Wisdom of Solomon · Brenton's Greek Septuagint
Wisdom of Solomon 13 Brenton's Greek Septuagint
Notes on this text (1)
- Ezra and Nehemiah form one book (2 Esdras) in this edition; the reader shows them as Ezra 1–10 and Nehemiah 1–13.
1 Μάταιοι μὲν γὰρ πάντες ἄνθρωποι φύσει, οἷς παρῆν Θεοῦ ἀγνωσία, καὶ ἐκ τῶν ὁρομένων ἀγαθῶν οὐκ ἴσχυσαν εἰδέναι τὸν ὄντα, οὔτε τοῖς ἔργοις προσχόντες ἐπέγνωσαν τὸν τεχνίτην.
1 For truly all men who had no perception of God were foolish by nature, and didn’t gain power to know him who exists from the good things that are seen. They didn’t recognize the architect from his works.
2 Ἀλλʼ ἢ πῦρ, ἢ πνεῦμα, ἢ ταχινὸν ἀέρα, ἢ κύκλον ἄστρων, ἢ βίαιον ὕδωρ, ἢ φωστῆρας οὐρανοῦ, πρυτάνεις κόσμου θεοὺς ἐνόμισαν.
2 But they thought that either fire, or wind, or swift air, or circling stars, or raging water, or luminaries of heaven were gods that rule the world.
3 Ὧν εἰ μὲν τῇ καλλονῇ τερπόμενοι, θεοὺς ὑπελάμβανον, γνώτωσαν πόσῳ τούτων ὁ δεσπότης ἐστὶ βελτίων· ὁ γὰρ τοῦ κάλλους γενεσιάρχης ἔκτισεν αὐτά.
3 If it was through delight in their beauty that they took them to be gods, let them know how much better their Sovereign Lord is than these, for the first author of beauty created them.
4 Εἰ δὲ δύναμιν καὶ ἐνέργειαν ἐκπλαγέντες, νοησάτωσαν ἀπʼ αὐτῶν πόσῳ ὁ κατασκευάσας αὐτὰ δυνατώτερός ἐστιν.
4 But if it was through astonishment at their power and influence, then let them understand from them how much more powerful he who formed them is.
5 Ἐκ γὰρ μεγέθους καλλονῆς κτισμάτων ἀναλόγως ὁ γενεσιουργὸς αὐτῶν θεωρεῖται.
5 For from the greatness of the beauty of created things, mankind forms the corresponding perception of their Maker.
6 Ἀλλʼ ὅμως ἐπὶ τούτοις ἐστὶ μέμψις ὀλίγη, καὶ γὰρ αὐτοὶ τάχα πλανῶνται Θεὸν ζητοῦντες, καὶ θέλοντες εὑρεῖν.
6 But yet for these men there is but small blame, for they too perhaps go astray while they are seeking God and desiring to find him.
7 Ἐν γὰρ τοῖς ἔργοις αὐτοῦ ἀναστρεφόμενοι διερευνῶσι, καὶ πείθονται τῇ ὄψει, ὅτι καλὰ τὰ βλεπόμενα.
7 For they diligently search while living among his works, and they trust their sight that the things that they look at are beautiful.
8 Πάλιν δὲ οὐδʼ αὐτοὶ συγγνωστοί.
8 But again even they are not to be excused.
9 Εἰ γὰρ τοσοῦτον ἴσχυσαν εἰδέναι, ἵνα δύνωνται στοχάσασθαι τὸν αἰῶνα, τὸν τούτων δεσπότην πῶς τάχιον οὐχ εὗρον;
9 For if they had power to know so much, that they should be able to explore the world, how is it that they didn’t find the Sovereign Lord sooner?
10 Ταλαίπωροι δὲ καὶ ἐν νεκροῖς αἱ ἐλπίδες αὐτων, οἵτινες ἐκάλεσαν θεοὺς ἔργα χειρῶν ἀνθρώπων, χρυσὸν καὶ ἄργυρον τέχνης ἐμμελέτημα, καὶ ἀπεικάσματα ζώων, ἢ λίθον ἄχρηστον χειρὸς ἔργον ἀρχαίας.
10 But they were miserable, and their hopes were in dead things, who called them gods which are works of men’s hands, gold and silver, skillfully made, and likenesses of animals, or a useless stone, the work of an ancient hand.
11 Εἰ δὲ καί τις ὑλοτῦμος τέκτων εὐκίνητον φυτὸν ἐκπρίσας, περιέξυσεν εὐμαθῶς πάντα τὸν φλοιὸν αὐτοῦ, καὶ τεχνησέμενος εὐπρεπῶς κατεσκεύασε χρήσιμον σκεῦος εἰς ὑπηρεσίαν ζωῆς,
11 Yes and some woodcutter might saw down a tree that is easily moved, skillfully strip away all its bark, and fashion it in attractive form, make a useful vessel to serve his life’s needs.
12 τὰ δὲ ἀποβλήματα τῆς ἐργασίας εἰς ἑτοιμασίαν τροφῆς ἀναλώσας ἐνεπλήσθη,
12 Burning the scraps from his handiwork to cook his food, he eats his fill.
13 τὸ δὲ ἐξ αὐτῶν ἀπόβλημα εἰς οὐθὲν εὔχρηστον, ξύλον σκολιὸν, καὶ ὄζοις συμπεφυκὸς, λαβὼν ἔγλυψεν ἐν ἐπιμελείᾳ ἀργίας αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἐμπειρίᾳ συνέσεως ἐτύπωσεν αὐτὸ, ἀπείκασεν αὐτὸ εἰκόνι ἀνθρώπου,
13 Taking a discarded scrap which served no purpose, a crooked piece of wood and full of knots, he carves it with the diligence of his idleness, and shapes it by the skill of his idleness. He shapes it in the image of a man,
14 ἢ ζώῳ τινὶ εὐτελεῖ ὡμοίωσεν αὐτὸ, καταχρίσας μίλτῳ, καὶ φύκει ἐρυθῄνας χρόαν αὐτοῦ, καὶ πᾶσαν κηλίδα τὴν ἐν αὐτῷ καταχρίσας.
14 or makes it like some worthless animal, smearing it with something red, painting it red, and smearing over every stain in it.
15 Καὶ ποιήσας αὐτῷ αὐτοῦ ἄξιον οἴκημα, ἐν τοίχῳ ἔθηκεν αὐτὸ ἀσφαλισάμενος σιδήρῳ·
15 Having made a worthy chamber for it, he sets it in a wall, securing it with iron.
16 ἵνα μὲν οὖν μὴ καταπέσῃ, προενόησεν αὐτοῦ, εἰδὼς ὅτι ἀδυνατεῖ ἑαυτῷ βοηθῆσαι, καὶ γάρ ἐστιν εἰκὼν, καὶ χρείαν ἔχει βοηθείας.
16 He plans for it that it may not fall down, knowing that it is unable to help itself (for truly it is an image, and needs help).
17 Περὶ δὲ κτημάτων καὶ γάμων αὐτοῦ καὶ τέκνων προσευχόμενος, οὐκ αἰσχύνεται τῷ ἀψύχῳ προσλαλῶν.
17 When he makes his prayer concerning goods and his marriage and children, he is not ashamed to speak to that which has no life.
18 Καὶ περὶ μὲν ὑγείας τὸ ἀσθενὲς ἐπικαλεῖται, περὶ δὲ ζωῆς τὸν νεκρὸν ἀξιοῖ, περὶ δὲ ἐπικουρίας τὸν ἀπειρότατον ἱκετεύει, περὶ δὲ ὁδοιπορίας τὸ μηδὲ βάσει χρῆσθαι δυνάμενον,
18 Yes, for health, he calls upon that which is weak. For life, he implores that which is dead. For aid, he supplicates that which has no experience. For a good journey, he asks that which can’t so much as move a step.
19 περὶ δὲ πορισμοῦ καὶ ἐργασίας καὶ χειρῶν ἐπιτυχίας τὸ ἀδρανέστατον ταῖς χερσὶν εὐδράνειαν αἰτεῖται.
19 And for profit in business and good success of his hands, he asks ability from that which has hands with no ability.
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).
… philosophers, I used to compare some teachings of theirs with those long fables of the Manichæans and the former things which they declared, who could only prevail so far as to estimate this lower world, while its lord they could by no means find out, seemed to me the more probable.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 1 (1886)
… to see with eyes of flesh: but from the works, which are Divine, it is possible to attain to some conception of His power, according to Solomon, who says, For by the greatness and beauty of the creatures proportionably the Maker of them is seen.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 7 (1894)
… but, saith He, "he that is able to receive it, let him receive it." Vain, assuredly, are all men in whom the knowledge of God is not, and who could not, out of the good things which are seen, find out Him who is good. But I was no longer in that vanity; I had surmounted it, and by the …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 1 (1886)
… incorporeal and invisible, that thou mayest abhor those who blaspheme the wise and good Artificer, and from what is spoken and read, and whatever thou canst thyself discover or conceive, from the greatness and beauty of the creatures mayest proportionably see the maker of them, and bending the knee with godly reverence to the Maker of the worlds, the …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 7 (1894)
… use of the rules discovered and laid down by those who are rebuked by Holy Writ in these terms: "For if they were able to know so much that they could weigh the world, how did they not more easily find out the Lord thereof?"
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 2 (1887)