Wisdom of Solomon 15 — Rahlfs Septuagint

1

δέ ὁ θεὸς ἡμῶν χρηστὸς καὶ ἀληθής μακρόθυμος καὶ ἐλέει διοικῶν τὰ πάντα

But you, our God, are kind and true, long-suffering, and governing all things in mercy.

2

γὰρ ἐὰν ἁμάρτωμεν σοί ἐσμεν εἰδότες σου τὸ κράτος οὐχ ἁμαρτησόμεθα δέ εἰδότες ὅτι σοὶ λελογίσμεθα

For even if we sin, we are yours, knowing your power; but we will not sin, knowing that we have been reckoned to you.

3

γὰρ ἐπίστασθαί σε ὁλόκληρος δικαιοσύνη καὶ εἰδέναι σου τὸ κράτος ῥίζα ἀθανασίας

For to know you is complete righteousness, and to know your power is the root of immortality.

4

γὰρ ἐπλάνησεν ἡμᾶς ἀνθρώπων κακότεχνος ἐπίνοια οὐδὲ σκιαγράφων πόνος ἄκαρπος εἶδος σπιλωθὲν χρώμασιν διηλλαγμένοις

For neither did the evil-designed invention of men lead us astray, nor the fruitless labor of painters, a form stained with varied colors.

5

ὄψις ἄφροσιν εἰς ὄρεξιν ἔρχεται ποθεῖ τε νεκρᾶς εἰκόνος εἶδος ἄπνουν

The sight of which comes for fools into desire and longs for the form of a dead image without breath

6

ἐρασταὶ ἄξιοί τε τοιούτων ἐλπίδων καὶ οἱ δρῶντες καὶ οἱ ποθοῦντες καὶ οἱ σεβόμενοι

Lovers of evils are worthy both of such hopes, both those who do and those who desire and those who worship them

7

For a potter, kneading soft earth with toil, molds each one of us for service; but from the same clay he has molded both the vessels, slaves of clean works, and the opposite ones, all alike. Of these, what is the use of each one? The clay-worker is judge.

8

And from the same clay, toilsome and wretched, he molds a vain god, who, having come to be from the earth a little while before, after a little time goes away, the debt of the soul having been demanded from the place from which it was taken.

9

but he has concern not that he is about to toil nor that he has a short life, but he rivals goldsmiths and silversmiths and even imitates bronze-workers, and he thinks it glory that he molds deceitful things

10

ἡ καρδία αὐτοῦ καὶ γῆς εὐτελεστέρα ἡ ἐλπὶς αὐτοῦ πηλοῦ τε ἀτιμότερος ὁ βίος αὐτοῦ

Ash is his heart, and his hope is cheaper than earth, and his life more dishonorable than clay.

11

ἠγνόησεν τὸν πλάσαντα αὐτὸν καὶ τὸν ἐμπνεύσαντα αὐτῷ ψυχὴν ἐνεργοῦσαν καὶ ἐμφυσήσαντα πνεῦμα ζωτικόν

because he was ignorant of the one who molded him and the one who breathed into him an active soul and breathed into him a life-giving spirit

12

But they considered our life to be a game, and our way of life a profitable festival, for, they say, one must gain from whatever evil one can.

13

γὰρ παρὰ πάντας οἶδεν ὅτι ἁμαρτάνει ὕλης γεώδους εὔθραυστα σκεύη καὶ γλυπτὰ δημιουργῶν

For this man knows beyond all that he is sinning, while making brittle vessels and carvings of earthy matter.

14

δὲ ἀφρονέστατοι καὶ τάλανες ὑπὲρ ψυχὴν νηπίου οἱ ἐχθροὶ τοῦ λαοῦ σου καταδυναστεύσαντες αὐτόν

But all the most foolish and miserable beyond the life of an infant are the enemies of your people, having oppressed it.

15

For they also considered all the idols of the nations to be gods, which have neither the use of eyes for seeing, nor nostrils for drawing in air, nor ears for hearing, nor fingers of hands for touching, and their feet are idle for walking

16

γὰρ ἐποίησεν αὐτούς καὶ τὸ πνεῦμα δεδανεισμένος ἔπλασεν αὐτούς οὐδεὶς γὰρ αὐτῷ ὅμοιον ἄνθρωπος ἰσχύει πλάσαι θεόν

For a man made them, and borrowing breath, he fashioned them; for no one like him can a man have strength to fashion a god.

17

δὲ ὢν νεκρὸν ἐργάζεται χερσὶν ἀνόμοις κρείττων γάρ ἐστιν τῶν σεβασμάτων αὐτοῦ ὧν αὐτὸς μὲν ἔζησεν ἐκεῖνα δὲ οὐδέποτε

And being mortal he works a dead thing with lawless hands, for he is better than the objects of his reverence, of which he himself indeed lived, but those never did.

18

τὰ ζῷα δὲ τὰ ἔχθιστα σέβονται ἀνοίᾳ γὰρ συγκρινόμενα τῶν ἄλλων ἐστὶ χείρονα

And the most hateful animals too, they worship, for, compared with the others by folly, they are worse.

19

ὅσον ἐπιποθῆσαι ὡς ἐν ζῴων ὄψει καλὰ τυγχάνει ἐκπέφευγεν δὲ καὶ τὸν τοῦ θεοῦ ἔπαινον καὶ τὴν εὐλογίαν αὐτοῦ

nor even as much as to desire, since in the sight of animals they happen to be beautiful; but it has also escaped the praise of God and his blessing