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1 μὴ ἐπιθύμει τέκνων πλῆθος ἀχρήστων μηδὲ εὐφραίνου ἐπὶ υἱοῖς ἀσεβέσιν ἐὰν πληθύνωσιν μὴ εὐφραίνου ἐ{P'} αὐτοῖς εἰ μή ἐστιν φόβος κυρίου με{T'} αὐτῶν 2 μὴ ἐμπιστεύσῃς τῇ ζωῇ αὐτῶν καὶ μὴ ἔπεχε ἐπὶ τὸ πλῆθος αὐτῶν 3 κρείσσων γὰρ εἷς ἢ χίλιοι 4 καὶ ἀποθανεῖν ἄτεκνον ἢ ἔχειν τέκνα ἀσεβῆ 5 ἀπὸ γὰρ ἑνὸς συνετοῦ συνοικισθήσεται πόλις φυλὴ δὲ ἀνόμων ἐρημωθήσεται 6 πολλὰ τοιαῦτα ἑόρακεν ὁ ὀφθαλμός μου καὶ ἰσχυρότερα τούτων ἀκήκοεν τὸ οὖς μου 7 ἐν συναγωγῇ ἁμαρτωλῶν ἐκκαυθήσεται πῦρ καὶ ἐν ἔθνει ἀπειθεῖ ἐξεκαύθη ὀργή 8 οὐκ ἐξιλάσατο περὶ τῶν ἀρχαίων γιγάντων οἳ ἀπέστησαν τῇ ἰσχύι αὐτῶν 9 οὐκ ἐφείσατο περὶ τῆς παροικίας Λωτ οὓς ἐβδελύξατο διὰ τὴν ὑπερηφανίαν αὐτῶν 10 οὐκ ἠλέησεν ἔθνος ἀπωλείας τοὺς ἐξηρμένους ἐν ἁμαρτίαις αὐτῶν 11 καὶ οὕτως ἑξακοσίας χιλιάδας πεζῶν τοὺς ἐπισυναχθέντας ἐν σκληροκαρδίᾳ αὐτῶν κἂν ᾖ εἷς σκληροτράχηλος θαυμαστὸν τοῦτο εἰ ἀθῳωθήσεται 12 ἔλεος γὰρ καὶ ὀργὴ πα{R'} αὐτῷ δυνάστης ἐξιλασμῶν καὶ ἐκχέων ὀργήν 13 κατὰ τὸ πολὺ ἔλεος αὐτοῦ οὕτως καὶ πολὺς ὁ ἔλεγχος αὐτοῦ ἄνδρα κατὰ τὰ ἔργα αὐτοῦ κρινεῖ 14 οὐκ ἐκφεύξεται ἐν ἁρπάγματι ἁμαρτωλός καὶ οὐ μὴ καθυστερήσει ὑπομονὴ εὐσεβοῦς 15 πάσῃ ἐλεημοσύνῃ ποιήσει τόπον ἕκαστος κατὰ τὰ ἔργα αὐτοῦ εὑρήσει | 1 A brood of disloyal sons, let not thy eye dwell on these with pleasure; the fear of God lacking, let not a multitude of children be thy comfort. 2 Not on such lives as these set thy hopes, little regard have thou for such doings as theirs; 3 better one son who fears God than a thousand who grow up rebellious; 4 better die childless than have rebels to succeed thee. 5 Through one man that is well-minded a whole country may thrive, and sinners, a whole race of them, may be extinguished; 6 much proof of this my own eyes have seen, and stronger proof yet are the tales that have come to my hearing, 7 of fire breaking out where sinners were met in company, fires of vengeance to consume a disobedient race. 8 Those giants of long ago who perished in the pride of their strength, did they find pardon of their guilt? 9 Lot’s neighbours, did God spare them? Did he not attest his hatred of their insolence, 10 destroying a whole nation without pity, for the sinfulness that defied him? 11 And what of those six hundred thousand that marched out into the desert, men of stubborn heart? Stiff-necked if he had been like the others, Caleb himself should not have had God’s pardon.[1] 12 His to pity, his to punish; intercession avails with him, but in full flood comes his vengeance; 13 his severity, no less than his clemency, judges men by their deeds. 14 Never may sinner enjoy his ill-gotten gains in safety, nor the hope of the generous be disappointed. 15 No generous act but shall win God’s consideration; he weighs each man’s merits, knows how each passed his time on earth. | 1 Ne jucunderis in filiis impiis, si multiplicentur: nec oblecteris super ipsos, si non est timor Dei in illis. Non credas vitæ illorum, et ne respexeris in labores eorum. Melior est enim unus timens Deum, quam mille filii impii: et utile est mori sine filiis, quam relinquere filios impios. Ab uno sensato inhabitabitur patria: tribus impiorum deseretur. Multa talia vidit oculis meus, et fortiora horum audivit auris mea. In synagoga peccantium exardebit ignis, et in gente incredibili exardescet ira. Non exoraverunt pro peccatis suis antiqui gigantes, qui destructi sunt confidentes suæ virtuti. Et non pepercit peregrinationi Lot, et execratus est eos præ superbia verbi illorum. Non misertus est illis, gentem totam perdens, et extollentem se in peccatis suis. Et sicut sexcenta millia peditum, qui congregati sunt in duritia cordis sui: et si unus fuisset cervicatus, mirum si fuisset immunis. Misericordia enim et ira est cum illo: potens exoratio, et effundens iram. Secundum misericordiam suam, sic correptio illius homines secundum opera sua judicat. Non effugiet in rapina peccator, et non retardabit sufferentia misericordiam facientis. Omnis misericordia faciet locum unicuique, secundum meritum operum suorum, et secundum intellectum peregrinationis ipsius. |
16 μὴ εἴπῃς ὅτι ἀπὸ κυρίου κρυβήσομαι καὶ ἐξ ὕψους τίς μου μνησθήσεται 17 ἐν λαῷ πλείονι οὐ μὴ γνωσθῶ τίς γὰρ ἡ ψυχή μου ἐν ἀμετρήτῳ κτίσει 18 ἰδοὺ ὁ οὐρανὸς καὶ ὁ οὐρανὸς τοῦ οὐρανοῦ ἄβυσσος καὶ γῆ ἐν τῇ ἐπισκοπῇ αὐτοῦ σαλευθήσονται 19 ἅμα τὰ ὄρη καὶ τὰ θεμέλια τῆς γῆς ἐν τῷ ἐπιβλέψαι εἰς αὐτὰ τρόμῳ συσσείονται 20 καὶ ἐ{P'} αὐτοῖς οὐ διανοηθήσεται καρδία 21 καὶ τὰς ὁδοὺς αὐτοῦ τίς ἐνθυμηθήσεται καὶ καταιγίς ἣν οὐκ ὄψεται ἄνθρωπος 22 τὰ δὲ πλείονα τῶν ἔργων αὐτοῦ ἐν ἀποκρύφοις ἔργα δικαιοσύνης τίς ἀναγγελεῖ ἢ τίς ὑπομενεῖ μακρὰν γὰρ ἡ διαθήκη 23 ἐλαττούμενος καρδίᾳ διανοεῖται ταῦτα καὶ ἀνὴρ ἄφρων καὶ πλανώμενος διανοεῖται μωρά | 16 Never think to hide thyself away from God; never tell thyself, from that great height none shall regard thee; 17 that thou wilt pass unnoticed amidst the throng of humanity, thy soul a mere speck in the vast fabric of creation. 18 Why, the very heavens, and the heavens that are above the heavens, the great deep, and the whole earth with all it contains, shrink away at the sight of him; 19 mountains and hills and earth’s foundations tremble at his glance; 20 all these have a heart, though it be a heart void of reason,[2] and there is no heart but its secrets are known to him. 21 There is no fathoming his ways, no piercing the dark cloud man’s eyes have never seen; 22 all but a few of his doings are hidden away. His acts of retribution[3] who can understand, or who can bear? Far, far removed is that covenant of his from some men’s thoughts; and yet in the end all shall undergo his scrutiny.[4] 23 Away with these fancies of shallow minds, these fond dreams of error! | 16 Non dicas: A Deo abscondar: et ex summo, quis mei memorabitur? in populo magno non agnoscar: quæ est enim anima mea in tam immensa creatura? Ecce cælum et cæli cælorum, abyssus, et universa terra, et quæ in eis sunt, in conspectu illius commovebuntur. Montes simul, et colles, et fundamenta terræ, cum conspexerit illa Deus, tremore concutientur. Et in omnibus his insensatum est cor, et omne cor intelligitur ab illo. Et vias illius quis intelligit, et procellam quam nec oculus videbit hominis? Nam plurima illius opera sunt in absconsis: sed opera justitiæ ejus quis enuntiabit, aut quis sustinebit? longe enim est testamentum a quibusdam, et interrogatio omnium in consummatione est. Qui minoratur corde cogitat inania, et vir imprudens et errans cogitat stulta. |
24 ἄκουσόν μου τέκνον καὶ μάθε ἐπιστήμην καὶ ἐπὶ τῶν λόγων μου πρόσεχε τῇ καρδίᾳ σου 25 ἐκφανῶ ἐν σταθμῷ παιδείαν καὶ ἐν ἀκριβείᾳ ἀπαγγελῶ ἐπιστήμην 26 ἐν κρίσει κυρίου τὰ ἔργα αὐτοῦ ἀ{P'} ἀρχῆς καὶ ἀπὸ ποιήσεως αὐτῶν διέστειλεν μερίδας αὐτῶν 27 ἐκόσμησεν εἰς αἰῶνα τὰ ἔργα αὐτοῦ καὶ τὰς ἀρχὰς αὐτῶν εἰς γενεὰς αὐτῶν οὔτε ἐπείνασαν οὔτε ἐκοπίασαν καὶ οὐκ ἐξέλιπον ἀπὸ τῶν ἔργων αὐτῶν 28 ἕκαστος τὸν πλησίον αὐτοῦ οὐκ ἐξέθλιψεν 29 καὶ ἕως αἰῶνος οὐκ ἀπειθήσουσιν τοῦ ῥήματος αὐτοῦ 30 καὶ μετὰ ταῦτα κύριος εἰς τὴν γῆν ἐπέβλεψεν καὶ ἐνέπλησεν αὐτὴν τῶν ἀγαθῶν αὐτοῦ 31 ψυχῇ παντὸς ζῴου ἐκάλυψεν τὸ πρόσωπον αὐτῆς καὶ εἰς αὐτὴν ἡ ἀποστροφὴ αὐτῶν | 24 Wilt thou but listen to me, my son, thou shalt learn a wiser lesson. Give me thy heart’s heeding, 25 and instruction thou shalt have in full measure, wisdom both profound and clear. Give me thy heart’s heeding, and thou shalt share with me knowledge of the wonderful endowments God gave his creatures when first he made them; all the lore I have shall be truly told thee. 26 From the first, all God’s creatures are at his beck and call; to each, when he first made it, he gave its own turn of service, the principle that determines its own nature. 27 To each, for all time, its own office is assigned, nor lack they, nor tire they, nor cease they from work, 28 nor, for all time, can any of them infringe upon its neighbour’s rights; 29 his word there is no gainsaying.[5] 30 This done, on earth he let fall his regard, and filled earth with his blessings; 31 covered the face of it[6] with the living things that breathe there, and into its bosom bade them return. | 24 Audi me, fili, et disce disciplinam sensus, et in verbis meis attende in corde tuo: et dicam in æquitate disciplinam, et scrutabor enarrare sapientiam: et in verbis meis attende in corde tuo, et dico in æquitate spiritus virtutes quas posuit Deus in opera sua ab initio, et in veritate enuntio scientiam ejus. In judicio Dei opera ejus ab initio, et ab institutione ipsorum distinxit partes illorum, et initia eorum in gentibus suis. Ornavit in æternum opera illorum: nec esurierunt, nec laboraverunt, et non destiterunt ab operibus suis. Unusquisque proximum sibi non angustiabit in æternum: non sis incredibilis verbo illius. Post hæc Deus in terram respexit, et implevit illam bonis suis: anima omnis vitalis denuntiavit ante faciem ipsius, et in ipsam iterum reversio illorum. |
[1] The words ‘into the desert’ have been inserted to make it clear that the Exodus is alluded to; they are not in the text. Nor is the name ‘Caleb’, but the grammar of the Latin version necessarily implies that one person was excepted from the general doom, cf. Num. 14.24 and elsewhere. The Greek text has ‘And if there is one stiff-necked person, it is a marvel if he escapes’.
[2] ‘All these have a heart, though it be a heart void of reason’; or perhaps, ‘and in all these matters, the (human) heart is powerless to reason’, which is the sense of the Greek text.
[3] The sense of the Greek text is probably rather ‘the acts which win his approval’.
[4] vv. 18-22: In the Latin version, this is apparently regarded as an answer to the notions mentioned in verses 16, 17; in the Greek text, it seems to be a continuation of them, the answer being delayed till verse 24.
[5] That is, according to the Greek text, the forces of nature are bound to obey it; the Latin version represents it as a warning against human disobedience.
[6] This is the meaning of the Greek text. The Latin version has ‘denounced before the face of it’, which yields no satisfactory sense.
Knox Translation Copyright © 2013 Westminster Diocese
Nihil Obstat. Father Anton Cowan, Censor.
Imprimatur. +Most Rev. Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster. 8th January 2012.
Re-typeset and published in 2012 by Baronius Press Ltd