Sabiduría 14

BIBLIA	CATHOLIC PUBLIC DOMAIN
1 Otro, preparándose a embarcar para cruzar el mar bravío, invoca a un leño más frágil que la nave que le lleva.	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 Que a la nave, al fin, la inventó el afán de lucro, y la sabiduría fue el artífice que la construyó;	2 For this is what desire has contrived to be acquired, and the craftsman has formed its understanding.
3 y es tu Providencia, Padre, quien la guía, pues también en el mar abriste un camino, una ruta segura a través de las olas,	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 mostrando así que de todo peligro puedes salvar para que hasta el inexperto pueda embarcarse.	4 revealing that you are able to save out of all things, even if someone were to go to sea without skill.
5 No quieres que queden inactivas las obras de tu Sabiduría; por eso, a un minúsculo leño fían los hombres su vida, cruzan el oleaje en una barquichuela y arriban salvos a puerto.	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 También al principio, mientras los soberbios gigantes perecían, se refugió en una barquichuela la esperanza del mundo, y, guiada por tu mano, dejó al mundo semilla de una nueva generación.	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 Pues bendito es el leño por el que viene la justicia,	7 For blessed is the wood through which justice is made.
8 pero el ídolo fabricado, maldito él y el que lo hizo; uno por hacerle, el otro porque, corruptible, es llamado dios,	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 y Dios igualmente aborrece al impío y su impiedad;	9 But the impious and his impiety are similarly offensive to God.
10 ambos, obra y artífice, serán igualmente castigados.	10 For that which is made, together with him who made it, will suffer torments.
11 Por eso también habrá una visita para los ídolos de las naciones, porque son una abominación entre las criaturas de Dios, un escándalo para las almas de los hombres, un lazo para los pies de los insensatos.	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 La invención de los ídolos fue el principio de la fornicación; su descubrimiento, la corrupción de la vida.	12 For the beginning of fornication is the search for idols, and from their invention comes corruption of life.
13 No los hubo al principio ni siempre existirán;	13 For they neither existed from the beginning, nor will they exist forever.
14 por la vanidad de los hombres entraron en el mundo y, por eso, está decidido su rápido fin.	14 For by the great emptiness of men they came into the world, and therefore their end is soon discovered.
15 Un padre atribulado por un luto prematuro encarga una imagen del hijo malogrado; al hombre muerto de ayer, hoy como un dios le venera y transmite a los suyos misterios y ritos.	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 Luego, la impía costumbre, afianzada con el tiempo, se acata como ley.	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 También por decretos de los soberanos recibían culto las estatuas. Unos hombres que, por vivir apartados, no les podían honrar en persona, representaron su lejana figura encargando una imagen, reflejo del rey venerado; así lisonjearían con su celo al ausente como si presente se hallara.	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 A extender este culto contribuyó la ambición del artista y arrastró incluso a quienes nada del rey sabían;	18 Yet, it passes into their care, and those whom they did not know, they love because of the excellence of the artist.
19 pues deseoso, sin duda, de complacer al soberano, alteró con su arte la semejanza para que saliese más bella,	19 For he, wishing to please the one who hired him, embellished his art, so as to fashion a better likeness.
20 y la muchedumbre seducida por el encanto de la obra, al que poco antes como hombre honraba, le consideró ya objeto de adoración.	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 De aquí provino la asechanza que se le tendió a la vida: que, víctimas de la desgracia o del poder de los soberanos, dieron los hombres a piedras y leños el Nombre incomunicable.	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 Luego, no bastó con errar en el conocimiento de Dios; viviendo además la guerra que esta ignorancia les mueve, ellos a tan graves males les dan el nombre de paz.	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 Con sus ritos infanticidas, sus misterios secretos, sus delirantes orgías de costumbres extravagantes,	23 For either they sacrifice their own sons, or they make dark sacrifices, or they hold vigils full of madness,
24 ni sus vidas ni sus matrimonios conservan ya puros. Uno elimina a otro a traición o le aflige dándole bastardos;	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 por doquiera, en confusión, sangre y muerte, robo y fraude, corrupción, deslealtad, agitación, perjurio,	25 And all things are mixed together: blood, murder, theft and fraud, corruption and infidelity, disturbances and perjury, disorder within good things,
26 trastorno del bien, olvido de la gratitud, inmundicia en las almas, inversión en los sexos, matrimonios libres, adulterios, libertinaje.	26 forgetfulness of God, pollution of souls, alteration of procreation, inconstancy of marriage, unnatural adultery and homosexuality.
27 Que es culto de los ídolos sin nombre principio, causa y término de todos los males.	27 For the worship of unspeakable idols is the cause, and the beginning and the end, of all evil.
28 Porque o se divierten alocadamente, o manifiestan oráculos falsos, o viven una vida de injusticia, o con toda facilidad perjuran:	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 como los ídolos en que confían no tienen vida, no esperan que del perjurio se les siga algún mal.	29 For, while they trust in idols, which are without a soul, vowing evil, they hope not to be harmed themselves.
30 Una justa sanción les alcanzará, sin embargo, por doble motivo: por formarse de Dios una idea falsa al darse a los ídolos y por jurar injustamente contra la verdad con desprecio de toda santidad.	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 Que no es el poder de aquellos en cuyo nombre juran; es la sanción que merece todo el que peca, la que persigue siempre la transgresión de los inicuos.	31 For swearing is not virtue, but sinning always comes around to a punishment according to the transgression of the unjust.