Wisdom 15

NEW AMERICAN BIBLE	CATHOLIC PUBLIC DOMAIN
1 But you, our God, are good and true, slow to anger, and governing all with mercy.	1 But you, our God, are gracious and true, patient, and in mercy ordering all things.
2 For even if we sin, we are yours, and know your might; but we will not sin, knowing that we belong to you.	2 And, indeed, if we sin, we are yours, knowing your greatness; and, if we do not sin, we know that we are counted with you.
3 For to know you well is complete justice, and to know your might is the root of immortality.	3 For to have known you is perfect justice, and to know justice and your virtue is the root of immortality.
4 For neither did the evil creation of men's fancy deceive us, nor the fruitless labor of painters, A form smeared with varied colors,	4 For the skillful planning of evil men has not led us into error, nor the shadow of a picture, a fruitless labor, an image having been sculpted through the use of diverse colors,
5 the sight of which arouses yearning in the senseless man, till he longs for the inanimate form of a dead image.	5 the sight of which gives desire to the foolish, and he loves the likeness of a lifeless image without a soul.
6 Lovers of evil things, and worthy of such hopes are they who make them and long for them and worship them.	6 Deserving are the lovers of evil, those who hope in such things, and those who make them, and those who love them, and those who promote them.
7 For truly the potter, laboriously working the soft earth, molds for our service each several article: Both the vessels that serve for clean purposes and their opposites, all alike; As to what shall be the use of each vessel of either class the worker in clay is the judge.	7 But even the potter, pressing laboriously, molds the soft earth into vessels, each one for our use. And from the same clay he molds vessels, those which are for clean use, and similarly, those which are for the opposite. But, as to what is the use of a vessel, the potter is the judge.
8 And with misspent toil he molds a meaningless god from the selfsame clay; though he himself shortly before was made from the earth And after a little, is to go whence he was taken, when the life that was lent him is demanded back.	8 And with effort he molds an empty god of the same clay, he who a little before had been made from the earth, and, after brief time, he himself returns from whence he came, to be claimed by he who holds the debt of his soul.
9 But his concern is not that he is to die nor that his span of life is brief; Rather, he vies with goldsmiths and silversmiths and emulates molders of bronze, and takes pride in modeling counterfeits.	9 Yet his concern is, not what his work will be, nor that his life is short, but that he is being contested by those who work with gold and silver, yet he also does the same to those who work with copper, and he glories that he makes worthless things.
10 Ashes his heart is! more worthless than earth is his hope, and more ignoble than clay his life;	10 For his heart is ashes, and his hope is worthless dirt, and his life is more common than clay,
11 Because he knew not the one who fashioned him, and breathed into him a quickening soul, and infused a vital spirit.	11 because he ignores the One who molded him, and who instilled in him a working soul, and who breathed into him a living spirit.
12 Instead, he esteemed our life a plaything, and our span of life a holiday for gain; "For one must," says he, "make profit every way, be it even out of evil."	12 Yet they even considered our life to be a plaything, and the usefulness of life to be the accumulation of wealth, and that we must be acquiring things in every possible way, even from evil.
13 For this man more than any knows that he is sinning, when out of earthen stuff he creates fragile vessels and idols alike.	13 For, above all else, he knows himself to be lacking, who, from fragile material of the earth forms vessels and graven images.
14 But all quite senseless, and worse than childish in mind, are the enemies of your people who enslaved them.	14 For all the foolish and unhappy, in charge of the way of the arrogant soul, are enemies of your people and rule over them,
15 For they esteemed all the idols of the nations gods, which have no use of the eyes for vision, nor nostrils to snuff the air, Nor ears to hear, nor fingers on their hands for feeling; even their feet are useless to walk with.	15 because they have esteemed all the idols of the nations as gods, which neither have the use of eyes to see, nor noses to draw breath, nor ears to hear, nor the fingers of hands to grasp, and even their feet are slow to walk.
16 For a man made them; one whose spirit has been lent him fashioned them. For no man succeeds in fashioning a god like himself;	16 For man made them, and he who borrowed his own breath, formed them. For no man will be able to form God in the likeness of himself.
17 being mortal, he makes a dead thing with his lawless hands. For he is better than the things he worships; he at least lives, but never they.	17 For, being mortal, he forms a dead thing with his unjust hands. Yet, he is better than those things that he worships, because he indeed has lived, though he is mortal, but they never have.
18 And besides, they worship the most loathsome beasts-- for compared as to folly, these are worse than the rest,	18 Moreover, they worship the most miserable animals, for, to make a foolish comparison, these others are worse.
19 Nor for their looks are they good or desirable beasts, but they have escaped both the approval of God and his blessing.	19 But not even from their appearance can anyone discern anything good in these animals. Yet they have fled from the praise of God, and from his blessing.