Wisdom 15

NEW JERUSALEM	LXX
1 But you, our God, are kind and true, slow to anger, governing the universe with mercy.	1 σὺ δέ ὁ θεὸς ἡμῶν χρηστὸς καὶ ἀληθής μακρόθυμος καὶ ἐλέει διοικῶν τὰ πάντα
2 Even if we sin, we are yours, since we acknowledge your power, but we wil not sin, knowing we countas yours.	2 καὶ γὰρ ἐὰν ἁμάρτωμεν σοί ἐσμεν εἰδότες σου τὸ κράτος οὐχ ἁμαρτησόμεθα δέ εἰδότες ὅτι σοὶ λελογίσμεθα
3 To know you is indeed the perfect virtue, and to know your power is the root of immortality.	3 τὸ γὰρ ἐπίστασθαί σε ὁλόκληρος δικαιοσύνη καὶ εἰδέναι σου τὸ κράτος ῥίζα ἀθανασίας
4 We have not been duped by inventions of misapplied human skil , or by the sterile work of painters, byfigures daubed with assorted colours,	4 οὔτε γὰρ ἐπλάνησεν ἡμᾶς ἀνθρώπων κακότεχνος ἐπίνοια οὐδὲ σκιαγράφων πόνος ἄκαρπος εἶδος σπιλωθὲν χρώμασιν διηλλαγμένοις
5 the sight of which sets fools yearning and hankering for the lifeless form of an unbreathing image.	5 ὧν ὄψις ἄφροσιν εἰς ὄρεξιν ἔρχεται ποθεῖ τε νεκρᾶς εἰκόνος εἶδος ἄπνουν
6 Lovers of evil and worthy of such hopes are those who make them, those who want them and thosewho worship them.	6 κακῶν ἐρασταὶ ἄξιοί τε τοιούτων ἐλπίδων καὶ οἱ δρῶντες καὶ οἱ ποθοῦντες καὶ οἱ σεβόμενοι
7 Take a potter, now, laboriously working the soft earth, shaping each object for us to use. Out of theself-same clay, he models vessels intended for a noble use and those for a contrary purpose, al alike: but whichof these two uses each wil have is for the potter himself to decide.	7 καὶ γὰρ κεραμεὺς ἁπαλὴν γῆν θλίβων ἐπίμοχθον πλάσσει πρὸς ὑπηρεσίαν ἡμῶν ἓν ἕκαστον ἀλλ’ ἐκ τοῦ αὐτοῦ πηλοῦ ἀνεπλάσατο τά τε τῶν καθαρῶν ἔργων δοῦλα σκεύη τά τε ἐναντία πάντα ὁμοίως τούτων δὲ ἑτέρου τίς ἑκάστου ἐστὶν ἡ χρῆσις κριτὴς ὁ πηλουργός
8 Then -- il -- spent effort!-from the same clay he models a futile god, although so recently made out ofearth himself and shortly to return to what he was taken from, when asked to give back the soul that has beenlent to him.	8 καὶ κακόμοχθος θεὸν μάταιον ἐκ τοῦ αὐτοῦ πλάσσει πηλοῦ ὃς πρὸ μικροῦ ἐκ γῆς γενηθεὶς μετ’ ὀλίγον πορεύεται ἐξ ἧς ἐλήμφθη τὸ τῆς ψυχῆς ἀπαιτηθεὶς χρέος 9ἀλλ’ ἔστιν αὐτῷ φροντὶς οὐχ ὅτι μέλλει κάμνειν οὐδ’ ὅτι βραχυτελῆ βίον ἔχει ἀλλ’ ἀντερείδεται μὲν χρυσουργοῖς καὶ ἀργυροχόοις χαλκοπλάστας τε μιμεῖται καὶ δόξαν ἡγεῖται ὅτι κίβδηλα πλάσσει
9 Even so, he does not worry about having to die or about the shortness of his life, but strives to outdothe goldsmiths and silversmiths, imitates the bronzeworkers, and prides himself on model ing counterfeits.
10 Ashes, his heart; more vile than earth, his hope; more wretched than clay, his life!	10 σποδὸς ἡ καρδία αὐτοῦ καὶ γῆς εὐτελεστέρα ἡ ἐλπὶς αὐτοῦ πηλοῦ τε ἀτιμότερος ὁ βίος αὐτοῦ
11 For he has misconceived the One who has model ed him, who breathed an active soul into him andinspired a living spirit.	11 ὅτι ἠγνόησεν τὸν πλάσαντα αὐτὸν καὶ τὸν ἐμπνεύσαντα αὐτῷ ψυχὴν ἐνεργοῦσαν καὶ ἐμφυσήσαντα πνεῦμα ζωτικόν
12 What is more, he looks on this life of ours as a kind of game, and our time here like a fair, ful of bargains. 'However foul the means,' he says, 'a man must make a living.'	12 ἀλλ’ ἐλογίσαντο παίγνιον εἶναι τὴν ζωὴν ἡμῶν καὶ τὸν βίον πανηγυρισμὸν ἐπικερδῆ δεῖν γάρ φησιν ὅθεν δή κἂν ἐκ κακοῦ πορίζειν
13 He, more than any other, knows he is sinning, he who from one earthy stuff makes both brittle potsand idols.	13 οὗτος γὰρ παρὰ πάντας οἶδεν ὅτι ἁμαρτάνει ὕλης γεώδους εὔθραυστα σκεύη καὶ γλυπτὰ δημιουργῶν
14 But most foolish, more pitiable even than the soul of a little child, are the enemies who once playedthe tyrant with your people,	14 πάντες δὲ ἀφρονέστατοι καὶ τάλανες ὑπὲρ ψυχὴν νηπίου οἱ ἐχθροὶ τοῦ λαοῦ σου καταδυναστεύσαντες αὐτόν
15 and have taken al the idols of the heathen for gods; these can use neither their eyes for seeing northeir nostrils for breathing the air nor their ears for hearing nor the fingers on their hands for handling nor theirfeet for walking.	15 ὅτι καὶ πάντα τὰ εἴδωλα τῶν ἐθνῶν ἐλογίσαντο θεούς οἷς οὔτε ὀμμάτων χρῆσις εἰς ὅρασιν οὔτε ῥῖνες εἰς συνολκὴν ἀέρος οὔτε ὦτα ἀκούειν οὔτε δάκτυλοι χειρῶν εἰς ψηλάφησιν καὶ οἱ πόδες αὐτῶν ἀργοὶ πρὸς ἐπίβασιν
16 They have been made, you see, by a human being, modelled by a being whose own breath isborrowed. No man can model a god to resemble himself;	16 ἄνθρωπος γὰρ ἐποίησεν αὐτούς καὶ τὸ πνεῦμα δεδανεισμένος ἔπλασεν αὐτούς οὐδεὶς γὰρ αὐτῷ ὅμοιον ἄνθρωπος ἰσχύει πλάσαι θεόν
17 subject to death, his impious hands can produce only something dead. He himself is worthier thanthe things he worships; he wil at least have lived, but never they.	17 θνητὸς δὲ ὢν νεκρὸν ἐργάζεται χερσὶν ἀνόμοις κρείττων γάρ ἐστιν τῶν σεβασμάτων αὐτοῦ ὧν αὐτὸς μὲν ἔζησεν ἐκεῖνα δὲ οὐδέποτε
18 And they worship even the most loathsome of animals, worse than the rest in their degree ofstupidity,	18 καὶ τὰ ζῷα δὲ τὰ ἔχθιστα σέβονται ἀνοίᾳ γὰρ συγκρινόμενα τῶν ἄλλων ἐστὶ χείρονα
19 without a trace of beauty -- if that is what is attractive in animals- and excluded from God's praisesand blessing.	19 οὐδ’ ὅσον ἐπιποθῆσαι ὡς ἐν ζῴων ὄψει καλὰ τυγχάνει ἐκπέφευγεν δὲ καὶ τὸν τοῦ θεοῦ ἔπαινον καὶ τὴν εὐλογίαν αὐτοῦ