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)
²For it was desire for gain that planned that vessel,
and wisdom was the artisan who built it,
³but 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)
⁴showing that you can save from every danger,
so that even a person who lacks skill may put to sea.
⁵It 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)
⁶For 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)
⁷For blessed is the wood by which righteousness comes.

⁸But 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)
⁹For equally hateful to God are the ungodly and their ungodliness,^(F)
¹⁰for what was done will be punished together with the one who did it.
¹¹Therefore 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

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

¹⁵For 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)
¹⁶Then the ungodly custom, grown strong with time, was kept as a law,
and at the command of monarchs carved images were worshiped.^(K)
¹⁷When 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)

¹⁸Then the ambition of the artisan impelled
even those who did not know the king^[b] to intensify their worship.
¹⁹For he, perhaps wishing to please his ruler,
skillfully forced the likeness to take more beautiful form,^(M)
²⁰and 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)
²¹And 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)

²²Then 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)
²³For whether they kill children in their initiations or celebrate secret mysteries
or hold frenzied revels with strange customs,^(Q)
²⁴they no longer keep either their lives or their marriages pure,
but they either treacherously kill one another or grieve one another by adultery,
²⁵and all is a raging riot of blood and murder, theft and deceit, corruption, faithlessness, tumult, perjury,^(R)
²⁶confusion over what is good, forgetfulness of favors,
defiling of souls, sexual perversion,
disorder in marriages, adultery, and debauchery.^(S)
²⁷For the worship of idols not to be named
is the beginning and cause and end of every evil.^(T)
²⁸For their worshipers^[c] either rave in exultation
or prophesy lies or live unrighteously or readily commit perjury,^(U)
²⁹for because they trust in lifeless idols
they swear wicked oaths and expect to suffer no harm.^(V)
³⁰But 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)
³¹For 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

14.17Gk them
14.18Gk lacks the king
14.28Gk they
14.31Or of the oaths people swear

Cross references