Wisdom of Solomon · King James Version (with Apocrypha)
Wisdom of Solomon 11 King James Version (with Apocrypha)
1 She prospered their works in the hand of the holy prophet.
1 Wisdom prospered their works in the hand of a holy prophet.
2 They went through the wilderness that was not inhabited, and pitched tents in places where there lay no way.
2 They traveled through a desert without inhabitant, and they pitched their tents in trackless regions.
3 They stood against their enemies, and were avenged of their adversaries.
3 They withstood enemies and repelled foes.
4 When they were thirsty, they called upon thee, and water was given them out of the flinty rock, and their thirst was quenched out of the hard stone.
4 They thirsted, and they called upon you, and water was given to them out of the flinty rock, and healing of their thirst out of the hard stone.
5 For by what things their enemies were punished, by the same they in their need were benefited.
5 For by what things their foes were punished, by these they in their need were benefited.
6 For instead of a perpetual running river troubled with foul blood,
6 When enemies were troubled with clotted blood instead of a river’s ever-flowing fountain,
7 For a manifest reproof of that commandment, whereby the infants were slain, thou gavest unto them abundance of water by a means which they hoped not for:
7 to rebuke the decree for the slaying of babies, you gave them abundant water beyond all hope,
8 Declaring by that thirst then how thou hadst punished their adversaries.
8 having shown by the thirst which they had suffered how you punished the adversaries.
9 For when they were tried albeit but in mercy chastised, they knew how the ungodly were judged in wrath and tormented, thirsting in another manner than the just.
9 For when they were tried, although chastened in mercy, they learned how the ungodly were tormented, being judged with wrath.
10 For these thou didst admonish and try, as a father: but the other, as a severe king, thou didst condemn and punish.
10 For you tested these as a father admonishing them; but you searched out those as a stern king condemning them.
11 Whether they were absent or present, they were vexed alike.
11 Yes and whether they were far off or near, they were equally distressed;
12 For a double grief came upon them, and a groaning for the remembrance of things past.
12 for a double grief seized them, and a groaning at the memory of things past.
13 For when they heard by their own punishments the other to be benefited, they had some feeling of the Lord.
13 For when they heard that through their own punishments the others benefited, they recognized the Lord.
14 For whom they respected with scorn, when he was long before thrown out at the casting forth of the infants, him in the end, when they saw what came to pass, they admired.
14 For him who long before was thrown out and exposed they stopped mocking. In the end of what happened, they marveled, having thirsted in another manner than the righteous.
15 But for the foolish devices of their wickedness, wherewith being deceived they worshipped serpents void of reason, and vile beasts, thou didst send a multitude of unreasonable beasts upon them for vengeance;
15 But in return for the senseless imaginings of their unrighteousness, wherein they were led astray to worship irrational reptiles and wretched vermin, you sent upon them a multitude of irrational creatures to punish them,
16 That they might know, that wherewithal a man sinneth, by the same also shall he be punished.
16 that they might learn that by what things a man sins, by these he is punished.
17 For thy Almighty hand, that made the world of matter without form, wanted not means to send among them a multitude of bears or fierce lions,
17 For your all-powerful hand that created the world out of formless matter didn’t lack means to send upon them a multitude of bears, fierce lions,
18 Or unknown wild beasts, full of rage, newly created, breathing out either a fiery vapour, or filthy scents of scattered smoke, or shooting horrible sparkles out of their eyes:
18 or newly-created and unknown wild beasts, full of rage, either breathing out a blast of fiery breath, or belching out smoke, or flashing dreadful sparks from their eyes;
19 Whereof not only the harm might dispatch them at once, but also the terrible sight utterly destroy them.
19 which had power not only to consume them by their violence, but to destroy them even by the terror of their sight.
20 Yea, and without these might they have fallen down with one blast, being persecuted of vengeance, and scattered abroad through the breath of thy power: but thou hast ordered all things in measure and number and weight.
20 Yes and without these they might have fallen by a single breath, being pursued by Justice, and scattered abroad by the breath of your power; but you arranged all things by measure, number, and weight.
21 For thou canst shew thy great strength at all times when thou wilt; and who may withstand the power of thine arm?
21 For to be greatly strong is yours at all times. Who could withstand the might of your arm?
22 For the whole world before thee is as a little grain of the balance, yea, as a drop of the morning dew that falleth down upon the earth.
22 Because the whole world before you is as a grain in a balance, and as a drop of dew that comes down upon the earth in the morning.
23 But thou hast mercy upon all; for thou canst do all things, and winkest at the sins of men, because they should amend.
23 But you have mercy on all men, because you have power to do all things, and you overlook the sins of men to the end that they may repent.
24 For thou lovest all the things that are, and abhorrest nothing which thou hast made: for never wouldest thou have made any thing, if thou hadst hated it.
24 For you love all things that are, and abhor none of the things which you made; For you never would have formed anything if you hated it.
25 And how could any thing have endured, if it had not been thy will? or been preserved, if not called by thee?
25 How would anything have endured unless you had willed it? Or that which was not called by you, how would it have been preserved?
26 But thou sparest all: for they are thine, O Lord, thou lover of souls.
26 But you spare all things, because they are yours, O Sovereign Lord, you who love the living.
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
… yet it is foolish to doubt but that he may verily be better than he who can measure the heavens, and number the stars, and weigh the elements, but is forgetful of Thee, "who hast set in order all things in number, weight, and measure." Chapter V — Of Manichæus Pertinaciously Teaching False Doctrines, and Proudly Arrogating…
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 1 (1886)
Neither has it been without reason numbered among God's praises, "Thou hast ordered all things in number, and measure, and weight." Chapter 31 — Of the Seventh Day, in Which Completeness and Repose are Celebrated But, on the seventh day (i.e., the same day repeated seven times, which number is also a perfect one, though for another reason), the rest …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 2 (1887)
… they have nothing to do with the knowledge of God; for Plato, their great authority, represents God as framing the world on numerical principles: and in our books also it is said to God, "Thou hast ordered all things in number, and measure, and weight." The prophet also says," Who bringeth out their host by number." And the Saviour says …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 2 (1887)