Wisdom 18

NEW JERUSALEM	KING JAMES BIBLE
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 Nevertheless thy saints had a very great light, whose voice they hearing, and not seeing their shape, because they also had not suffered the same things, they counted them happy.
2 they thanked them for doing no injury in return for previous wrongs and asked forgiveness for theirpast il -wil .	2 But for that they did not hurt them now, of whom they had been wronged before, they thanked them, and besought them pardon for that they had been enemies.
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 Instead whereof thou gavest them a burning pillar of fire, both to be a guide of the unknown journey, and an harmless sun to entertain them honourably.
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 For they were worthy to be deprived of light and imprisoned in darkness, who had kept thy sons shut up, by whom the uncorrupt light of the law was to be given unto 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 when they had determined to slay the babes of the saints, one child being cast forth, and saved, to reprove them, thou tookest away the multitude of their children, and destroyedst them altogether 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 Of that night were our fathers certified afore, that assuredly knowing unto what oaths they had given credence, they might afterwards be of good cheer.
7 Your people thus were waiting both for the rescue of the upright and for the ruin of the enemy;	7 So of thy people was accepted both the salvation of the righteous, and destruction of the enemies.
8 for by the very vengeance that you exacted on our adversaries, you glorified us by calling us to you.	8 For wherewith thou didst punish our adversaries, by the same thou didst glorify us, whom thou hadst called.
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 righteous children of good men did sacrifice secretly, and with one consent made a holy law, that the saints should be like partakers of the same good and evil, the fathers now singing out the songs of praise.
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 noise was carried abroad for 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 The master and the servant were punished after one manner; and like as the king, so suffered the common person.
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 they all together 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 by reason of the enchantments; upon the destruction of the firstborn, they acknowledged this people to be the sons 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 that night was in the midst of her swift 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 Thine Almighty word leaped down from heaven out of thy royal throne, as a fierce man of war into the midst of a land of destruction,
16 it stood, and fil ed the universe with death; though standing on the earth, it touched the sky.	16 And brought thine unfeigned commandment as a sharp sword, and standing up filled all things with death; and it touched the heaven, but it stood upon the earth.
17 Immediately, dreams and gruesome visions overwhelmed them with terror, unexpected fearsassailed them.	17 Then suddenly visions of horrible dreams troubled them sore, and terrors came upon them unlooked for.
18 Hurled down, some here, some there, half dead, they were able to say why they were dying;	18 And one thrown here, and 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 dreams that troubled them did foreshew this, lest they should perish, and not know why they were afflicted.
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 Yea, the tasting of death touched the righteous also, and there was a destruction of the multitude in the wilderness: but the wrath endured not long.
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 then the blameless man made haste, and stood forth to defend them; and bringing the shield of his proper ministry, even prayer, and the propitiation of incense, set himself against the wrath, and so brought the calamity to an end, declaring 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 So he overcame the destroyer, not with strength of body, nor force of arms, but with a word subdued him that punished, alleging the oaths and covenants 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 the dead were now fallen down by heaps one upon another, standing between, he stayed the wrath, and parted 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 long garment was the whole world, and in the four rows of the stones was the glory of the fathers graven, and thy Majesty upon the daidem of his head.
25 From these the Destroyer recoiled, he was afraid of these. This one experience of Retribution wasenough.	25 Unto these the destroyer gave place, and was afraid of them: for it was enough that they only tasted of the wrath.