1 [Vani autem sunt omnes homines in quibus non subest scientia Dei; et de his quæ videntur bona, non potuerunt intelligere eum qui est, neque operibus attendentes agnoverunt quis esset artifex: 2 sed aut ignem, aut spiritum, aut citatum aërem, aut gyrum stellarum, aut nimiam aquam, aut solem et lunam, rectores orbis terrarum deos putaverunt. 3 Quorum si specie delectati, deos putaverunt, sciant quanto his dominator eorum speciosior est: speciei enim generator hæc omnia constituit. 4 Aut si virtutem et opera eorum mirati sunt, intelligant ab illis quoniam qui hæc fecit fortior est illis: 5 a magnitudine enim speciei et creaturæ cognoscibiliter poterit creator horum videri. 6 Sed tamen adhuc in his minor est querela; et hi enim fortasse errant, Deum quærentes, et volentes invenire. 7 Etenim cum in operibus illius conversentur inquirunt, et persuasum habent quoniam bona sunt quæ videntur. 8 Iterum autem nec his debet ignosci. 9 Si enim tantum potuerunt scire ut possent æstimare sæculum, quomodo hujus Dominum non facilius invenerunt?] 10 [Infelices autem sunt, et inter mortuos spes illorum est, qui appellaverunt deos opera manuum hominum: aurum et argentum, artis inventionem, et similitudines animalium, aut lapidem inutilem, opus manus antiquæ. 11 Aut si quis artifex faber de silva lignum rectum secuerit, et hujus docte eradat omnem corticem, et arte sua usus diligenter fabricet vas utile in conversationem vitæ; 12 reliquiis autem ejus operis ad præparationem escæ abutatur, 13 et reliquum horum quod ad nullos usus facit, lignum curvum et vorticibus plenum sculpat diligenter per vacuitatem suam, et per scientiam suæ artis figuret illud, et assimilet illud imagini hominis, 14 aut alicui ex animalibus illud comparet: perliniens rubrica, et rubicundum faciens fuco colorem illius, et omnem maculam quæ in illo est perliniens; 15 et faciat ei dignam habitationem, et in pariete ponens illud, et confirmans ferro 16 ne forte cadat, prospiciens illi: sciens quoniam non potest adjuvare se: imago enim est, et opus est illi adjutorium. 17 Et de substantia sua, et de filiis suis, et de nuptiis votum faciens inquirit: non erubescit loqui cum illo qui sine anima est. 18 Et pro sanitate quidem infirmum deprecatur, et pro vita rogat mortuum, et in adjutorium inutilem invocat. 19 Et pro itinere petit ab eo qui ambulare non potest; et de acquirendo, et de operando, et de omnium rerum eventu, petit ab eo qui in omnibus est inutilis.]
Wisdom of Solomon · Clementine Vulgate
Wisdom of Solomon 13 Clementine Vulgate
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)