Wisdom 14

NEW JERUSALEM	NEW AMERICAN BIBLE
1 Or someone else, taking ship to cross the wild waves, loudly invokes a piece of wood frailer than thevessel that bears him.	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.
2 Agreed, the ship is the product of a craving for gain, its building embodies the wisdom of theshipwright;	2 For the urge for profits devised this latter, and Wisdom the artificer produced it.
3 but your providence, Father, is what steers it, you having opened a pathway even through the sea, anda safe way over the waves,	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,
4 showing that you can save, whatever happens, so that, even without experience, someone may put tosea.	4 Showing that you can save from any danger, so that even one without skill may embark.
5 It is not your will that the works of your Wisdom should be sterile, so people entrust their lives to thesmal est piece of wood, cross the waves on a raft, yet are kept safe and sound.	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.
6 Why, in the beginning, when the proud giants were perishing, the hope of the world took refuge on araft and, steered by your hand, preserved the seed of a new generation for the ages to come.	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.
7 For blessed is the wood which serves the cause of uprightness	7 For blest is the wood through which justice comes about;
8 but accursed the man-made idol, yes, it and its maker, he for having made it, and it because, though perishable, it has been called god.	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.
9 For God holds the godless and his godlessness in equal hatred;	9 Equally odious to God are the evildoer and his evil deed;
10 both work and workman wil alike be punished.	10 and the thing made shall be punished with its contriver.
11 Hence even the idols of the nations wil have a visitation since, in God's creation, they have becomean abomination, a scandal for human souls, a snare for the feet of the foolish.	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.
12 The idea of making idols was the origin of fornication, their discovery corrupted life.	12 For the source of wantoness is the devising of idols; and their invention was a corruption of life.
13 They did not exist at the beginning, they will not exist for ever;	13 For in the beginning they were not, nor shall they continue forever;
14 human vanity brought them into the world, and a quick end is therefore reserved for them.	14 for by the vanity of men they came into the world, and therefore a sudden end is devised for them.
15 A father afflicted by untimely mourning has an image made of his child so soon carried off, and nowpays divine honours to what yesterday was only a corpse, handing on mysteries and ceremonies to his people;	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.
16 time passes, the custom hardens and is observed as law.	16 Then, in time, the impious practice gained strength and was observed as law, and graven things were worshiped by princely decrees.
17 Rulers were the ones who ordered that statues should be worshipped: people who could not honourthem in person, because they lived too far away, would have a portrait made of their distant countenance, tohave an image that they could see of the king whom they honoured; meaning, by such zeal, to flatter the absentas if he were present.	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.
18 Even people who did not know him were stimulated into spreading his cult by the artist's enthusiasm;	18 And to promote this observance among those to whom it was strange, the artisan's ambition provided a stimulus.
19 for the latter, doubtless wishing to please his ruler, exerted all his skill to surpass the reality,	19 For he, mayhap in his determination to please the ruler, labored over the likeness to the best of his skill;
20 and the crowd, attracted by the beauty of the work, mistook for a god someone whom recently theyhad honoured as a man.	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.
21 And this became a snare for life: that people, whether enslaved by misfortune or by tyranny, shouldhave conferred the ineffable Name on sticks and stones.	21 And this became a snare for mankind, that men enslaved to either grief or tyranny conferred the incommunicable Name on stocks and stones.
22 It is not enough, however, for them to have such misconceptions about God; for, living in the fiercewarfare of ignorance, they call these terrible evils peace.	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.
23 With their child-murdering rites, their occult mysteries, or their frenzied orgies with outlandishcustoms,	23 For while they celebrate either child-slaying sacrifices or clandestine mysteries, or frenzied carousals in unheard-of rites,
24 they no longer retain any purity in their lives or their marriages, one treacherously murdering anotheror wronging him by adultery.	24 They no longer safeguard either lives or pure wedlock; but each either waylays and kills his neighbor, or aggrieves him by adultery.
25 Everywhere a welter of blood and murder, theft and fraud, corruption, treachery, riot, perjury,	25 And all is confusion-blood and murder, theft and guile, corruption, faithlessness, turmoil, perjury,
26 disturbance of decent people, forgetfulness of favours, pol ution of souls, sins against nature,disorder in marriage, adultery and debauchery.	26 Disturbance of good men, neglect of gratitude, besmirching of souls, unnatural lust, disorder in marriage, adultery and shamelessness.
27 For the worship of idols with no name is the beginning, cause, and end of every evil.	27 For the worship of infamous idols is the reason and source and extremity of all evil.
28 For these people either carry their merrymaking to the point of frenzy, or they prophesy what is nottrue, or they live wicked lives, or they perjure themselves without hesitation;	28 For they either go mad with enjoyment, or prophesy lies, or live lawlessly or lightly forswear themselves.
29 since they put their trust in lifeless idols they do not reckon their false oaths can harm them.	29 For as their trust is in soulless idols, they expect no harm when they have sworn falsely.
30 But they wil be justly punished for this double crime: for degrading the concept of God by adhering toidols; and for wickedly perjuring themselves in contempt for what is holy.	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.
31 For it is not the power of the things by which they swear but the punishment reserved for sinners thatalways fol ows the offences of wicked people.	31 For not the might of those that are sworn by but the retribution of sinners ever follows upon the transgression of the wicked.