Wisdom of Solomon 11

Wisdom made their works succeed, working through the holy prophet.

1She prospered their works in the hand of the holy prophet.

Note"She" is Wisdom, who has been the subject since chapter 10, where she is spoken of as a woman because the Greek word for wisdom, sophia, is feminine. "The holy prophet" is Moses. This retelling of the Exodus names no one in it: Moses, Pharaoh, Egypt and Israel are all referred to only as "he," "they" and "them," and the reader is expected to recognize the story.

2They traveled through the wilderness, where no one lived, and they pitched their tents in places where there was no road.

2They went through the wilderness that was not inhabited, and pitched tents in places where there lay no way.

NoteThe wilderness is the desert between Egypt and Canaan, which the Israelites crossed for forty years after the Exodus, camping in tents wherever they stopped.

3They stood against their enemies, and they took vengeance on those who opposed them.

3They stood against their enemies, and were avenged of their adversaries.

Note"Were avenged of their adversaries" in the King James does not mean that someone else avenged them; it means they themselves took revenge on their enemies, or drove them off. The Greek is closer to "they beat back their attackers," and the reference is to battles during the wilderness years, such as the fight with the Amalekites at Rephidim in Exodus 17.

4When they were thirsty, they called on you, and water was given to them out of the hard rock, and their thirst was ended by the hard stone.

4When they were thirsty, they called upon thee, and water was given them out of the flinty rock, and their thirst was quenched out of the hard stone.

NoteThe story is of Moses striking a rock in the desert so that water came out of it for the thirsty people, told twice, in Exodus 17 and Numbers 20. From this verse to the end of the book the author speaks directly to God, so every "you" and "thee" is addressed to God, while "they" shifts back and forth between the Israelites and the Egyptians.

5For by the very things their enemies were punished with, they themselves were helped when they were in need.

5For by what things their enemies were punished, by the same they in their need were benefited.

NoteThis sentence states the pattern that governs the rest of the book: the author lines up each plague on Egypt against a matching mercy to Israel, showing the same element harming one people and helping the other. Here the element is water.

6Their enemies had a river troubled with foul blood, in place of a stream that ran without stopping.

6For instead of a perpetual running river troubled with foul blood,

NoteThe "perpetual running river" is the Nile, which flows all year round, unlike the seasonal streams of Palestine that dry up in summer. The blood is the first plague, when the Nile was turned to blood and the Egyptians could not drink from it, Exodus 7.

7As a clear rebuke of the order by which the babies were killed, you gave your people plenty of water in a way they had not hoped for.

7For a manifest reproof of that commandment, whereby the infants were slain, thou gavest unto them abundance of water by a means which they hoped not for:

NoteThe order is Pharaoh's command that every newborn Hebrew boy be thrown into the river and drowned, Exodus 1:22. The author's point turns on water: the river the Egyptians used to kill children became undrinkable blood for them, while water came to the Israelites out of dry rock.

8By that thirst you showed them how you had punished those who opposed them.

8Declaring by that thirst then how thou hadst punished their adversaries.

9For when they were tested, though they were corrected in mercy, they learned how the ungodly were judged in anger and tormented, thirsting in a different way than the just did.

9For when they were tried albeit but in mercy chastised, they knew how the ungodly were judged in wrath and tormented, thirsting in another manner than the just.

Note"The just" means the righteous, that is, the Israelites. The two thirsts are being contrasted: the Israelites went thirsty for a time and were given water, while the Egyptians stood beside a river they could not drink.

10For these you warned and tested, as a father does; but the others you condemned and punished, as a stern king does.

10For these thou didst admonish and try, as a father: but the other, as a severe king, thou didst condemn and punish.

11Whether they were far away or close by, they were troubled just the same.

11Whether they were absent or present, they were vexed alike.

Note"Absent or present" means whether the Israelites were far from them or close by. The Egyptians suffered while the Israelites were still living among them and suffered again after they had gone.

12For a double grief came over them, and a groaning as they remembered what had already happened.

12For a double grief came upon them, and a groaning for the remembrance of things past.

NoteThe "double grief" is their present suffering together with the memory of what they had already been through. The Greek is compressed, and the second grief has also been read as their memory of the slaves they had lost.

13For when they heard that the others were helped by the very punishments they themselves were suffering, they became aware of the Lord.

13For when they heard by their own punishments the other to be benefited, they had some feeling of the Lord.

Note"They had some feeling of the Lord" in the King James means they perceived the Lord's hand in it, they became aware of him. It does not mean emotion or affection.

14The one they had treated with scorn, long before, when he was thrown out at the time the babies were cast away, that same one they admired in the end, when they saw what happened.

14For whom they respected with scorn, when he was long before thrown out at the casting forth of the infants, him in the end, when they saw what came to pass, they admired.

NoteThe one thrown out is Moses, set adrift on the river in a basket as a baby at the very time when Hebrew boys were being cast away, and then raised in Pharaoh's household, Exodus 2. Note that "admired" in 1611 English means marveled at or were astonished by, not thought well of.

15But in return for the foolish schemes of their wickedness, which fooled them into worshiping snakes that have no reason and low animals, you sent a crowd of animals without reason against them, to punish them.

15But for the foolish devices of their wickedness, wherewith being deceived they worshipped serpents void of reason, and vile beasts, thou didst send a multitude of unreasonable beasts upon them for vengeance;

NoteEgyptian religion made wide use of animal forms: sacred snakes, including the cobra worn on the royal crown, along with beetles, crocodiles, cats and bulls. "Void of reason" and "vile beasts" mean creatures without speech or reason, and vermin. The "multitude of unreasonable beasts" sent in return is the plagues of frogs, gnats, flies and locusts in Exodus 8 to 10.

16So they would learn this: a person is punished by the very thing he sins with.

16That they might know, that wherewithal a man sinneth, by the same also shall he be punished.

17For your all-powerful hand, which made the world out of matter that had no shape, did not lack ways to send a crowd of bears or fierce lions among them,

17For thy Almighty hand, that made the world of matter without form, wanted not means to send among them a multitude of bears or fierce lions,

Note"Wanted not means" in the King James means did not lack the means. "The world of matter without form" translates a Greek philosophical phrase for unformed, unshaped matter, and it echoes the opening of Genesis, where the earth is "without form, and void" before God shapes it. Whether the phrase assumes that such matter already existed has been argued over for centuries; the sentence itself does not settle it.

18or unknown wild animals, full of rage, newly made, breathing out fiery breath, or foul-smelling clouds of scattered smoke, or shooting terrible sparks out of their eyes.

18Or unknown wild beasts, full of rage, newly created, breathing out either a fiery vapour, or filthy scents of scattered smoke, or shooting horrible sparkles out of their eyes:

NoteThese animals are not part of the Exodus story. The author is listing what God could have sent instead, and the fire breathing, smoke belching, spark eyed creatures belong to the standard ancient description of dragons and monsters. "Newly created" means made fresh for this one purpose.

19Not only could the harm these animals did finish them off at once, but the terrible sight of them could destroy them completely.

19Whereof not only the harm might dispatch them at once, but also the terrible sight utterly destroy them.

Note"Dispatch them at once" in the King James means kill them outright.

20Yes, and even without such animals they could have fallen down at a single blast, hunted down by vengeance and scattered by the breath of your power. But you have arranged all things by measure and number and weight.

20Yea, and without these might they have fallen down with one blast, being persecuted of vengeance, and scattered abroad through the breath of thy power: but thou hast ordered all things in measure and number and weight.

Note"One blast" and "the breath of thy power" translate a single Greek word, pneuma, which means breath, wind and spirit all at once. "Persecuted of vengeance" means pursued by vengeance; the Greek names Justice as a figure who hunts the guilty down, an image familiar from Greek poetry. "Measure and number and weight" is the language of builders and merchants: God laid out the world with the exactness of someone measuring a length, counting a quantity and weighing on a scale.

21For you can show your great strength whenever you wish, and who can stand against the power of your arm?

21For thou canst shew thy great strength at all times when thou wilt; and who may withstand the power of thine arm?

22For the whole world in front of you is like a tiny grain on the scales, yes, like a drop of morning dew that falls on the ground.

22For the whole world before thee is as a little grain of the balance, yea, as a drop of the morning dew that falleth down upon the earth.

NoteA balance is a pair of pans hung from a beam, the ordinary weighing scale of the ancient world. The image is of a single grain of dust in one pan, too light to tip the beam at all.

23But you have mercy on everyone, because you can do all things, and you overlook what people do wrong, so that they may change.

23But thou hast mercy upon all; for thou canst do all things, and winkest at the sins of men, because they should amend.

Note"Winkest at" in the King James means deliberately looks away from, shuts the eyes to. It carries no suggestion of a signal or a joke. "Because they should amend" means so that they may change their ways: "because" here has the old sense of "in order that," and "amend" means to reform one's conduct.

24For you love everything that exists, and you hate nothing that you have made; you would never have made anything if you hated it.

24For thou lovest all the things that are, and abhorrest nothing which thou hast made: for never wouldest thou have made any thing, if thou hadst hated it.

25And how could anything have lasted, if it had not been your will? Or how could it have been kept safe, if you had not called it?

25And how could any thing have endured, if it had not been thy will? or been preserved, if not called by thee?

Note"Called by thee" uses the ordinary Greek verb for calling or summoning, as one calls a person by name. The thought is that a thing stays in existence only because God keeps calling for it.

26But you spare them all, because they are yours, O Lord, you who love the living.

26But thou sparest all: for they are thine, O Lord, thou lover of souls.

Note"O Lord" here translates a Greek word meaning master or sovereign, the owner of a household. "Lover of souls" translates a word built on psyche, which in Greek means the life of a living creature rather than a soul separated from the body, so the phrase means one who loves everything that lives.