Wisdom 14

NEW JERUSALEM	Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition
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 to sail and about to voyage over raging waves calls upon a piece of wood more fragile than the ship which carries him.
2 Agreed, the ship is the product of a craving for gain, its building embodies the wisdom of theshipwright;	2 For it was desire for gain that planned that vessel, and wisdom was the craftsman who built 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 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,
4 showing that you can save, whatever happens, so that, even without experience, someone may put tosea.	4 showing that thou canst save from every danger, so that even if a man lacks skill, he may put to sea.
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 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.
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 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.
7 For blessed is the wood which serves the cause of uprightness	7 For blessed is the wood by which righteousness comes.
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 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.
9 For God holds the godless and his godlessness in equal hatred;	9 For equally hateful to God are the ungodly man and his ungodliness,
10 both work and workman wil alike be punished.	10 for what was done will be punished together with him who did it.
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 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.
12 The idea of making idols was the origin of fornication, their discovery corrupted life.	12 For the idea of making idols was the beginning of fornication, and the invention of them was the corruption of life,
13 They did not exist at the beginning, they will not exist for ever;	13 for neither have they existed from the beginning nor will they exist for ever.
14 human vanity brought them into the world, and a quick end is therefore reserved for them.	14 For through the vanity of men they entered the world, and therefore their speedy end has been planned.
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, 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.
16 time passes, the custom hardens and is observed as law.	16 Then the ungodly custom, grown strong with time, was kept as a law, and at the command of monarchs graven images were worshiped.
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 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.
18 Even people who did not know him were stimulated into spreading his cult by the artist's enthusiasm;	18 Then the ambition of the craftsman impelled even those who did not know the king to intensify their worship.
19 for the latter, doubtless wishing to please his ruler, exerted all his skill to surpass the reality,	19 For he, perhaps wishing to please his ruler, skilfully forced the likeness to take more beautiful form,
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 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.
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 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.
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 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.
23 With their child-murdering rites, their occult mysteries, or their frenzied orgies with outlandishcustoms,	23 For whether they kill children in their initiations, or celebrate secret mysteries, or hold frenzied revels with strange customs,
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 keep either their lives or their marriages pure, but they either treacherously kill one another, or grieve one another by adultery,
25 Everywhere a welter of blood and murder, theft and fraud, corruption, treachery, riot, perjury,	25 and all is a raging riot of blood and murder, theft and deceit, corruption, faithlessness, tumult, perjury,
26 disturbance of decent people, forgetfulness of favours, pol ution of souls, sins against nature,disorder in marriage, adultery and debauchery.	26 confusion over what is good, forgetfulness of favors, pollution of souls, sex perversion, disorder in marriage, adultery, and debauchery.
27 For the worship of idols with no name is the beginning, cause, and end of every evil.	27 For the worship of idols not to be named is the beginning and cause and end of every 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 their worshippers either rave in exultation, or prophesy lies, or live unrighteously, or readily commit perjury;
29 since they put their trust in lifeless idols they do not reckon their false oaths can harm them.	29 for because they trust in lifeless idols they swear wicked oaths and expect to suffer no harm.
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 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.
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 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.