The Wisdom of Solomon, Chapter 19ΣΟΦΙΑ ΣΟΛΟΜΩΝΤΟΣ ΙΘ′

τοῖς δὲ ἀσεβέσιν μέχρι τέλους ἀνελεήμων θυμὸς ἐπέστη προῄδει γὰρ αὐτῶν καὶ τὰ μέλλοντα

But upon the ungodly, to the very end, merciless wrath came, for he knew beforehand also their future deeds:

ὅτι αὐτοὶ ἐπιτρέψαντες τοῦ ἀπιέναι καὶ μετὰ σπουδῆς προπέμψαντες αὐτοὺς διώξουσιν μεταμεληθέντες

that though they had themselves permitted them to depart and had even sent them away with eagerness, they would pursue them after changing their minds.

ἔτι γὰρ ἐν χερσὶν ἔχοντες τὰ πένθη καὶ προσοδυρόμενοι τάφοις νεκρῶν ἕτερον ἐπεσπάσαντο λογισμὸν ἀνοίας καὶ οὓς ἱκετεύοντες ἐξέβαλον τούτους ὡς φυγάδας ἐδίωκον

For while they still had mourning in their hands and were lamenting at the graves of the dead, they took up another foolish plan and pursued as fugitives those whom they had cast out with entreaties.

εἷλκεν γὰρ αὐτοὺς ἡ ἀξία ἐπὶ τοῦτο τὸ πέρας ἀνάγκη καὶ τῶν συμβεβηκότων ἀμνηστίαν ἐνέβαλεν ἵνα τὴν λείπουσαν ταῖς βασάνοις προσαναπληρώσωσιν κόλασιν

For the necessity they deserved dragged them to this end and cast forgetfulness of what had happened upon them, so that they might fill up the punishment still lacking to their torments,

καὶ ὁ μὲν λαός σου παράδοξον ὁδοιπορίαν πειράσῃ ἐκεῖνοι δὲ ξένον εὕρωσι θάνατον

and that your people might make a marvelous journey while those others might find a strange death.

ὅλη γὰρ ἡ κτίσις ἐν ἰδίῳ γένει πάλιν ἄνωθεν διετυποῦτο ὑπηρετοῦσα ταῖς σαῖς ἐπιταγαῖς ἵνα οἱ σοὶ παῖδες φυλαχθῶσιν ἀβλαβεῖς

For the whole creation in its own kind was fashioned anew from above, serving your commands, so that your children might be kept unharmed.

ἡ τὴν παρεμβολὴν σκιάζουσα νεφέλη ἐκ δὲ προϋφεστῶτος ὕδατος ξηρᾶς ἀνάδυσις γῆς ἐθεωρήθη ἐξ ἐρυθρᾶς θαλάσσης ὁδὸς ἀνεμπόδιστος καὶ χλοηφόρον πεδίον ἐκ κλύδωνος βιαίου

The cloud overshadowing the camp was seen, and out of the water that had been there before a dry land emerged, from the Red Sea an unhindered road, and from the violent surge a grassy plain,

δι' οὗ πανεθνεὶ διῆλθον οἱ τῇ σῇ σκεπαζόμενοι χειρὶ θεωρήσαντες θαυμαστὰ τέρατα

through which the whole nation passed, sheltered by your hand, after seeing marvelous wonders.

ὡς γὰρ ἵπποι ἐνεμήθησαν καὶ ὡς ἀμνοὶ διεσκίρτησαν αἰνοῦντές σε κύριε τὸν ῥυσάμενον αὐτούς

For they grazed like horses and skipped like lambs, praising you, O Lord, who delivered them.

ἐμέμνηντο γὰρ ἔτι τῶν ἐν τῇ παροικίᾳ αὐτῶν πῶς ἀντὶ μὲν γενέσεως ζῴων ἐξήγαγεν ἡ γῆ σκνῖπα ἀντὶ δὲ ἐνύδρων ἐξηρεύξατο ὁ ποταμὸς πλῆθος βατράχων

For they still remembered the things that happened in their sojourn, how instead of the generation of animals the earth brought forth gnats, and instead of water-creatures the river spewed out a multitude of frogs.

ἐφ' ὑστέρῳ δὲ εἶδον καὶ γένεσιν νέαν ὀρνέων ὅτε ἐπιθυμίᾳ προαχθέντες ᾐτήσαντο ἐδέσματα τρυφῆς

And later they also saw a new generation of birds, when, led on by appetite, they asked for delicacies of food.

εἰς γὰρ παραμυθίαν ἐκ θαλάσσης ἀνέβη αὐτοῖς ὀρτυγομήτρα

For to comfort them quail came up from the sea.

καὶ αἱ τιμωρίαι τοῖς ἁμαρτωλοῖς ἐπῆλθον οὐκ ἄνευ τῶν προγεγονότων τεκμηρίων τῇ βίᾳ τῶν κεραυνῶν δικαίως γὰρ ἔπασχον ταῖς ἰδίαις αὐτῶν πονηρίαις καὶ γὰρ χαλεπωτέραν μισοξενίαν ἐπετήδευσαν

And punishments came upon the sinners not without the prior signs in the violence of thunderbolts; for they suffered justly for their own wickednesses, since they practiced a more grievous hatred of strangers.

οἱ μὲν γὰρ τοὺς ἀγνοοῦντας οὐκ ἐδέχοντο παρόντας οὗτοι δὲ εὐεργέτας ξένους ἐδουλοῦντο

For those others did not receive the unknown when they were present, but these enslaved benefactor strangers.

καὶ οὐ μόνον ἀλλ' ἤ τις ἐπισκοπὴ ἔσται αὐτῶν ἐπεὶ ἀπεχθῶς προσεδέχοντο τοὺς ἀλλοτρίους

And not only so, but there will be an examination of them because they received foreigners with hostility;

οἱ δὲ μετὰ ἑορτασμάτων εἰσδεξάμενοι τοὺς ἤδη τῶν αὐτῶν μετεσχηκότας δικαίων δεινοῖς ἐκάκωσαν πόνοις

but those who had welcomed with festivities people who had already shared in the same rights of the righteous later afflicted them with dreadful sufferings.

ἐπλήγησαν δὲ καὶ ἀορασίᾳ ὥσπερ ἐκεῖνοι ἐπὶ ταῖς τοῦ δικαίου θύραις ὅτε ἀχανεῖ περιβληθέντες σκότει ἕκαστος τῶν ἑαυτοῦ θυρῶν τὴν δίοδον ἐζήτει

And they were struck also with blindness, like those at the doors of the righteous man, when, surrounded by yawning darkness, each sought the passage through his own doors.

δι' ἑαυτῶν γὰρ τὰ στοιχεῖα μεθαρμοζόμενα ὥσπερ ἐν ψαλτηρίῳ φθόγγοι τοῦ ῥυθμοῦ τὸ ὄνομα διαλλάσσουσιν πάντοτε μένοντα ἤχῳ ὅπερ ἐστὶν εἰκάσαι ἐκ τῆς τῶν γεγονότων ὄψεως ἀκριβῶς

For the elements themselves were transformed among themselves, like notes on a harp changing the name of the rhythm while always remaining in sound, which one can infer exactly from the sight of what happened.

χερσαῖα γὰρ εἰς ἔνυδρα μετεβάλλετο καὶ νηκτὰ μετέβαινεν ἐπὶ γῆς

For land creatures were changed into water creatures, and things that swim crossed over onto the land.

πῦρ ἴσχυεν ἐν ὕδατι τῆς ἰδίας δυνάμεως καὶ ὕδωρ τῆς σβεστικῆς φύσεως ἐπελανθάνετο

Fire prevailed in water beyond its own power, and water forgot its fire-quenching nature.

φλόγες ἀνάπαλιν εὐφθάρτων ζῴων οὐκ ἐμάραναν σάρκας ἐμπεριπατούντων οὐδὲ τηκτὸν κρυσταλλοειδὲς εὔτηκτον γένος ἀμβροσίας τροφῆς

Flames, on the contrary, did not wither the flesh of perishable creatures walking within them, nor did the meltable crystal-like kind of heavenly food melt.

κατὰ πάντα γάρ κύριε ἐμεγάλυνας τὸν λαόν σου καὶ ἐδόξασας καὶ οὐχ ὑπερεῖδες ἐν παντὶ καιρῷ καὶ τόπῳ παριστάμενος

For in every way, O Lord, you magnified your people and glorified them, and you did not neglect them, standing by them at every time and place.