it with iron,
13:16. Providing for it, lest it should fall, knowing that it is unable
to help itself: for it is an image, and hath need of help.
13:17. And then maketh prayer to it, enquiring concerning his substance,
and his children, or his marriage. And he is not ashamed to speak to
that which hath no life:
13:18. And for health he maketh supplication to the weak, and for life
prayeth to that which is dead, and for help calleth upon that which is
unprofitable:
13:19. And for a good journey he petitioneth him that cannot walk: and
for getting, and for working, and for the event of all things he asketh
him that is unable to do any thing.
Wisdom Chapter 14
The beginning of worshipping idols: and the effects thereof.
14:1. Again, another designing to sail, and beginning to make his voyage
through the raging waves, calleth upon a piece of wood more frail than
the wood that carrieth him.
14:2. For this the desire of gain devised, and the workman built it by
his skill.
14:3. But thy providence, O Father, governeth it: for thou hast made a
way even in the sea, and a most sure path among the waves,
14:4. Shewing that thou art able to save out of all things, yea, though
a man went to sea without art.
14:5. But that the works of thy wisdom might not be idle: therefore men
also trust their lives even to a little wood, and passing over the sea
by ship, are saved.
14:6. And from the beginning also, when the proud giants perished, the
hope of the world fleeing to a vessel, which was governed by thy hand,
left to the world seed of generation.
14:7. For blessed is the wood, by which justice cometh
14:8. But the idol that is made by hands, is cursed, as well it, as he
that made it: he because he made it; and it because being frail it is
called a god.
14:9. But to God the wicked and his wickedness are hateful alike.
14:10. For that which is made, together with him that made it, shall
suffer torments.
14:11. Therefore there shall be no respect had even to the idols of the
Gentiles: because the creatures of God are turned to an abomination, and
a temptation to the souls of men, and a snare to the feet of the unwise.
14:12. For the beginning of fornication is the devising of idols: and
the invention of them is the corruption of life.
14:13. For neither were they from the beginning, neither shall they be
for ever.
14:14. For by the vanity of men they came into the world: and therefore
they shall be found to come shortly to an end.
14:15. For a father being afflicted with bitter grief, made to himself
the image of his son, who was quickly taken away: and him who then had
died as a man, he began now to worship as a god, and appointed him rites
and sacrifices among his servants.
14:16. Then, in process of time, wicked custom prevailing, this error
was kept as a law, and statues were worshipped by the commandment of
tyrants.
14:17. And those whom men could not honour in presence, because they
dwelt far off, they brought their resemblance from afar, and made an
express image of the king, whom they had a mind to honour: that by this
their diligence, they might honour as present, him that was absent.
14:18. And to the worshipping of these, the singular diligence also of
the artificer helped to set forward the ignorant.
14:19. For he being willing to please him that employed him, laboured
with all his art to make the resemblance in the best manner.
14:20. And the multitude of men, carried away by the beauty of the work,
took him now for a god, that little before was but honoured as a man.
14:21. And this was the occasion of deceiving human life: for men
serving either their affection, or their kings, gave the incommunicable
name to stones and wood.
14:22. And it was not enough for them to err about the knowledge of God,
but whereas they lived in a great war of ignorance, they call so many
and so great evils peace.
14:23. For either they sacrifice their own children, or use hidden
sacrifices, or keep watches full of madness,
14:24. So that now they neither keep life, nor marriage undefiled, but
one killeth another through envy, or grieveth him by adultery:
14:25. And all things are mingled together, blood, murder, theft, and
dissimulation, corruption and unfaithfulness, tumults and perjury,
disquieting of the good,
14:26. Forgetfulness of God, defiling of souls, changing of nature,
disorder in marriage, and the irregularity of adultery and uncleanness.
14:27. For the worship of abominable idols is the cause, and the
beginning and end of all evil.
14:28. For either they are mad when they are merry: or they prophesy
lies, or they live unjustly, or easily forswear themselves.
14:29. For whilst they trust in idols, which are without life, though
they swear amiss, they look not to be hurt.
14:30. But for both these things they shall be justly punished, because
they have thought not well of God, giving heed to idols, and have sworn
unjustly, in guile despising justice.
14:31. For it is not the power of them, by whom they swear, but the just
vengeance of sinners always punisheth the transgression of the unjust.
Wisdom Chapter 15
The servants of God praise him who hath delivered them from idolatry;
condemning both the makers and the worshippers of idols.
15:1. But thou, our God, art gracious and true, patient, and ordering
all things in mercy.
15:2. For if we sin, we are thine, knowing thy greatness: and if we sin
not, we know that we are counted with thee.
15:3. For to know thee is perfect justice: and to know thy justice, and
thy power, is the root of immortality.
15:4. For the invention of mischievous men hath not deceived us, nor the
shadow of a picture, a fruitless labour, a graven figure with divers
colours,
15:5. The sight whereof enticeth the fool to lust after it, and he
loveth the lifeless figure of a dead image.
15:6. The lovers of evil things deserve to have no better things to
trust in, both they that make them, and they that love them, and they
that worship them.
15:7. The potter also tempering soft earth, with labour fashioneth every
vessel for our service, and of the same clay he maketh both vessels that
are for clean uses, and likewise such as serve to the contrary: but what
is the use of these vessels, the potter is the judge.
15:8. And of the same clay by a vain labour he maketh a god: he who a
little before was made of earth himself, and a little after returneth to
the same out of which he was taken, when his life, which was lent him,
shall be called for again.
15:9. But his care is, not that he shall labour, nor that his life is
short, but he striveth with the goldsmiths and silversmiths: and he
endeavoureth to do like the workers in brass, and counteth it a glory to
make vain things.
15:10. For his heart is ashes, and his hope vain earth and his life more
base than clay:
15:11. Forasmuch as he knew not his maker, and him that inspired into
him the soul that worketh, and that breathed into him a living spirit.
15:12. Yea, and they have counted our life a pastime and the business of
life to be gain, and that we must be getting every way, even out of
evil.
15:13. For that man knoweth that he offendeth above all others, who of
earthly matter maketh brittle vessels, and graven gods.
15:14. But all the enemies of thy people that hold them in subjection,
are foolish, and unhappy, and proud beyond measure:
15:15. For they have esteemed all the idols of the heathens for gods,
which neither have the use of eyes to see, nor noses to draw breath, nor
ears to hear, nor fingers of hands to handle, and as for their feet,
they are slow to walk.
15:16. For man made them: and he that borroweth his own breath,
fashioned them. For no man can make a god like to himself.
15:17. For being mortal himself, he formeth a dead thing with his wicked
hands. For he is better than they whom he worshippeth, because he indeed
hath lived, though he were mortal, but they never.
15:18. Moreover, they worship also the vilest creatures: but things
without sense, compared to these, are worse than they.
15:19. Yea, neither by sight can any man see good of these beasts. But
they have fled from the praise of God, and from his blessing.