Wisdom 11-19

New Catholic Bible

¹ Through the holy prophet, Wisdom^[a] gave them success in everything.
² They journeyed through an inhospitable wilderness
    and pitched their tents in untrodden wastes;
³     they stood firm against their enemies and turned back their foes.
⁴ When they were thirsty they cried out to you,
    and water was given to them out of unyielding rock,
    a refreshment for their thirst out of hard stone.^[b]
5 The very means that had served to punish their enemies
    became a benefit for them in their need.^[c]
6 Instead of the spring of an ever-flowing river^[d]
    befouled by blood mingled with water
⁷     as a rebuke for the decree to slaughter infants,
you gave them abundant water unexpectedly,
⁸     showing them by their thirst at that time
    how you punished their enemies.
⁹ For when they themselves were tested, although they were only chastised in mercy,
    they comprehended the torments of the godless who had been judged in anger.
¹⁰ You tested the former, admonishing them like a father,
    but the latter you sifted as a stern king does in condemnation.
¹¹ Whether far off or close by,^[e] they were afflicted alike,
¹²     for a twofold grief seized them,
    and a groaning over the remembrances of the past.
¹³ When they heard that through their punishment the righteous had received benefits,
    they perceived the presence of the Lord.^[f]
14 For the one whom long before they had cast out, exposed, and rejected^[g] with scorn,
    they regarded with admiration at the end of the events,
    when they experienced thirst vastly different from that of the righteous.

¹⁵ In return for the foolish reasonings of their wickedness,
    which misled them into worshiping serpents bereft of reason and insects devoid of worth,
you sent as punishment upon them hordes of irrational creatures,^[j]
16     so that they might learn that the agents of one’s sin are the instruments of one’s punishment.^[k]
17 For your all-powerful hand,
    which created the world out of formless matter,^[l]
    had the wherewithal to send upon them a host of bears or savage lions,
¹⁸ or newly created, ferocious, unknown beasts
    either breathing fiery blasts
or belching forth thick smoke
    or flashing frightful sparks from their eyes.
¹⁹ These could not only destroy people by the harm they did
    but also strike them dead by their terrifying appearance alone.
²⁰ Even without these, a single breath would have sufficed to overcome them
    when pursued by justice
    and dispersed by your powerful spirit.
But you have ordered all things by measure, number, and weight.

²¹ For you always have the option to exert great strength,
    and who can withstand the might of your arm?
²² Indeed, before you, the whole world is like a speck that tips the scales,
    or like a drop of morning dew that falls on the ground.
²³ Yet you are merciful to all, for you can do all things,
    and you overlook men’s sins so that they may repent.
²⁴ For you love everything that exists
    and abhor nothing that you have created,
    since you would not have fashioned anything that you hated.^[m]
25 How could anything have continued to exist unless you had willed it,
    or be preserved if it had not been called forth by you?
²⁶ You spare all things,
    for they are yours, O Lord, you who love souls.

¹ Your imperishable spirit permeates all things;
²     that is why, bit by bit, you correct those who err,
and you admonish them and call to mind the very things in which they go wrong,
    so that they may renounce their wickedness and believe in you, O Lord.

³ The ancient inhabitants of your holy land
⁴     you despised for their loathsome practices:
their acts of sorcery and sacrilegious rites,
⁵     their merciless slaughter of children,
    and their cannibalistic feasting on human flesh and blood.^[o]
Those initiates of secret rituals,
⁶     those parents who slaughtered defenseless children,
you willed to destroy by the hands of our ancestors,
⁷     so that the land cherished by you above all others
    might receive a worthy colony of children of God.
^{8     [p]}But even these, since they were men, you spared,
    and you sent wasps as forerunners of your army
    to exterminate them little by little.
⁹ It was well within your power to have the godless vanquished in battle by the righteous
    or to destroy them in an instant by savage beasts or by one stern word.
¹⁰ But by carrying out your sentence in stages,
    you gave them the chance to repent.
You were well aware that they came from an evil stock,
    and that their wickedness was innate,
and that their way of thinking would never change,
¹¹     for they were an accursed race from the beginning.

Again, it was not because of fear of anyone
    that you allowed their sins to go unpunished.
¹² For who can say to you: “What have you done?”
    or who can challenge your judgment?
Who can bring accusation against you
    when the nations you have created are destroyed?
Or who can come into your presence
    as the defender of the wicked?
¹³ For there is no other god besides you, who show concern for the wellbeing of all people,
    to whom you must prove that you have not been unjust in your judgments.
¹⁴ Nor can any king or ruler confront you in defense of those you have punished.
¹⁵ You are righteous, and you govern all things with righteousness,
    considering it not in keeping with your power
    to condemn anyone not deserving of punishment.
¹⁶ For your strength is the source of righteousness,
    and your universal dominion makes you gracious to all.^[q]
17 You display your strength when people doubt the absolute degree of your power,
    and you rebuke any insolence shown by those who are aware of your might.
¹⁸ But even though your strength is unsurpassed, you show mercy in your judgment,
    and you govern us with great leniency,
    for you possess the power to act whenever you so choose.

¹⁹ By acting in this way you have taught your people
    that the righteous man must be kind to others,
and you have gifted your children with blessed hope
    because you grant them repentance for their sins.^[s]
20 For if you have shown such great solicitude and indulgence
    in punishing the enemies of your children who deserved to die
    and have granted them time and opportunity to repudiate their wickedness,
²¹ with what attentiveness have you judged your children
    to whose ancestors you made such wonderful promises through oaths and covenants!
²² Hence, while you chastise us, you scourge our enemies ten thousand times more,
    so that we may recall your goodness when we judge,
    and when we are judged, we may hope for mercy.

²³ This is why against those who lived wicked lives of folly
    you used their own abominations to torment them.
²⁴ For they went far astray along the paths of error,
    accepting as gods the vilest and most despicable animals,
    being deluded like foolish infants.
²⁵ Therefore, as though they were children unable to reason,
    you imposed a sentence upon them to mock them.
²⁶ However, those who have paid no heed to the warning of mild rebukes
    will experience the full weight of God’s judgment.
²⁷ They were angered at their suffering,
    finding themselves punished because of those creatures they had regarded as gods.
But then they saw and recognized as the true God
    the one whom previously they had refused to know,
    and with this the very height of condemnation fell upon them.^[u]

¹ For all men were inherently foolish^[x] who remained in ignorance of God,
    and did not come to know him who is, even while observing the good things around them,
    nor recognize the artisan while studying his works.
² To their way of thinking, either fire or wind or the swift air,
    or the periphery of the stars, or tempestuous water,
    or the luminaries of heaven^[y] were the gods that govern the world.
³ If they have been deluded by the beauty of these things into believing that these were gods,
    let them come to understand how far superior to these is their Lord,
    since he was the source of beauty that fashioned them.
⁴ And if they were astonished at their power and energy,
    let them realize from observing these things how much more powerful is he who made them.
⁵ For from the grandeur and the beauty of created things
    is derived a corresponding perception of the Creator.
⁶ Yet these people incur minimal blame,^[z]
    for they may have gone astray
    while seeking God and eagerly desiring to find him.
⁷ For while diligently searching among his works,
    they are distracted by the beauty of these things.
⁸ But even so, they cannot be completely absolved of guilt.
⁹ For if they achieved a sufficient degree of knowledge to investigate the world,
    how did they fail to find its Lord more quickly?

¹⁰ But the truly wretched ones are those who place their hopes in dead things,^[aa]
    and give the title of gods to the work of human hands:
gold and silver skillfully fashioned,
    likenesses of animals,
    or useless stone sculpted by some ancient artisan.
^11 [ab]Consider, for example, a skilled woodworker who cuts down a suitable tree,
    carefully strips it of all its bark,
and then, with admirable artistry,
    produces some article suitable for daily use.
¹² The small pieces of wood left over from his work
    he burns so that he may cook his food and eat his fill.
¹³ However, left over among these remnants is a useless piece of wood,
    crooked and full of knots,
    which he puts aside to whittle at his leisure.
He carves it skillfully during his spare time,
    forming it into the likeness of a man,
    or makes it resemble some worthless animal,
¹⁴ giving it a coat of vermilion and covering its surface with red paint
    while smearing over every blemish in it.
¹⁵ Then he provides for it a suitable shrine
    and places it on the wall, fastening it there with nails.
¹⁶ In this way, he takes precautions so that it will not fall,
    since he realizes that it cannot help itself,
    for, being merely an image, it requires help.
¹⁷ But when he prays regarding his possessions or his marriage or his children,
    he feels no shame in addressing this lifeless object.
¹⁸ In asking for health he petitions something that is weak,
    and for life he entreats the dead;
for aid he prays to something totally inept,
    and for a prosperous journey he beseeches something that is unable to walk.
¹⁹ And for profits, work, and success in affairs,
    he asks the assistance of something whose hands are completely immobile.

¹ Again, someone preparing to embark on a voyage through turbulent waves
    invokes a piece of wood more frail than the ship that carries him.
² It was desire for profit that devised that vessel,
    and Wisdom was the shipwright that built it.^[ac]
3 However, O Father, your providence^[ad] guides it,
    since you have provided it with a pathway through the sea
    and with a safe passage through the waves,
⁴ indicating that you can save from every danger,
    so that even an inexperienced person can put out to sea.
⁵ It is your will that the works of your Wisdom should not be sterile;
    thus men entrust their lives even to the most fragile wood,
    and they safely reach land even after sailing through the waves on a raft.
⁶ For in the beginning, when arrogant giants were being destroyed,
    the hope of the world took refuge on a raft^[ae]
    and, guided by your hand, bequeathed to the world the seed of a new generation.
⁷ For blessed is the wood through which a righteous work is accomplished,^[af]
8     but the idol made with hands is accursed, as is its maker—
    he for having made it, and it because, even though perishable, it was called a god.
⁹ Equally hateful to God are the godless man and his ungodliness;
¹⁰     the work and the artificer will both be punished.
¹¹ Therefore, a visitation will overtake even the idols of the nations
    because among the creatures of God they have become an abomination,
a scandal for human souls,
    and a pitfall for the feet of the foolish.

¹² The invention of idols marked the origin of immorality;
    their discovery corrupted human life.
¹³ They did not exist at the beginning,
    and they will not last forever.
¹⁴ They entered the world as a result of human vanity,
    and therefore a speedy demise has been planned for them.
¹⁵ A father overcome with grief at an untimely death
    had an image made of the child so quickly taken from him.
And he honored as a god what was formerly a corpse
    and handed on to his household the observance of sacrifices and ceremonies.
¹⁶ With the passing of time this impious custom became established and was observed as a law,
    and at the command of rulers graven images were worshiped.
¹⁷ When the subjects of a monarch lived at such a distance that they could not honor him in person,
    they would have a likeness made of their far-off ruler,
thereby possessing a visible image of the king they desired to honor,
    zealously in this way flattering the absent ruler as though he were present.^[ah]
18 Even those who did not know the king
    were aroused to promote his worship by the ambition of the artisan
¹⁹ who, perhaps in his eagerness to please his ruler,
    used all his skill to depict him in the most favorable way;
²⁰ and the people, attracted by the beauty of his artistry,
    began to worship as a god someone whom they had previously honored as a man.
²¹ Thus, this became a snare for humankind,
    since people, whether victimized by misfortune or by tyranny,
    assigned to objects of stone and wood the name that belongs to no other.
²² Then it was not sufficient for them to have mistaken notions in their knowledge of God;
    for, even though they live in the midst of a great war of ignorance,
    they term such horrible evils peace.
²³ They engage in the ritual murders of children and in occult rites,
    and they hold frenzied orgies replete with unnatural ceremonies.
²⁴ They no longer cherish the purity of their lives and marriages,
    either treacherously murdering their neighbor or aggrieving him by committing adultery with his spouse.
²⁵ Chaos reigns supreme—blood and murder, theft and fraud,
    corruption, treachery, riot, perjury,
²⁶ destruction of the tranquillity of decent men, ingratitude,
    defilement of souls, sexual perversion,
    disorder in marriages, adultery, and debauchery.
²⁷ For the worship of nameless idols
    is the beginning, the source, and the end of every evil.
²⁸ Idolaters either become frenzied in their exultation or prophesy what is untrue,
    or live wicked lives or do not hesitate to commit perjury.
²⁹ Since they place their trust in lifeless idols,
    they have no fear of punishment in swearing false oaths.
^{30     [ai]}But justice will overtake them on two counts:
    because in their devotion to idols they ignored God,
    and because in their contempt for holiness they deliberately committed perjury.
³¹ For it is not the power of the things by which men swear
    but the just punishment reserved for those who sin
    that always overtakes the transgression of the wicked.

¹ But you, our God, are good and faithful,
    slow to anger, and showing mercy in governing the universe.
² Even if we sin, we are yours, for we acknowledge your power;
    but we will not sin, for we know that we are yours.
³ To know you constitutes complete righteousness,
    and to know your power constitutes the root of immortality.^[ak]
4 We have not been led astray by the evil creations of human skill
    or by the barren toil of painters,
figures covered over with varied colors,
⁵     the sight of which arouses in fools
    a yearning for the lifeless form of a dead image.
⁶ Lovers of evil and deserving of similar yearnings
    are those who make such figures, those who desire them, and those who worship them.

⁷ A potter laboriously kneads the soft earth,
    molding each object for our use,
fashioning out of the same clay
    both the vessels that will serve noble purposes
    and those designed for a contrary use.
But what shall be the purpose of each object
    is determined by the potter.^[am]
8 With misspent effort he will mold a false god from the same clay;
    although he himself was made out of earth a short time before,
after a brief interval, he will return to that earth from which he was taken,
    when he is required to return on demand the life that was lent to him.
⁹ However, he is not concerned about death
    or that his span of life is brief;
rather he competes with artisans in gold and silver
    and emulates workers in bronze,
    and he takes pride in making models of false gods.
¹⁰ His heart is ashes, his hopes of less value than common dirt,
    and his life less worthy than clay,
¹¹ because he failed to recognize the one who fashioned him
    and breathed into him an active soul
    and infused into him a living spirit.
¹² Indeed, he considered this life of ours as an idle game,
    and our span of years as a market that will be a source of profit.
    “No matter how wicked the means,” he says, “one must make a living.”
¹³ For this man, more than all others, knows that he is committing sin,
    when from the same earthy materials he makes both fragile pots and idols.

¹⁴ But the most foolish of all, and infantile in their acts,
    are the enemies who enslaved your people.
¹⁵ For they regarded as gods all their heathen idols,
    although these cannot use their eyes to see
    or their nostrils to breathe the air.
Neither can they use their ears to hear
    or the fingers on their hands to touch;
    and their feet are useless for walking.
¹⁶ For it was a man who made them;
    they were fashioned by one whose very breath is on loan.
For no artisan can form a god to resemble himself;
¹⁷     since he is mortal, what he is able to form with his impious hands is dead.
Thus, he is superior to the objects of his worship,
    since he has the life that his idols never had.
^{18     [an]}And besides, they worship even the most loathsome animals,
    worse than all the others in their lack of intelligence,
¹⁹ and without the slightest hint of beauty that might make them seem desirable;
    they have been excluded both from the approval of God and from his blessing.^[ao]

¹ Therefore, these idolaters were deservedly punished by creatures like these
    and tormented by swarms of vermin.
² But in contrast to this punishment, you treated your people with kindness,
    sending them quail to eat,
    a rare delicacy to satisfy their hunger.
³ Thus, the idolaters, repulsed by the sight of loathsome creatures^[ar] sent to plague them,
    lost their appetite even though suffering from hunger,
while your own people, after a short period of privation,
    partook with pleasure of rare delicacies.
⁴ For these idolaters necessarily had to be afflicted with inexorable want,
    sufficient to indicate to your people how their enemies were being tormented.

⁵ Even when the venomous rage of wild animals terrorized your people
    and they were perishing from the bites of wriggling serpents,
    your anger did not continue to the uttermost.
⁶ They were afflicted for a short time as a warning,
    and they were then given a symbol of salvation to remind them of the precepts of your law.^[as]
7 For he who turned toward it was saved,
    not by what he beheld,
    but by you, the Savior of all.
⁸ And by such means also you convinced our enemies
    that it is you who deliver from every evil.
⁹ For they were slain from the bites of locusts and flies,
    and no remedy was devised to save their lives
    because their punishment by such creatures was well deserved.
¹⁰ However, not even the fangs of venomous snakes could overwhelm your people,
    for your mercy intervened to heal them.
¹¹ They were bitten so that they would be reminded of your decrees,
    and then they were quickly healed
so that they would not fall into profound forgetfulness
    and fail to respond to your kindness.
¹² For it was neither herb nor poultice that cured them
    but your all-healing word, O Lord.
¹³ For you have power over life and death,
    bringing people down to the gates of the netherworld and then back again;^[at]
14 whereas, man may slay in malice,
    but he has no power to restore the breath of life
    or to set free the soul imprisoned by death.

¹⁵ However, from your hand it is impossible to escape.
¹⁶ For the godless who refused to acknowledge you
    were scourged by the might of your arm,
pursued by unusual rains and hailstorms and unrelenting downpours
    and devoured by fire.
¹⁷ And, defying all logic, in water, which quenches all things,
    the fire raged more fiercely than ever,
    for creation itself defends the righteous.
¹⁸ At one time the flames would die down
    so that they would not consume the creatures inflicted upon the wicked,
but that, seeing this, the latter might know
    that they were being pursued by the judgment of God.
¹⁹ At yet another time the flames would burn with far greater intensity, even in the water,
    to destroy the products of a sinful land.
²⁰ In contrast, you nourished your people with the food of angels,^[au]
    and with no labor on their part, you supplied them with bread from heaven that was ready to eat,
    filled with every delight and pleasing to every taste.
²¹ The sustenance you offered manifested your kindly mercy to your children,
    for the bread that conformed to the desire of those who ate it
    was transformed to appeal to each one’s preference.
²² Snow and ice^[av] withstood the fire and did not melt,
    so that they would realize that the harvesters of their enemies
were destroyed by a fire that blazed in the hail
    and flashed through the falling rain;
²³ whereas, that same fire even forgot its own strength
    so that the righteous might be fed.
²⁴ For creation, at the service of you, its maker,
    strains mightily to effect the punishment of the wicked,
    but relaxes for the benefit of those who trust in you.
²⁵ Therefore, at that time too, it was transformed in endless ways
    to serve your all-nourishing bounty,
    according to the desires of those in need,
²⁶ so that your beloved children, O Lord, might learn
    that it is not the various crops of the earth that nourish them,
    but it is your word that sustains those who trust in you.^[aw]
27 For whatever was not destroyed by fire^[ax]
    melted when merely warmed by a passing sunbeam,
²⁸ to instruct us that we must rise before the sun to offer thanks to you
    and must pray to you at the dawning of the day.
²⁹ For the hope of an ungrateful person will melt like the frost of winter
    and flow away like water no longer of any use.

¹ Great are your judgments and difficult to expound;
    for this reason obtuse souls were led into error.
² For when the wicked believed that they held your holy nation in their power,
    they themselves became prisoners of darkness, shackled by the endless night,
    confined under their own roofs, banished from eternal providence.
³ For those who believed that their secret sins were unnoticed
    behind a dark veil of forgetfulness
were scattered in fright and trembling,
    terrified by apparitions.
⁴ Not even the dark corners that sheltered them could offer them refuge from fear,
    for terrifying sounds echoed around them,
    and frightening, grim-faced apparitions appeared before their eyes.
⁵ No fire had sufficient intensity to provide them with light,
    nor was the blazing brilliance of the stars sufficient
    to illumine the somber night.
⁶ The only light their eyes perceived
    came from a terrifying, spontaneous blaze.^[az]
And, when no longer seen, in their fright they regarded the darkness
    as preferable to that sight.
⁷ The illusions of their magic art were held up to ridicule,
    and their vaunted wisdom was laughed to scorn,
⁸ for they who had boasted of their power to drive out fears and disorders from sick souls
    were now themselves sick with dread that was ludicrous.
⁹ Even if there was nothing disturbing to frighten them,
    they were panic-stricken because of the crawling vermin and the hissing of snakes,
¹⁰ and, convulsed with terror, they perished,
    even refusing to look upon the air whose presence cannot be avoided.
¹¹ For wickedness is a cowardly trait that is condemned by its own testimony,
    and when confronted by conscience,^[ba] it tends to magnify difficulties.
¹² For fear is nothing but the rejection of the aids that are provided by reason;
¹³     and the less one expects from them,
    the more one prefers to remain ignorant of what is causing the torment.
¹⁴ And so, throughout that night, which was powerless over them,^[bb]
    and which descended upon them from the depths of the powerless netherworld,
    they all experienced the same sleep—
¹⁵ now tormented by monstrous apparitions,
    now incapacitated by their souls’ surrender—
    for sudden and unlooked-for fear had overcome them.
¹⁶ And so, whoever was there fell down
    and was confined in a prison that lacked bars.
¹⁷ For whether he was a farmer or a shepherd
    or a laborer toiling in the wilderness,
he was overtaken to suffer the inescapable fate,
^{18     [bc]}for a single chain of darkness bound all.
And whether it was merely the whistling wind,
    or the melodious sound of birds in the spreading branches,
or the steady rhythm of rushing water,
¹⁹     or the violent crash of cascading rocks,
or the unseen gallop of leaping animals,
    or the roaring of savage wild beasts,
or an echo reverberating from the hollow of the mountains,
    it immobilized them with fear.
²⁰ For the whole world was bathed in brilliant light
    and was at work without any hindrance.
²¹ But over them alone an oppressive darkness spread,
    a replica of the darkness that next awaited them;
    yet heavier than the darkness was the burden that they were to each other.

¹ But for your holy ones there shone a very great light.
Their enemies who heard their voices but did not see their forms
    considered them blessed because they had not also suffered.
² They were grateful that your holy ones had not done them any injury despite being previously wronged,
    and they asked forgiveness for having been their enemies.
³ Instead of darkness, you provided for your people a pillar of fire
    to guide them on their unfamiliar journey,
    and a gentle sun for their glorious pilgrimage.
⁴ But their enemies deserved to be denied light and to be incarcerated in darkness,
    for they had made prisoners of your children
    through whom the incorruptible light of your law was to be given to the world.^[bd]

⁵ After they had decided to slay the infants of your holy ones,
    and just a single boy^[be] had been abandoned and rescued,
you in retribution carried off a multitude of their sons
    and destroyed them all in the raging waters.
⁶ That night had been made known beforehand^[bf] to our ancestors,
    so that, with accurate knowledge of the promises in which they had put their confidence,
    they could be of good heart.
⁷ Your people thus awaited
    the salvation of the righteous and the destruction of their enemies.
⁸ For you employed the same means to punish our adversaries
    as you did to glorify us when you called us to yourself.
⁹ For the holy children of good people were offering sacrifices in secret,
    and with one accord they agreed to keep the divine law,
so that your holy ones would share alike both blessings and dangers,
    after first chanting the praises of the ancestors.^[bg]
10 In response came the dissonant cry of their enemies,
    and the piteous lamentation for their children spread abroad.
¹¹ The slave received the same punishment as the master,
    and now commoner and king had to endure identical sufferings.
¹² And all alike, afflicted by the same form of death,
    had corpses too many to count.
For there were not enough who were left alive to bury the dead,
    since in a single instant their most precious offspring had been destroyed.
¹³ Formerly they had disbelieved everything as a result of their sorceries,
    but at the destruction of their firstborn they acknowledged this people to be the offspring of God.
^14 [bh]For when profound silence encompassed all things
    and the night was at midpoint in its swift course,
¹⁵ your all-powerful Word leapt from your royal throne in heaven
    like a relentless warrior into the midst of a land doomed to destruction.
¹⁶ Carrying the sharp sword of your inexorable decree,
    and touching the heavens while standing on earth,
    he filled the universe with death.
¹⁷ Immediately the godless were terrified by apparitions in terrible dreams,
    and unexpected fears attacked them.
¹⁸ Cast down to the ground half-dead, some here, others there,
    they revealed clearly why they were dying.
¹⁹ For the dreams that disturbed them had forewarned them of this
    so that they would not perish without knowing the reason for their suffering.
²⁰ Even the righteous were touched by the experience of death
    when large numbers of them were struck down by a plague in the wilderness.
But the wrath did not endure for long.
²¹ For a blameless man^[bi] hastened to be their champion,
    bearing the weapons of his ministry,
    prayer and propitiating incense;
and he withstood the wrath and put an end to the plague,
    thereby showing that he was indeed your servant.
²² He overcame the wrath
    neither by physical strength nor by force of arms;
rather, by his word he subdued the avenger,^[bj]
    calling to mind the oaths and the covenants given to our ancestors.
²³ For when the corpses were already piled up in heaps,
    he intervened and held back the wrath
    and cut off its way to the living.
²⁴ For the entire world was depicted on his full-length robe,^[bk]
    and the glorious names of our ancestors were carved on the four rows of stones,
    and your majesty was seen on the diadem upon his head.
²⁵ To these the destroyer yielded, for these he feared;
    a mere sampling of wrath was sufficient.

¹ But the godless were assailed to the very end by merciless anger,
    for God knew beforehand what they would do—
² that although they had agreed to let his people go
    and had hastened to send them forth,
    they would have a change of heart and pursue them.
³ For while they were still conducting their funeral rites
    and mourning at the tombs of their dead,
they made another rash decision
    and pursued as fugitives
    those whom they had entreated to leave and had sent away.
⁴ For the fate they deserved urged them on to this decision
    and made them forget what had already befallen them,
so that they might experience the full range of torments required to complete their punishment,
⁵     and so that your people might experience a glorious^[bm] journey
    while their enemies would meet an unusual death.
⁶ For the whole creation with its varied elements was fashioned anew^[bn]
    in compliance with your commands
    so that your children might be preserved safe and sound.
⁷ The cloud was seen to overshadow the camp,
    and dry land emerged where previously water had flowed.
In the midst of the Red Sea an unobstructed road appeared,
    a grassy plain arising out of the raging waves,
⁸ over which crossed the entire nation protected by your hand
    after beholding marvelous wonders.
⁹ For they frolicked about like horses
    and bounded about like lambs,
    praising you, O Lord, who delivered them.
¹⁰ For they still recalled the events of their exile,
    how instead of producing animals the land brought forth gnats,
    and instead of fish the river disgorged swarms of frogs.
¹¹ Later they were introduced to a new kind of bird
    when, moved by appetite, they demanded savory food,
¹²     and quail came up from the sea to satisfy them.

¹³ The punishments did not rain down on the sinners
    without previous warnings in the form of violent thunder.^[bp]
And they justly suffered for their wicked deeds,
    since they had exhibited such bitter hatred to strangers.
¹⁴ There had been others^[bq] who had refused to receive strangers who had come to them,
    but these had made slaves of their guests who were their benefactors.
¹⁵ There will indeed be punishment inflicted upon the former
    since they had offered a hostile reception to strangers.
¹⁶ But the latter, after first welcoming them with festive celebrations,
    afterward oppressed with terrible sufferings
    those who had already shared with them the same rights.
¹⁷ Therefore, they were also struck with blindness,^[br]
    like the sinners at the door of the righteous man,
when, surrounded by yawning darkness,
    all of them had to grope their way to their own doorways.

¹⁸ A new arrangement of the elements occurred,
    just as the strings of a harp can produce varied rhythms
    while each note remains the same.
This can be clearly perceived
    from an observation of what took place.
¹⁹ Land animals^[bs] became water creatures,
    while creatures that swim migrated to dry land.
²⁰ Even in water, fire maintained its normal strength,
    and water forgot its fire-quenching nature.
²¹ Flames, by contrast, failed to consume the flesh
    of perishable animals that walked in their midst,
    nor did they melt the icelike composition of heavenly food so prone to liquefy.

²² In every way, O Lord, you have exalted and glorified your people;
    you have never failed to help them at any time and in every circumstance.