Wisdom of Solomon 15

But you, our God, are kind and true, patient, and you order all things in mercy.

1But thou, O God, art gracious and true, longsuffering, and in mercy ordering all things,

NoteChapters 13 to 15 of this book are a sustained attack on the worship of images, and the argument has been running for two chapters without a break. Here the writer turns abruptly from describing idol makers to addressing God directly, in the manner of a prayer, before returning to the attack in verse 4.

2For even if we sin, we are yours, since we know your power. But we will not sin, since we know that we are counted as yours.

2For if we sin, we are thine, knowing thy power: but we will not sin, knowing that we are counted thine.

Note"Longsuffering" is a King James compound that renders a Greek word for slow to anger, patient under provocation. It does not mean suffering for a long time.

3For to know you is complete righteousness, and to know your power is the root of living forever.

3For to know thee is perfect righteousness: yea, to know thy power is the root of immortality.

4No harmful scheme of human beings led us astray, and neither did an image stained with many colors, the painter's useless work,

4For neither did the mischievous invention of men deceive us, nor an image spotted with divers colours, the painter’s fruitless labour;

NoteIn 1611 "mischievous" meant actively harmful or malicious, with none of the playful sense it now carries, and "invention" meant a contrivance or scheme rather than a new idea. "Divers colours" is the older spelling of diverse, meaning various or assorted, and the phrase describes a painted statue.

5the sight of which lures fools into craving it. They long for the shape of a dead image that has no breath in it.

5The sight whereof enticeth fools to lust after it, and so they desire the form of a dead image, that hath no breath.

6Those who make them, those who long for them, and those who worship them are lovers of evil things, and they deserve to have such things to put their trust in.

6Both they that make them, they that desire them, and they that worship them, are lovers of evil things, and are worthy to have such things to trust upon.

7The potter works soft clay with his hands and shapes each pot with much labor for our use. Out of the very same clay he makes both the pots that serve clean uses and also all those that serve the opposite. What each kind of pot is used for, the potter himself decides.

7For the potter, tempering soft earth, fashioneth every vessel with much labour for our service: yea, of the same clay he maketh both the vessels that serve for clean uses, and likewise also all such as serve to the contrary: but what is the use of either sort, the potter himself is the judge.

NoteTo "temper" clay is to work water into it and knead it to the right consistency for throwing, a stage every potter goes through before shaping a pot.

8And putting his labor to a shameful use, he makes a worthless god out of that same clay. He himself was made out of earth only a little while before, and after a short time he goes back to it, when the life that was lent to him is called in.

8And employing his labours lewdly, he maketh a vain god of the same clay, even he which a little before was made of earth himself, and within a little while after returneth to the same, out when his life which was lent him shall be demanded.

NoteThe contrast between pots for "clean uses" and pots for "the contrary" is between vessels for food, drink and washing and vessels for waste and refuse, made from one identical batch of clay. "Lewdly" in 1611 meant wickedly or basely in general, without the sexual sense the word now carries. The image at the end of the verse is of a loan being called in: the potter's own life was handed to him on terms, and will be demanded back. The King James reading "out when" is a printing slip for "but when"; other printings have "but."

9Yet what worries him is not that he has much hard work to do, nor that his life is short. Instead he strives to outdo goldsmiths and silversmiths, and tries to work like those who cast bronze, and he counts it his glory to make fakes.

9Notwithstanding his care is, not that he shall have much labour, nor that his life is short: but striveth to excel goldsmiths and silversmiths, and endeavoureth to do like the workers in brass, and counteth it his glory to make counterfeit things.

Note"Brass" in the King James Bible means bronze, an alloy of copper and tin, which is what ancient founders cast. Brass in the modern sense, copper mixed with zinc, was barely known. "Counterfeit things" here means imitations or copies rather than forged money; the point is that the craftsman prides himself on making convincing fakes.

10His heart is ashes, his hope is worth less than dirt, and his life is worth less than clay,

10His heart is ashes, his hope is more vile than earth, and his life of less value than clay:

Note"Vile" in 1611 meant cheap, of low value, worth little. It did not mean disgusting. The verse is pricing the man's heart, hope and life against ashes, dirt and clay, and finding them worth less.

11because he did not know the one who made him, the one who breathed into him a soul that acts, and blew into him a living spirit.

11Forasmuch as he knew not his Maker, and him that inspired into him an active soul, and breathed in a living spirit.

Note"Inspired" is being used in its literal old sense of breathed into, paired with "breathed in" in the next phrase. The language deliberately echoes the account in Genesis of God breathing life into the first human being.

12But they counted our life a game, and our time here a marketplace for making money. They say we must get gain in every way we can, even by evil means.

12But they counted our life a pastime, and our time here a market for gain: for, say they, we must be getting every way, though it be by evil means.

NoteThe King James "market for gain" translates a Greek word for a public festival, the kind of crowded religious fair at which traders set up stalls and did brisk business. The image is of life treated as one long holiday crowd to be worked for profit.

13For this man, who makes brittle pots and carved images out of material from the earth, knows better than anyone else that he is doing wrong.

13For this man, that of earthly matter maketh brittle vessels and graven images, knoweth himself to offend above all others.

14And all the enemies of your people, who hold them under their power, are utterly foolish, and are more miserable than babies themselves.

14And all the enemies of thy people, that hold them in subjection, are most foolish, and are more miserable than very babes.

NoteFrom chapter 11 onward this book is comparing Israel with Egypt, and "the enemies of thy people, that hold them in subjection" points to the Egyptians of the exodus story. The animal worship attacked in verse 18 is Egyptian religion specifically.

15For they counted all the idols of the nations as gods. These have no use of eyes for seeing, no noses for drawing breath, no ears for hearing, no fingers on their hands for handling; and as for their feet, they are slow to walk.

15For they counted all the idols of the heathen to be gods: which neither have the use of eyes to see, nor noses to draw breath, nor ears to hear, nor fingers of hands to handle; and as for their feet, they are slow to go.

NoteThe catalogue of an idol's useless eyes, nose, ears, hands and feet is a set piece of Jewish mockery of images, repeated in Psalm 115 and Psalm 135 and in Jeremiah. A reader of the period would recognize the form at once.

16For a man made them, and one whose own spirit is only borrowed shaped them. No one has the power, being a man, to make a god like himself.

16For man made them, and he that borrowed his own spirit fashioned them: but no man can make a god like unto himself.

Note"Borrowed his own spirit" continues the loan image of verse 8: the maker's own life is not his property but something held on loan. The closing line can be read two ways, and the Greek allows both: no one can make a god that resembles himself, and no one, being only human, has the power to make a god that is his equal.

17Since he is mortal, what he makes with his wicked hands is a dead thing. He himself is better than the things he worships, for he was once alive, but they never were.

17For being mortal, he worketh a dead thing with wicked hands: for he himself is better than the things which he worshippeth: whereas he lived once, but they never.

18Yes, and they also worshiped the animals that are most hateful, for when they are compared with one another, some are worse than others.

18Yea, they worshipped those beasts also that are most hateful: for being compared together, some are worse than others.

NoteEgyptian religion gave cultic honor to a range of animals, among them the crocodile, the ibis, the cat, the dung beetle and various snakes. Jewish writers of this period single out the creatures their own law classed as unclean or loathsome, which is why the verse says the objects of this worship are the most hateful sort.

19And set beside other animals, they are not even beautiful enough for anyone to want them. They went without God's praise and his blessing.

19Neither are they beautiful, so much as to be desired in respect of beasts: but they went without the praise of God and his blessing.

NoteThe argument depends on the opening of Genesis, where God looks at the creatures he has made, pronounces them good and blesses them. The claim here is that these particular animals were passed over: they received neither the approving verdict nor the blessing, and they are not even attractive enough to explain why anyone would want them.