Wisdom of Solomon 19

But anger without mercy came upon the ungodly right to the end, because God knew beforehand what they would do.

1As for the ungodly, wrath came upon them without mercy unto the end: for he knew before what they would do;

NoteFrom chapter 11 onward the book retells the exodus from Egypt as a prayer spoken directly to God, which is why it says "thy people" and "thou." Throughout this chapter "the ungodly" and "they" are the Egyptians, and "thy people" and "thy children" are the Israelites; the author almost never names either side.

2He knew that after they had given your people permission to leave, and had hurried them on their way, they would change their minds and chase after them.

2How that having given them leave to depart, and sent them hastily away, they would repent and pursue them.

NoteThe events behind this: in Exodus 12 Pharaoh orders the Israelites out of Egypt overnight and the Egyptians urge them to hurry, and in Exodus 14 Pharaoh changes his mind and sends chariots after them.

3For while they were still mourning and weeping at the graves of their dead, they made another foolish plan. They chased as runaways the very people they had begged to go.

3For whilst they were yet mourning and making lamentation at the graves of the dead, they added another foolish device, and pursued them as fugitives, whom they had intreated to be gone.

NoteThe mourning is for the firstborn sons of Egypt, killed in the last of the plagues the night before the Israelites left (Exodus 12).

4The fate they deserved was pulling them toward this end. It made them forget the things that had already happened, so that they would finish out the punishment that was still missing from their torments.

4For the destiny, whereof they were worthy, drew them unto this end, and made them forget the things that had already happened, that they might fulfil the punishment which was wanting to their torments:

NoteThe word behind "destiny" is the ordinary Greek term for allotted fate, familiar from Greek philosophy and drama. The author uses it of a doom the Egyptians had earned, not of a blind force. "Wanting" in 1611 English means lacking: the punishment still owed and not yet paid.

5It also meant that your people would travel by a wonderful road, while these others would meet a strange death.

5And that thy people might pass a wonderful way: but they might find a strange death.

NoteThe "strange death" is drowning in the sea, strange in that a land army died in water.

6For the whole created world, each part in its own kind, was made new again, obeying the special commands that were given for them, so that your children might be kept from harm.

6For the whole creature in his proper kind was fashioned again anew, serving the peculiar commandments that were given unto them, that thy children might be kept without hurt:

Note"The whole creature" in 1611 English means the whole of creation, and "his proper kind" means its own particular nature. The "his" here is the old neuter possessive, equivalent to "its."

7So there was a cloud that shaded the camp, and dry land appeared where water had stood before, and out of the Red sea came a road with nothing blocking it, and out of the violent flood came a green field.

7As namely, a cloud shadowing the camp; and where water stood before, dry land appeared; and out of the Red sea a way without impediment; and out of the violent stream a green field:

NoteThree exodus images in a row: the pillar of cloud that went ahead of the Israelites and shaded them (Exodus 13:21), the sea driven back so they crossed on dry ground (Exodus 14:21-22), and the water standing in walls. "Red sea" translates a Greek name for a Hebrew phrase, yam suph, which means Sea of Reeds; which body of water was meant is not certain. The grassy plain coming out of the flood is the author's own expansion, not a detail found in Exodus.

8All the people went through by that way, protected by your hand, and they saw your marvelous, strange wonders.

8Wherethrough all the people went that were defended with thy hand, seeing thy marvellous strange wonders.

9For they roamed about freely like horses and skipped like lambs, praising you, O Lord, who had rescued them.

9For they went at large like horses, and leaped like lambs, praising thee, O Lord, who hadst delivered them.

NoteHorses roaming loose and lambs skipping are stock pictures of animals let out to pasture. Psalm 114, a psalm about the exodus, uses the same image of hills and rams skipping.

10They still remembered the things that were done while they were living in the foreign land: how the ground brought out lice instead of livestock, and how the river threw up crowds of frogs instead of fish.

10For they were yet mindful of the things that were done while they sojourned in the strange land, how the ground brought forth flies instead of cattle, and how the river cast up a multitude of frogs instead of fishes.

Note"The strange land" is Egypt, where the Israelites had lived as resident foreigners. The two plagues recalled are the third, in which the dust of the ground turned into swarms of biting insects (the Greek word can mean gnats, lice or flies), and the second, in which the Nile swarmed with frogs (Exodus 8). The point of "instead of cattle" and "instead of fishes" is that land and river produced vermin where they should have produced livestock and fish.

11Later they also saw a new kind of bird, when their appetite led them to ask for rich food.

11But afterwards they saw a new generation of fowls, when, being led with their appetite, they asked delicate meats.

Note"Fowls" in 1611 English means birds of any kind, not just barnyard poultry, and "meats" means food in general rather than flesh. "Delicate meats" is choice or luxurious food.

12For quails came up to them from the sea to satisfy them.

12For quails came up unto them from the sea for their contentment.

NoteIn Exodus 16:13 and Numbers 11:31 a wind drives quail in from the sea and drops them around the Israelite camp, after the people complain about having no meat.

13And punishments came upon the sinners, but not without signs given beforehand in the force of the thunder. They suffered justly for their own wickedness, since their behavior toward strangers was harsher and more hateful.

13And punishments came upon the sinners not without former signs by the force of thunders: for they suffered justly according to their own wickedness, insomuch as they used a more hard and hateful behaviour toward strangers.

NoteThe thunder is the warning that came with the seventh plague, hail mixed with fire, which Moses announced in advance so that anyone who wished could bring livestock indoors (Exodus 9:18-26). The author's point is that the Egyptians were given notice.

14The others would not receive strangers they did not know when they came; but these people made slaves of guests who had done them good.

14For the Sodomites did not receive those, whom they knew not when they came: but these brought friends into bondage, that had well deserved of them.

NoteThe King James names them: the Sodomites, the men of Sodom in Genesis 19, who refused shelter to two strangers who arrived in their town. In the ancient world receiving a traveler was a binding obligation, and refusing or abusing a guest was a serious crime rather than mere rudeness. The comparison runs: Sodom turned away strangers it had never met, while Egypt enslaved guests who had settled there and had done Egypt good, meaning Joseph, who had saved the country from famine (Genesis 41).

15And not only that: perhaps some kind of reckoning will come upon those others too, because they were unfriendly to strangers.

15And not only so, but peradventure some respect shall be had of those, because they used strangers not friendly:

16But these people badly mistreated the ones they had welcomed with feasts, who by then shared the same laws as they did.

16But these very grievously afflicted them, whom they had received with feastings, and were already made partakers of the same laws with them.

NoteUnder Joseph the Israelites were invited into Egypt by Pharaoh himself and given land in Goshen (Genesis 45-47), so they had been welcomed guests with the legal standing of residents before they were put to forced labor.

17So these were struck with blindness, just as those others were at the doors of the righteous man. Surrounded by huge and horrible darkness, each one groped for the way through his own doorway.

17Therefore even with blindness were these stricken, as those were at the doors of the righteous man: when, being compassed about with horrible great darkness, every one sought the passage of his own doors.

NoteTwo blindings at once. In Genesis 19:11 the men crowding Lot's door are struck so that they cannot find the doorway, and "the righteous man" is Lot. In Exodus 10:21-23 a darkness that could be felt settled over Egypt for three days, so that no one could move from his place.

18For the elements changed places among themselves in a kind of harmony, the way notes on a stringed instrument change the character of a tune while still staying sounds. This can be clearly seen from the things that happened.

18For the elements were changed in themselves by a kind of harmony, like as in a psaltery notes change the name of the tune, and yet are always sounds; which may well be perceived by the sight of the things that have been done.

Note"The elements" are the four basic substances of Greek natural philosophy, earth, water, air and fire, which everything else was thought to be made of. A "psaltery" is a stringed instrument played by plucking. The comparison is that the same notes rearranged give a different tune while remaining the same notes, and in the same way the four elements swapped roles without ceasing to be themselves.

19Land creatures were turned into water creatures, and the creatures that used to swim in the water now walked on the ground.

19For earthly things were turned into watery, and the things, that before swam in the water, now went upon the ground.

NoteLand animals going through the sea refers to the Israelites and their livestock crossing on the seabed; swimming creatures walking on land refers to the frogs that came up out of the Nile into the houses of Egypt.

20The fire had power in the water and forgot its own nature, and the water forgot that it puts fire out.

20The fire had power in the water, forgetting his own virtue: and the water forgat his own quenching nature.

Note"Virtue" in 1611 English means a thing's inherent power or property, with no moral sense, and "his" means "its." So fire forgot its own power to be quenched, and water forgot its power to quench. The author is thinking of Wisdom 16:17-19, where hail and fire fall together and the fire burns in the middle of the water.

21On the other hand, the flames did not burn up the flesh of the perishable living things that walked among them. Nor did they melt the icy kind of heavenly food, which by nature melts easily.

21On the other side, the flames wasted not the flesh of the corruptible living things, though they walked therein; neither melted they the icy kind of heavenly meat that was of nature apt to melt.

22For in all things, O Lord, you made your people great and gave them honor. You did not treat them as unimportant, but stood by to help them at every time and in every place.

22For in all things, O Lord, thou didst magnify thy people, and glorify them, neither didst thou lightly regard them: but didst assist them in every time and place.