Wisdom of Solomon

For your immortal spirit is in all things.

Therefore you correct little by little those who trespass, and you remind them and warn them of the things through which they sin, so that they may be freed from wickedness and put their trust in you, O Lord.

Those who lived long ago in your holy land you hated

because they practiced detestable works of sorcery and unholy rites,

merciless slaughterers of children, and eaters of entrails, and those who feast on human flesh, initiates of secret rites,

and parents who murder helpless lives. You were determined to destroy them by the hands of our ancestors,

so that the land that is of all lands most precious to you might receive a worthy colony of the servants of God.

But even these you spared, since they were but mortals, and sent wasps as forerunners of your army to destroy them little by little,

though you were not unable to give the ungodly into the hands of the righteous in battle, or to destroy them at one blow by dread wild animals or your stern word.

But judging them little by little you gave them an opportunity to repent, though you were not unaware that their origin was evil and their wickedness inborn, and that their way of thinking would never change.

For they were an accursed race from the beginning, and it was not through fear of anyone that you left them unpunished for their sins.

For who will say, "What have you done?" Or who will resist your judgment? Who will accuse you for the destruction of nations that you made? Or who will come before you to plead as an advocate for the unrighteous?

For neither is there any god besides you, whose care is for all people, to whom you should prove that you have not judged unjustly;

nor can any king or monarch confront you about those whom you have punished.

You are righteous and you rule all things righteously, deeming it alien to your power to condemn anyone who does not deserve to be punished.

For your strength is the source of righteousness, and your sovereignty over all causes you to spare all.

For you show your strength when people doubt the completeness of your power, and you rebuke any insolence among those who know it.

Although you are sovereign in strength, you judge with mildness, and with great forbearance you govern us, for you have power to act whenever you choose.

Through such works you have taught your people that the righteous must be kind, and you have filled your children with good hope, because you give repentance for sins.

If you punished with such great care and indulgence the enemies of your servants and those deserving of death, giving them time and opportunity to give up their wickedness,

with what strictness you have judged your children, to whose ancestors you gave oaths and covenants full of good promises!

So while you discipline us, you flog our enemies ten thousand times more, so that we may think upon your goodness when we judge, and when we are judged we may look for mercy.

Therefore those who lived unrighteously, in a life of folly, you tormented through their own abominations.

For they went far astray on the paths of error, accepting as gods those animals that even their enemies despised, deceived like foolish infants.

Therefore, as though to foolish children, you sent upon them a judgment to mock them.

But those who have not heeded the warning of mild rebukes will experience a judgment that is deserved by God.

For when they were subjected to those creatures that they had taken as gods, they became bitterly aware of the real God whom they had denied knowing, and to the end of their days they saw clearly that the true God is the one they had refused to acknowledge.