Wisdom 14

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Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition	Catholic Public Domain Bible
¹ Again, one preparing to sail and about to voyage over raging waves calls upon a piece of wood more fragile than the ship which carries 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 it was desire for gain that planned that vessel, and wisdom was the craftsman who built it;	² For this is what desire has contrived to be acquired, and the craftsman has formed its understanding.
³ but it is thy providence, O Father, that steers its course, because thou hast given it a path in the sea, and a safe way through the waves,	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 thou canst save from every danger, so that even if a man lacks skill, he may put to sea.	⁴ revealing that you are able to save out of all things, even if someone were to go to sea without skill.
⁵ It is thy will that works of thy wisdom should not be without effect; therefore men trust their lives even to the smallest piece of wood, and passing through the billows on a raft they come safely to land.	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 even in the beginning, when arrogant giants were perishing, the hope of the world took refuge on a raft, and guided by thy hand left to the world the seed of a new generation.	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 blessed is the wood by which righteousness comes.	⁷ For blessed is the wood through which justice is made.
⁸ But the idol made with hands is accursed, and so is he who made it; because he did the work, and the perishable thing was named 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 For equally hateful to God are the ungodly man and his ungodliness,	⁹ But the impious and his impiety are similarly offensive to God.
¹⁰ for what was done will be punished together with him who did it.	¹⁰ For that which is made, together with him who made it, will suffer torments.
¹¹ Therefore there will be a visitation also upon the heathen idols, because, though part of what God created, they became an abomination, and became traps for the souls of men and a snare to the feet of the foolish.	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 idea of making idols was the beginning of fornication, and the invention of them was the corruption of life,	¹² For the beginning of fornication is the search for idols, and from their invention comes corruption of life.
¹³ for neither have they existed from the beginning nor will they exist for ever.	¹³ For they neither existed from the beginning, nor will they exist forever.
¹⁴ For through the vanity of men they entered the world, and therefore their speedy end has been planned.	¹⁴ For by the great emptiness of men they came into the world, and therefore their end is soon discovered.
¹⁵ For a father, consumed with grief at an untimely bereavement, made an image of his child, who had been suddenly taken from him; and he now honored as a god what was once a dead human being, and handed on to his dependents secret rites and initiations.	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 the ungodly custom, grown strong with time, was kept as a law, and at the command of monarchs graven images were worshiped.	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 When men could not honor monarchs in their presence, since they lived at a distance, they imagined their appearance far away, and made a visible image of the king whom they honored, so that by their zeal they might flatter the absent one 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 Then the ambition of the craftsman impelled even those who did not know the king to intensify their worship.	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, perhaps wishing to please his ruler, skilfully forced the likeness to take more beautiful form,	¹⁹ For he, wishing to please the one who hired him, embellished his art, so as to fashion a better likeness.
²⁰ and the multitude, attracted by the charm of his work, now regarded as an object of worship the one whom shortly before they had 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 hidden trap for mankind, because men, in bondage to misfortune or to royal authority, bestowed on objects of stone or wood the name that ought not to be shared.	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 Afterward it was not enough for them to err about the knowledge of God, but they live in great strife due to ignorance, and they call such great 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 whether they kill children in their initiations, or celebrate secret mysteries, or hold frenzied revels with strange customs,	²³ For either they sacrifice their own sons, or they make dark sacrifices, or they hold vigils full of madness,
²⁴ they no longer keep either their lives or their marriages pure, but they either treacherously kill one another, or grieve one another 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 a raging riot of blood and murder, theft and deceit, corruption, faithlessness, tumult, perjury,	²⁵ And all things are mixed together: blood, murder, theft and fraud, corruption and infidelity, disturbances and perjury, disorder within good things,
²⁶ confusion over what is good, forgetfulness of favors, pollution of souls, sex perversion, disorder in marriage, adultery, and debauchery.	²⁶ forgetfulness of God, pollution of souls, alteration of procreation, inconstancy of marriage, unnatural adultery and homosexuality.
²⁷ For the worship of idols not to be named is the beginning and cause and end of every evil.	²⁷ For the worship of unspeakable idols is the cause, and the beginning and the end, of all evil.
²⁸ For their worshippers either rave in exultation, or prophesy lies, or live unrighteously, or readily commit perjury;	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 because they trust in lifeless idols they swear wicked oaths and expect to suffer no harm.	²⁹ For, while they trust in idols, which are without a soul, vowing evil, they hope not to be harmed themselves.
³⁰ But just penalties will overtake them on two counts: because they thought wickedly of God in devoting themselves to idols, and because in deceit they swore unrighteously through contempt for holiness.	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 it is not the power of the things by which men swear, but the just penalty for those who sin, that always pursues the transgression of the unrighteous.	³¹ For swearing is not virtue, but sinning always comes around to a punishment according to the transgression of the unjust.

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