Wisdom 18

NEW JERUSALEM	DOUAI-RHEIMS
1 For your holy ones, however, there was a very great light. The Egyptians, who could hear them but notsee them, cal ed them fortunate because they had not suffered too;	1 But thy saints had a very great light, and they heard their voice indeed, but did not see their shape. And because they also did not suffer the same things, they glorified thee:
2 they thanked them for doing no injury in return for previous wrongs and asked forgiveness for theirpast il -wil .	2 And they that before had been wronged, gave thanks, because they were not hurt now: and asked this gift, that there might be a difference.
3 In contrast to the darkness, you gave your people a pil ar of blazing fire to guide them on theirunknown journey, a mild sun for their ambitious migration.	3 Therefore they received a burning pillar of fire for a guide of the way which they knew not, and thou gavest them a harmless sun of a good entertainment.
4 But well those others deserved to be deprived of light and imprisoned in darkness, for they had kept incaptivity your children, by whom the incorruptible light of the Law was to be given to the world.	4 The others indeed were worthy to be deprived of light, and imprisoned in darkness, who kept thy children shut up, by whom the pure light of the law was to be given to the world.
5 As they had resolved to kill the infants of the holy ones, and as of those exposed only one child hadbeen saved, you punished them by carrying off their horde of children and by destroying them al in the wildwater.	5 And whereas they thought to kill the babes of the just, one child being cast forth, and saved, to reprove them, thou tookest away a multitude of their children, and destroyedst them all together in a mighty water.
6 That night had been known in advance to our ancestors, so that, wel knowing him in whom they hadput their trust, they would be sure of his promises.	6 For that night was known before by our fathers, that assuredly knowing what oaths they had trusted to, they might be of better courage.
7 Your people thus were waiting both for the rescue of the upright and for the ruin of the enemy;	7 So thy people received the salvation of the just, and destruction of the unjust.
8 for by the very vengeance that you exacted on our adversaries, you glorified us by calling us to you.	8 For as thou didst punish the adversaries: so thou didst also encourage and glorify us.
9 So the holy children of the good offered sacrifice in secret and with one accord enacted this holy law:that the holy ones should share good things and dangers alike; and forthwith they chanted the hymns of theancestors.	9 For the just children of good men were offering sacrifice secretly, and they unanimously ordered a law of justice: that the just should receive both good and evil alike, singing now the praises of the fathers.
10 In echo came the discordant cries of their enemies, and the pitiful wails of people mourning for theirchildren could be heard from far away.	10 But on the other side there sounded an ill according cry of the enemies, and a lamentable mourning was heard for the children that were bewailed.
11 One and the same punishment had struck slave and master alike, and now commoner and king hadthe same sufferings to endure.	11 And the servant suffered the same punishment as the master, and a common man suffered in like manner as the king.
12 Struck by the same death, al had innumerable dead. There were not enough living left to bury them,for, at one stroke, the flower of their offspring had perished.	12 So all alike had innumerable dead, with one kind of death. Neither were the living sufficient to bury them; for in one moment the noblest offspring of them was destroyed.
13 Those whose spel s had made them completely incredulous, when faced with the destruction of theirfirst-born, acknowledged this people to be child of God.	13 For whereas they would not believe any thing before by reason of the enchantments, then first upon the destruction of the firstborn, they acknowledged the people to be of God.
14 When peaceful silence lay over all, and night had run the half of her swift course,	14 For while all things were in quiet silence, and the night was in the midst of her course,
15 down from the heavens, from the royal throne, leapt your al -powerful Word like a pitiless warrior intothe heart of a land doomed to destruction. Carrying your unambiguous command like a sharp sword,	15 Thy almighty word leapt down from heaven from thy royal throne, as a fierce conqueror into the midst of the land of destruction.
16 it stood, and fil ed the universe with death; though standing on the earth, it touched the sky.	16 With a sharp sword carrying thy unfeigned commandment, and he stood and filled all things with death, and standing on the earth reached even to heaven.
17 Immediately, dreams and gruesome visions overwhelmed them with terror, unexpected fearsassailed them.	17 Then suddenly visions of evil dreams troubled them, and fears unlooked for came upon them.
18 Hurled down, some here, some there, half dead, they were able to say why they were dying;	18 And one thrown here, another there, half dead, shewed the cause of his death.
19 for the dreams that had troubled them had warned them why beforehand, so that they should notperish without knowing why they were being afflicted.	19 For the visions that troubled them foreshewed these things, lest they should perish and not know why they suffered these evils.
20 Experience of death, however, touched the upright too, and a great many were struck down in thedesert. But the Retribution did not last long,	20 But the just also were afterwards touched by an assault of death, and there was a disturbance of the multitude in the wilderness: but thy wrath did not long continue.
21 for a blameless man hurried to their defence. Wielding the weapons of his sacred office, prayer andexpiating incense, he confronted Retribution and put an end to the plague, thus showing that he was yourservant.	21 For a blameless man made haste to pray for the people, bringing forth the shield of his ministry, prayer, and by incense making supplication, withstood the wrath, and put an end to the calamity, shewing that he was thy servant.
22 He overcame Hostility, not by physical strength, nor by force of arms; but by word he prevailed overthe Punisher, by recal ing the oaths made to the Fathers, and the covenants.	22 And he overcame the disturbance, not by strength of body nor with force of arms, but with a word he subdued him that punished them, alleging the oaths and covenant made with the fathers.
23 Already the corpses lay piled in heaps, when he interposed and beat Retribution back and cut off itsapproach to the living.	23 For when they were now fallen down dead by heaps one upon another, he stood between and stayed the assault, and cut off the way to the living.
24 For the whole world was on his flowing robe, the glorious names of the Fathers engraved on the fourrows of stones, and your Majesty on the diadem on his head.	24 For in the priestly robe which he wore, was the whole world: and in the four rows of the stones the glory of the fathers was graven, and thy majesty was written upon the diadem of his head.
25 From these the Destroyer recoiled, he was afraid of these. This one experience of Retribution wasenough.	25 And to these the destroyer gave place, and was afraid of them: for the proof only of wrath was enough.