Wisdom of Solomon Ch. XIII.

This excerpt is taken from The Apocrypha An American Translation by: Edgar J. Goodspeed. Vintage Books (A Division of Random House) New York. C. 1959. 1938.


And from the good things that were visible they had not 
the power to know him who is,
Nor through paying attention to his works did they recognize 
the workman,
2 But either fire, or wind, or swift air,
Or the circle of the stars, or rushing water,
Or the heavenly luminaries, the rulers of the world, they 
considered gods.
3 And if through delight in their beauty they supposed that 
these were gods, 
Let them know how far superior is the Lord of these
For the originator of beauty created them;
4 But if it was through awe at their power and operation,
Let them conclude from them how much mightier he who 
formed them is.
5 For from the greatness and beauty of what is created,
The originator of them is correspondingly perceived.
6 But yet little blame attaches to these men,
For perhaps they just go astray
In their search for God and their desire to find him;
7 For living among his works they search
And believe the testimony of their sight, that what they see
is beautiful.
8 But again, even they are not to be excused;
9 For if they had power to know so much
That they could try to make out the world,
Why did they not sooner find the Lord of all this?
10 For they are miserable, and their hopes are set on the 
dead,
Who have called the works of men's hands gods,
Gold and silver, the subject of art,
And likeness of animals,
Or useless stone, worked by some ancient hand.
11 But if some carpenter saws down a tree he can handle,
And skillfully strips off all its bark,
And shaping it nicely
Makes a dish suited to the uses of life,
12 And burns the chips of his work
To prepare his food, and eats his fill;
13 But the worst of them, which is good for nothing,
A crooked piece, full of knots,
He takes and carves to occupy his spare time,
And shapes it with understanding skill,
He makes it a copy of a human form, 
Or makes it like some common animal,
14 Smearing it with vermilion, and painting its surface red,
And coating every blemish in it;
15 And making an abode for it worthy of it,
he fixes it on the wall, and fastens it with iron.
16 So he plans for it, so that it will not fall down,
For he knows that it cannot help itself;
For it is only an image and needs help.
17 But he prays to it about his property and his marriage and 
his children,
And is not ashamed to speak to a lifeless thing,
18 And appeals to something that is weak, for health,
And asks something that is dead, for life,
And supplicates what is itself utterly inexperienced, for aid,
and something that cannot even take a step, about a 
journey,
19 And he asks strength  for gain and business and success in what he
undertakes 
From something whose hands are most feeble.