Catholic Evangelization Training Center
Training in the NEW Evangelization
Wisdom Of Solomon Chapter 9-12
1 "O God of my fathers and Lord of mercy, who hast made all things by thy word,
2 and by thy wisdom hast formed man, to have dominion over the creatures thou hast made,
3 and rule the world in holiness and righteousness, and pronounce judgment in uprightness of soul,
4 give me the wisdom that sits by thy throne, and do not reject me from among thy servants.
5 For I am thy slave and the son of thy maidservant, a man who is weak and short-lived, with little understanding of judgment and laws;
6 for even if one is perfect among the sons of men, yet without the wisdom that comes from thee he will be regarded as nothing.
7 Thou hast chosen me to be king of thy people and to be judge over thy sons and daughters.
8 Thou hast given command to build a temple on thy holy mountain, and an altar in the city of thy habitation, a copy of the holy tent which thou didst prepare from the beginning.
9 With thee is wisdom, who knows thy works and was present when thou didst make the world, and who understand what is pleasing in thy sight and what is right according to thy commandments.
10 Send her forth from the holy heavens, and from the throne of thy glory send her, that she may be with me and toil, and that I may learn what is pleasing to thee.
11 For she knows and understands all things, and she will guide me wisely in my actions and guard me with her glory.
12 Then my works will be acceptable, and I shall judge thy people justly, and shall be worthy of the throne of my father.
13 For what man can learn the counsel of God? Or who can discern what the Lord wills?
14 For the reasoning of mortals is worthless, and our designs are likely to fail,
15 for a perishable body weighs down the soul, and this earthy tent burdens the thoughtful mind.
16 We can hardly guess at what is on earth, and what is at hand we find with labor; but who has traced out what is in the heavens?
17 Who has learned thy counsel, unless thou hast given wisdom and sent thy holy Spirit from on high?
18 And thus the paths of those on earth were set right, and men were taught what pleases thee, and were saved by wisdom."
1 Wisdom protected the first-formed father of the world, when he alone had been created; she delivered him from his transgression,
2 and gave him strength to rule all things.
3 But when an unrighteous man departed from her in his anger, he perished because in rage he slew his brother.
4 When the earth was flooded because of him, wisdom again saved it, steering the righteous man by a paltry piece of wood.
5 Wisdom also, when the nations in wicked agreement had been confounded, recognized the righteous man and preserved him blameless before God, and kept him strong in the face of his compassion for his child.
6 Wisdom rescued a righteous man when the ungodly were perishing; he escaped the fire that descended on the Five Cities.
7 Evidence of their wickedness still remains: a continually smoking wasteland, plants bearing fruit that does not ripen, and a pillar of salt standing as a monument to an unbelieving soul.
8 For because they passed wisdom by, they not only were hindered from recognizing the good, but also left for mankind a reminder of their folly, so that their failures could never go unnoticed.
9 Wisdom rescued from troubles those who served her.
10 When a righteous man fled from his brother's wrath, she guided him on straight paths; she showed him the kingdom of God, and gave him knowledge of angels; she prospered him in his labors, and increased the fruit of his toil.
11 When his oppressors were covetous, she stood by him and made him rich.
12 She protected him from his enemies, and kept him safe from those who lay in wait for him; in his arduous contest she gave him the victory, so that he might learn that godliness is more powerful than anything.
13 When a righteous man was sold, wisdom did not desert him, but delivered him from sin. She descended with him into the dungeon,
14 and when he was in prison she did not leave him, until she brought him the scepter of a kingdom and authority over his masters. Those who accused him she showed to be false, and she gave him everlasting honor.
15 A holy people and blameless race wisdom delivered from a nation of oppressors.
16 She entered the soul of a servant of the Lord, and withstood dread kings with wonders and signs.
17 She gave holy men the reward of their labors; she guided them along a marvelous way, and became a shelter to them by day, and a starry flame through the night.
18 She brought them over the Red Sea, and led them through deep waters;
19 but she drowned their enemies, and cast them up from the depth of the sea.
20 Therefore the righteous plundered the ungodly; they sang hymns, O Lord, to thy holy name, and praised with one accord thy defending hand,
21 because wisdom opened the mouth of the dumb, and made the tongues of babes speak clearly.
1 Wisdom prospered their works by the hand of a holy prophet.
2 They journeyed through an uninhabited wilderness, and pitched their tents in untrodden places.
3 They withstood their enemies and fought off their foes.
4 When they thirsted they called upon thee, and water was given them out of flinty rock, and slaking of thirst from hard stone.
5 For through the very things by which their enemies were punished, they themselves received benefit in their need.
6 Instead of the fountain of an ever-flowing river, stirred up and defiled with blood
7 in rebuke for the decree to slay the infants, thou gavest them abundant water unexpectedly,
8 showing by their thirst at that time how thou didst punish their enemies.
9 For when they were tried, though they were being disciplined in mercy, they learned how the ungodly were tormented when judged in wrath.
10 For thou didst test them as a father does in warning, but thou didst examine the ungodly as a stern king does in condemnation.
11 Whether absent or present, they were equally distressed,
12 for a twofold grief possessed them, and a groaning at the memory of what had occurred.
13 For when they heard that through their own punishments the righteous had received benefit, they perceived it was the Lord's doing.
14 For though they had mockingly rejected him who long before had been cast out and exposed, at the end of the events they marveled at him, for their thirst was not like that of the righteous.
15 In return for their foolish and wicked thoughts, which led them astray to worship irrational serpents and worthless animals, thou didst send upon them a multitude of irrational creatures to punish them,
16 that they might learn that one is punished by the very things by which he sins.
17 For thy all-powerful hand, which created the world out of formless matter, did not lack the means to send upon them a multitude of bears, or bold lions,
18 or newly created unknown beasts full of rage, or such as breathe out fiery breath, or belch forth a thick pall of smoke, or flash terrible sparks from their eyes;
19 not only could their damage exterminate men, but the mere sight of them could kill by fright.
20 Even apart from these, men could fall at a single breath when pursued by justice and scattered by the breath of thy power. But thou hast arranged all things by measure and number and weight.
21 For it is always in thy power to show great strength, and who can withstand the might of thy arm?
22 Because the whole world before thee is like a speck that tips the scales, and like a drop of morning dew that falls upon the ground.
23 But thou art merciful to all, for thou canst do all things, and thou dost overlook men's sins, that they may repent.
24 For thou lovest all things that exist, and hast loathing for none of the things which thou hast made, for thou wouldst not have made anything if thou hadst hated it.
25 How would anything have endured if thou hadst not willed it? Or how would anything not called forth by thee have been preserved?
26 Thou sparest all things, for they are thine, O Lord who lovest the living.
1 For thy immortal spirit is in all things.
2 Therefore thou dost correct little by little those who trespass, and dost remind and warn them of the things wherein they sin, that they may be freed from wickedness and put their trust in thee, O Lord.
3 Those who dwelt of old in thy holy land
4 thou didst hate for their detestable practices, their works of sorcery and unholy rites,
5 their merciless slaughter of children, and their sacrificial feasting on human flesh and blood. These initiates from the midst of a heathen cult,
6 these parents who murder helpless lives, thou didst will to destroy by the hands of our fathers,
7 that the land most precious of all to thee might receive a worthy colony of the servants of God.
8 But even these thou didst spare, since they were but men, and didst send wasps as forerunners of thy army, to destroy them little by little,
9 though thou wast not unable to give the ungodly into the hands of the righteous in battle, or to destroy them at one blow by dread wild beasts or thy stern word.
10 But judging them little by little thou gavest them a chance to repent, though thou wast not unaware that their origin was evil and their wickedness inborn, and that their way of thinking would never change.
11 For they were an accursed race from the beginning, and it was not through fear of any one that thou didst leave them unpunished for their sins.
12 For who will say, "What hast thou done?" Or will resist thy judgment? Who will accuse thee for the destruction of nations which thou didst make? Or who will come before thee to plead as an advocate for unrighteous men?
13 For neither is there any god besides thee, whose care is for all men, to whom thou shouldst prove that thou hast not judged unjustly;
14 nor can any king or monarch confront thee about those whom thou hast punished.
15 Thou art righteous and rulest all things righteously, deeming it alien to thy power to condemn him who does not deserve to be punished.
16 For thy strength is the source of righteousness, and thy sovereignty over all causes thee to spare all.
17 For thou dost show thy strength when men doubt the completeness of thy power, and dost rebuke any insolence among those who know it.
18 Thou who art sovereign in strength dost judge with mildness, and with great forbearance thou dost govern us; for thou hast power to act whenever thou dost choose.
19 Through such works thou has taught thy people that the righteous man must be kind, and thou hast filled thy sons with good hope, because thou givest repentance for sins.
20 For if thou didst punish with such great care and indulgence the enemies of thy servants and those deserving of death, granting them time and opportunity to give up their wickedness,
21 with what strictness thou hast judged thy sons, to whose fathers thou gavest oaths and covenants full of good promises!
22 So while chastening us thou scourgest our enemies ten thousand times more, so that we may meditate upon thy goodness when we judge, and when we are judged we may expect mercy.
23 Therefore those who in folly of life lived unrighteously thou didst torment through their own abominations.
24 For they went far astray on the paths of error, accepting as gods those animals which even their enemies despised; they were deceived like foolish babes.
25 Therefore, as to thoughtless children, thou didst send thy judgment to mock them.
26 But those who have not heeded the warning of light rebukes will experience the deserved judgment of God.
27 For when in their suffering they became incensed at those creatures which they had thought to be gods, being punished by means of them, they saw and recognized as the true God him whom they had before refused to know. Therefore the utmost condemnation came upon them.