Wisdom 14

NEW AMERICAN BIBLE	CATHOLIC PUBLIC DOMAIN
1 Again, one preparing for a voyage and about to traverse the wild waves cries out to wood more unsound than the boat that bears him.	1 Again, another, thinking to sail, and beginning to make his voyage through the raging waves, calls upon a piece of wood more fragile than the wood that carries him.
2 For the urge for profits devised this latter, and Wisdom the artificer produced it.	2 For this is what desire has contrived to be acquired, and the craftsman has formed its understanding.
3 But your providence, O Father! guides it, for you have furnished even in the sea a road, and through the waves a steady path,	3 But your providence, O Father, governs, because you have provided for both a way in the sea and a very reliable path among the waves,
4 Showing that you can save from any danger, so that even one without skill may embark.	4 revealing that you are able to save out of all things, even if someone were to go to sea without skill.
5 But you will that the products of your Wisdom be not idle; therefore men trust their lives even to frailest wood, and have been safe crossing the surge on a raft.	5 But, so that the works of your wisdom might not be empty, therefore, men trust their souls even to a little piece of wood, and, crossing over the sea by raft, they are set free.
6 For of old, when the proud giants were being destroyed, the hope of the universe, who took refuge on a raft, left to the world a future for his race, under the guidance of your hand.	6 But, from the beginning, when the proud giants were perishing, the hope of the world, fleeing by boat, gave back to future ages a seed of birth, which was governed by your hand.
7 For blest is the wood through which justice comes about;	7 For blessed is the wood through which justice is made.
8 but the handmade idol is accursed, and its maker as well: he for having produced it, and it, because though corruptible, it was termed a god.	8 But, through the hand that makes the idol, both it, and he who made it, is accursed: he, indeed, because it has been served by him, and it, because, though it is fragile, it is called ‘god.’
9 Equally odious to God are the evildoer and his evil deed;	9 But the impious and his impiety are similarly offensive to God.
10 and the thing made shall be punished with its contriver.	10 For that which is made, together with him who made it, will suffer torments.
11 Therefore upon even the idols of the nations shall a visitation come, since they have become abominable amid God's works, Snares for the souls of men and a trap for the feet of the senseless.	11 Because of this, and according to the idolatries of the nations, there will be no refuge, for the things created by God have been made into hatred, and into a temptation to the souls of men, and into a snare for the feet of the foolish.
12 For the source of wantoness is the devising of idols; and their invention was a corruption of life.	12 For the beginning of fornication is the search for idols, and from their invention comes corruption of life.
13 For in the beginning they were not, nor shall they continue forever;	13 For they neither existed from the beginning, nor will they exist forever.
14 for by the vanity of men they came into the world, and therefore a sudden end is devised for them.	14 For by the great emptiness of men they came into the world, and therefore their end is soon discovered.
15 For a father, afflicted with untimely mourning, made an image of the child so quickly taken from him, And now honored as a god what was formerly a dead man and handed down to his subjects mysteries and sacrifices.	15 For a father, embittered with the suffering of grief, made an image of his son, who had been suddenly taken away from him, and then, he who had died as a man, now begins to be worshiped as if a god, and so rites and sacrifices are established among his servants.
16 Then, in time, the impious practice gained strength and was observed as law, and graven things were worshiped by princely decrees.	16 Then, in the course of time, iniquity gains strength within this erroneous custom, so that this error has been observed as if it were a law, and this figment has been worshiped at the command of tyrants.
17 Men who lived so far away that they could not honor him in his presence copied the appearance of the distant king And made a public image of him they wished to honor, out of zeal to flatter him when absent, as though present.	17 And those, whom men could not openly honor because they were far off, a likeness of them was carried from far off, and from it they made a similar image of the king that they wanted to honor, so that, by their solicitude, they might worship he who was absent, just as if he were present.
18 And to promote this observance among those to whom it was strange, the artisan's ambition provided a stimulus.	18 Yet, it passes into their care, and those whom they did not know, they love because of the excellence of the artist.
19 For he, mayhap in his determination to please the ruler, labored over the likeness to the best of his skill;	19 For he, wishing to please the one who hired him, embellished his art, so as to fashion a better likeness.
20 And the masses, drawn by the charm of the workmanship, soon thought he should be worshiped who shortly before was honored as a man.	20 But the multitude of men, brought together by the beauty of the work, now considered him to be a god, whom they had formerly honored as a man.
21 And this became a snare for mankind, that men enslaved to either grief or tyranny conferred the incommunicable Name on stocks and stones.	21 And this was the deception of human life: that men, serving either their own inclination or their kings, assigned the unutterable name to stones and wood.
22 Then it was not enough for them to err in their knowledge of God; but even though they live in a great war of ignorance, they call such evils peace.	22 And it was not enough for them to go astray concerning the knowledge of God, but also, while living in a great war of ignorance, they call so many and such great evils ‘peace.’
23 For while they celebrate either child-slaying sacrifices or clandestine mysteries, or frenzied carousals in unheard-of rites,	23 For either they sacrifice their own sons, or they make dark sacrifices, or they hold vigils full of madness,
24 They no longer safeguard either lives or pure wedlock; but each either waylays and kills his neighbor, or aggrieves him by adultery.	24 so that now they neither protect life, nor preserve a clean marriage, but one kills another through envy, or grieves him by adultery.
25 And all is confusion-blood and murder, theft and guile, corruption, faithlessness, turmoil, perjury,	25 And all things are mixed together: blood, murder, theft and fraud, corruption and infidelity, disturbances and perjury, disorder within good things,
26 Disturbance of good men, neglect of gratitude, besmirching of souls, unnatural lust, disorder in marriage, adultery and shamelessness.	26 forgetfulness of God, pollution of souls, alteration of procreation, inconstancy of marriage, unnatural adultery and homosexuality.
27 For the worship of infamous idols is the reason and source and extremity of all evil.	27 For the worship of unspeakable idols is the cause, and the beginning and the end, of all evil.
28 For they either go mad with enjoyment, or prophesy lies, or live lawlessly or lightly forswear themselves.	28 For they either act with madness while happy, or they insistently speak wild lies, or they live unjustly, or they are quick to commit perjury.
29 For as their trust is in soulless idols, they expect no harm when they have sworn falsely.	29 For, while they trust in idols, which are without a soul, vowing evil, they hope not to be harmed themselves.
30 But on both counts shall justice overtake them: because they thought ill of God and devoted themselves to idols, and because they deliberately swore false oaths, despising piety.	30 Therefore, from both sides it will fittingly happen, because they have thought evil of God, paying attention to idols, and because they have sworn unjustly, in guile despising justice.
31 For not the might of those that are sworn by but the retribution of sinners ever follows upon the transgression of the wicked.	31 For swearing is not virtue, but sinning always comes around to a punishment according to the transgression of the unjust.