Wisdom of Solomon 14 - New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

Folly of a Navigator Praying to an Idol

14 Again, one preparing to sail and about to voyage over raging waves
calls upon a piece of wood more fragile than the ship that carries him.(A)
2 For it was desire for gain that planned that vessel,
and wisdom was the artisan who built it,
3 but it is your providence, O Father, that steers its course,
because you have given it a path in the sea
and a safe way through the waves,(B)
4 showing that you can save from every danger,
so that even a person who lacks skill may put to sea.
5 It is your will that works of your wisdom should not be without effect;
therefore people trust their lives even to the smallest piece of wood,
and passing through the billows on a raft they come safely to land.(C)
6 For even in the beginning, when arrogant giants were perishing,
the hope of the world took refuge on a raft
and guided by your hand left to the world the seed of a new generation.(D)
7 For blessed is the wood by which righteousness comes.

8 But the idol made with hands is accursed, and so is the one who made it—
he for having made it, and the perishable thing because it was named a god.(E)
9 For equally hateful to God are the ungodly and their ungodliness,(F)
10 for what was done will be punished together with the one who did it.
11 Therefore there will be a visitation also upon the idols of the nations,
because, though part of what God created, they became an abomination,
stumbling blocks for human souls
and a trap for the feet of the foolish.(G)

The Origin and Evils of Idolatry

12 For the idea of making idols was the beginning of sexual immorality,
and the invention of them was the corruption of life,(H)
13 for they did not exist from the beginning,
nor will they last forever.(I)
14 For through human vanity they entered the world,
and therefore their speedy end has been planned.

15 For a father, consumed with grief at an untimely bereavement,
made an image of his child, who had been suddenly taken from him;
he now honored as a god what was once a dead human being
and handed on to his dependents secret rites and initiations.(J)
16 Then the ungodly custom, grown strong with time, was kept as a law,
and at the command of monarchs carved images were worshiped.(K)
17 When people could not honor monarchs[a] in their presence, since they lived at a distance,
they imagined their appearance far away
and made a visible image of the king whom they honored,
so that by their zeal they might flatter the absent one as though present.(L)

18 Then the ambition of the artisan impelled
even those who did not know the king[b] to intensify their worship.
19 For he, perhaps wishing to please his ruler,
skillfully forced the likeness to take more beautiful form,(M)
20 and the multitude, attracted by the charm of his work,
now regarded as an object of worship the one whom shortly before they had honored as a human.(N)
21 And this became a hidden trap for humankind,
because people, in bondage to misfortune or to royal authority,
bestowed on objects of stone or wood the name that ought not to be shared.(O)

22 Then it was not enough for them to err about the knowledge of God,
but though living in great strife due to ignorance,
they call such great evils peace.(P)
23 For whether they kill children in their initiations or celebrate secret mysteries
or hold frenzied revels with strange customs,(Q)
24 they no longer keep either their lives or their marriages pure,
but they either treacherously kill one another or grieve one another by adultery,
25 and all is a raging riot of blood and murder, theft and deceit, corruption, faithlessness, tumult, perjury,(R)
26 confusion over what is good, forgetfulness of favors,
defiling of souls, sexual perversion,
disorder in marriages, adultery, and debauchery.(S)
27 For the worship of idols not to be named
is the beginning and cause and end of every evil.(T)
28 For their worshipers[c] either rave in exultation
or prophesy lies or live unrighteously or readily commit perjury,(U)
29 for because they trust in lifeless idols
they swear wicked oaths and expect to suffer no harm.(V)
30 But just penalties will overtake them on two counts:
because they thought wrongly about God in devoting themselves to idols
and because in deceit they swore unrighteously through contempt for holiness.(W)
31 For it is not the power of the things by which people swear[d]
but the just penalty for those who sin
that always pursues the transgression of the unrighteous.(X)

Footnotes

  1. 14.17Gk them
  2. 14.18Gk lacks the king
  3. 14.28Gk they
  4. 14.31Or of the oaths people swear

Cross references

  1. 14.1 : Jon 1.5
  2. 14.3 : Ps 77.19; 107.23–30
  3. 14.5 : Wis 10.4
  4. 14.6 : Gen 6.4; 7.1, 10, 17, 18, 21, 22; Bar 3.26–28
  5. 14.8 : Deut 27.15; Ps 115.8; Wis 15.6
  6. 14.9 : Ps 5.5; 11.5
  7. 14.11 : Ex 12.12; Num 33.4; Jer 10.11–15; 46.25
  8. 14.12 : v 27; Deut 31.16; Wis 15.4, 5
  9. 14.13 : Isa 2.18; Hos 2.17
  10. 14.15 : v 23
  11. 14.16 : Dan 3.4–6
  12. 14.17 : Wis 15.19
  13. 14.19 : Sir 38.27
  14. 14.20 : Wis 13.4; 15.17; 2 Thess 2.4
  15. 14.21 : vv 11, 15, 16; Isa 42.8
  16. 14.22 : Jer 6.14
  17. 14.23 : v 15; Lev 18.21; Isa 57.5; Wis 12.5; 2 Macc 6.4
  18. 14.25 : Rom 1.28–31
  19. 14.26 : Mk 7.22; Acts 15.20; Rom 1.26, 27
  20. 14.27 : vv 12, 21; Ex 23.13; Ps 16.4; Rom 1.25
  21. 14.28 : Jer 5.31
  22. 14.29 : Let Jer 34
  23. 14.30 : Ezek 17.18
  24. 14.31 : Acts 28.4

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Wisdom of Solomon 14 - New Revised Standard Version (NRSV)

Folly of a Navigator Praying to an Idol14 Again, one preparing to sail and about to voyage over raging wavescalls upon a piece of wood more fragile than the ship that carries him.(A)2 For it was desire for gain that planned that vessel,and wisdom was the artisan who built it,3 but it is your provide...
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