Wisdom 10

¹ The father of the world, the first being to be fashioned, created alone, he had her for his protector and she delivered him from his fault;[*a]

² she gave him the strength to subjugate all things.

³ But when a sinner[*b] in his wrath deserted her, he perished in his fratricidal fury.

⁴ When because of him the earth was drowned, it was Wisdom again who saved it, piloting the virtuous man[*c] on a paltry piece of wood.

⁵ Again, when, concurring in wickedness, the nations had been thrown into confusion, it was she who singled out the virtuous man,[*d] preserved him blameless before God and fortified him against pity for his child.

⁶ It was she who, while the godless perished, saved the virtuous man,[*e] as he fled from the fire raining down on the Five Cities,

⁷ in witness against whose evil ways a desolate land still smokes, where shrubs bear fruit that never ripens and where, monument to an unbelieving soul, there stands a pillar of salt.

⁸ For, by neglecting the path of Wisdom, not only were they kept from knowledge of the good, they actually left the world a memorial of their folly, so that their crimes might not escape notice.

⁹ But Wisdom delivered her servants from their ordeals.

¹⁰ The virtuous man,[*f] fleeing from the anger of his brother, was led by her along straight paths. She showed him the kingdom of God and taught him the knowledge of holy things. She brought him success in his toil and gave him full return for all his efforts;

¹¹ she stood by him against grasping and oppressive men and she made him rich.

¹² She guarded him closely from his enemies and saved him from the traps they set for him. In an arduous struggle she awarded him the prize, to teach him that piety is stronger than all.

¹³ She did not forsake the virtuous man when he was sold,[*g] but kept him free from sin;

¹⁴ she went down to the dungeon with him; she would not abandon him in his chains, but procured for him the sceptre of a kingdom and authority over his despotic masters, thus exposing as liars those who had traduced him, and giving him honour everlasting.

¹⁵ A holy people and a blameless race, this she delivered from a nation of oppressors.

¹⁶ She entered the soul of a servant of the Lord,[*h] and withstood fearsome kings with wonders and signs.

¹⁷ To the saints she gave the wages of their labours; she led them by a marvellous road; she herself was their shelter by day and their starlight through the night.

¹⁸ She brought them across the Red Sea, led them through that immensity of water,

¹⁹ while she swallowed their enemies in the waves then spat them out from the depths of the abyss.

²⁰ So the virtuous despoiled the godless; Lord, they extolled your holy name, and with one accord praised your protecting hand,

²¹ for Wisdom opened the mouths of the dumb and gave speech to the tongues of babes.