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Wisdom 16
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Chapter 16
Egypt and Israel: harmful animals, quails
1
Thus they were appropriately punished by similar creatures and were tormented by hordes of brutes.
2
In contrast to this punishment, you treated your own people with kindness and, to satisfy their sharp appetite, you provided for their food quails, a luscious rarity.
3
Thus the Egyptians, at the repulsive sight of the creatures sent against them,[*a] were to find, though they longed for food, that even their natural appetite had revolted. While your own people, after a short privation, were to have a rare relish for their portion.
4
Inevitable that relentless want should seize on the former, the oppressors; enough for the latter to be shown how their enemies were being tortured.
Egypt and Israel: the plague of locusts, the bronze serpent
5
When the savage rage of wild animals overtook them and they were perishing from the bites of writhing snakes, your wrath did not continue to the end.
6
It was by way of reprimand, lasting a short time, that they were distressed, for they had a saving token to remind them of the commandment of your Law.
7
Whoever turned to it was saved, not by what he looked at, but by you, the universal saviour.
8
And by such means you proved to our enemies that it is you who deliver from every evil;
9
since the bites of locusts and flies proved fatal to them and no remedy could be found to save them – and well they deserved to be punished by such creatures.
10
But, for your sons, not even the fangs of venomous serpents could bring them down; your mercy came to their help and cured them.
11
One sting – how quickly healed! – to remind them of your oracles rather than that, by sinking into deep forgetfulness, they should be cut off from your kindness.
12
No herb, no poultice cured them, but it was your word, Lord, which heals all things.
13
For you have power of life and death, you bring down to the gates of Hades and bring back again.
14
Man in his malice may put to death, he does not bring the departed spirit back or free the soul that Hades has once received.
Egypt and Israel: the elements
15
It is not possible to escape your hand.
16
The godless who refused to acknowledge you were scourged by the strength of your arm, pursued by no ordinary rains, hail and unrelenting downpours, and consumed by fire.
17
Even more wonderful, in the water – which quenches all – the fire raged fiercer than ever; for the elements fight for the virtuous.
18
At one moment the flame would die down, to avoid consuming the animals sent against the godless and to make clear to them by that sight, that the sentence of God was pursuing them;
19
at another, in the very heart of the water, it would burn more fiercely than fire to ruin the harvests of a guilty land.
20
How differently with your people! You gave them the food of angels,[*b] from heaven untiringly sending them bread already prepared, containing every delight, satisfying every taste.
21
And the substance you gave demonstrated your sweetness towards your children, for, conforming to the taste of whoever ate it, it transformed itself into what each eater wished.
22
Snow and ice endured the fire, without melting; by which they were to know that, to destroy the harvests of their enemies, fire would burn even in hail and flare in falling rain,
23
whereas, on the other hand, it would even forget its own virtue in the service of feeding the virtuous.
24
For creation, in obedience to you, its maker, exerts itself to punish the wicked and slackens for the benefit of those who trust in you.
25
Thus it became, by a total transformation, the agent of your all-nourishing bounty, conforming to the wish of those in need,
26
so that your beloved children, Lord, might learn that the various crops are not what nourishes man, but your word which preserves all who trust in you.
27
For that, which fire could not destroy melted in the heat of a single fleeting sunbeam,
28
to show that, to give you thanks, we must rise before the sun and pray to you when light begins to dawn;
29
for the hope of the ungrateful will melt like winter’s frost and flow away like water running to waste.
Chapters of Wisdom
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7
8
9
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