Wisdom 18

NEW JERUSALEM	NEW AMERICAN 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 But your holy ones had very great light; And those others, who heard their voices but did not see their forms, since now they themselves had suffered, called them blest;
2 they thanked them for doing no injury in return for previous wrongs and asked forgiveness for theirpast il -wil .	2 And because they who formerly had been wronged did not harm them, they thanked them, and pleaded with them, for the sake of the difference between them.
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 of this, you furnished the flaming pillar which was a guide on the unknown way, and the mild sun for an honorable migration.
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 those deserved to be deprived of light and imprisoned by darkness, who had kept your sons confined through whom the imperishable 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 When they determined to put to death the infants of the holy ones, and when a single boy had been cast forth but saved, As a reproof you carried off their multitude of sons and made them perish all at once in the 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 That night was known beforehand to our fathers, that, with sure knowledge of the oaths in which they put their faith, they might have courage.
7 Your people thus were waiting both for the rescue of the upright and for the ruin of the enemy;	7 Your people awaited the salvation of the just and the destruction of their foes.
8 for by the very vengeance that you exacted on our adversaries, you glorified us by calling us to you.	8 For when you punished our adversaries, in this you glorified us whom you had summoned.
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 in secret the holy children of the good were offering sacrifice and putting into effect with one accord the divine institution, That your holy ones should share alike the same good things and dangers, having previously sung 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 the discordant cry of their enemies responded, and the piteous wail of mourning for children was borne to them.
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 slave was smitten with the same retribution as his master; even the plebeian suffered the same 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 And all alike by a single death had countless dead; For the living were not even sufficient for the burial, since at a single instant their nobler offspring were 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 though they disbelieved at every turn on account of sorceries, at the destruction of the first-born they acknowledged that the people was God's son.
14 When peaceful silence lay over all, and night had run the half of her swift course,	14 For when peaceful stillness compassed everything and the night in its swift course was half spent,
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 Your all-powerful word from heaven's royal throne bounded, a fierce warrior, into the doomed land,
16 it stood, and fil ed the universe with death; though standing on the earth, it touched the sky.	16 bearing the sharp sword of your inexorable decree. And as he alighted, he filled every place with death; he still reached to heaven, while he stood upon the earth.
17 Immediately, dreams and gruesome visions overwhelmed them with terror, unexpected fearsassailed them.	17 Then, forthwith, visions in horrible dreams perturbed them and unexpected fears assailed them;
18 Hurled down, some here, some there, half dead, they were able to say why they were dying;	18 And cast half-dead, one here, another there, each was revealing the reason for his dying.
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 disturbed them had proclaimed this beforehand, lest they perish unaware of why they suffered ill.
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 trial of death touched at one time even the just, and in the desert a plague struck the multitude; Yet not for long did the anger last.
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 the blameless man hastened to be their champion, bearing the weapon of his special office, prayer and the propitiation of incense; He withstood the wrath and put a stop to the calamity, showing that he was your 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 bitterness not by bodily strength, not by force of arms; But by word he overcame the smiter, recalling the sworn covenants with their 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 corpses had already fallen one on another in heaps, he stood in the midst and checked the anger, 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 on his full-length robe was the whole world, and the glories of the fathers were carved in four rows upon the stones, and your grandeur was on the crown upon his head.
25 From these the Destroyer recoiled, he was afraid of these. This one experience of Retribution wasenough.	25 To these names the destroyer yielded, and these he feared; for the mere trial of anger was enough.