Wisdom Chapter 11

English (Douay-Rheims)

1 She prospered their works in the hands of the holy prophet. The holy prophet... Moses.
2 They went through wildernesses that were not inhabited, and in desert places they pitched their tents.
3 They stood against their enemies, and revenged themselves of their adversaries. Their enemies... The Amalecites.
4 They were thirsty, and they called upon thee, and water was given them out of the high rock, and a refreshment of their thirst out of the hard stone.

5 For by what things their enemies were punished, when their drink failed them, while the children of Israel abounded therewith, and rejoiced: By what things, etc... The meaning is, that God, who wrought a miracle to punish the Egyptians by thirst, when he turned all their waters into blood, (at which time the Israelites, who were exempt from those plagues, had plenty of water), wrought another miracle in favour of his own people in their thirst, by giving them water out of the rock.
6 By the same things they in their need were benefited.
7 For instead of a fountain of an ever running river, thou gavest human blood to the unjust.
8 And whilst they were diminished for a manifest reproof of their murdering the infants, thou gavest to thine abundant water unlooked for:
9 Showing by the thirst that was then, how thou didst exalt thine, and didst kill their adversaries.
10 For when they were tried, and chastised with mercy, they knew how the wicked were judged with wrath, and tormented.
11 For thou didst admonish and try them as a father: but the others, as a severe king, thou didst examine and condemn.
12 For whether absent or present, they were tormented alike.
13 For a double affliction came upon them, and a groaning for the remembrance of things past.
14 For when they heard that by their punishments the others were benefited, they remembered the Lord, wondering at the end of what was come to pass. By their punishments, etc... That is, that the Israelites had been benefited and miraculously favoured in the same kind, in which they had been punished.
15 For whom they scorned before, when he was thrown out at the time of his being wickedly exposed to perish, him they admired in the end, when they saw the event: their thirsting being unlike to that of the just.
16 But for the foolish devices of their iniquity, because some being deceived worshipped dumb serpents and worthless beasts, thou didst send upon them a multitude of dumb beasts for vengeance: Dumb beasts... Viz., frogs, sciniphs, flies, and locusts.
17 That they might know that by what things a man sinneth, by the same also he is tormented.
18 For thy almighty hand, which made the world of matter without form, was not unable to send upon them a multitude of bears, or fierce lions,
19 Or unknown beasts of a new kind, full of rage; either breathing out a fiery vapour, or sending forth a stinking smoke, or shooting horrible sparks out of their eyes:
20 Whereof not only the hurt might be able to destroy them, but also the very sight might kill them through fear.
21 Yea, and without these, they might have been slain with one blast, persecuted by their own deeds, and scattered by the breath of thy power: but thou hast ordered all things in measure, and number, and weight.
22 For great power always belonged to thee alone: and who shall resist the strength of thy arm?
23 For the whole world before thee is as the least grain of the balance, and as a drop of the morning dew, that falleth down upon the earth.
24 But thou hast mercy upon all, because thou canst do all things, and overlookest the sins of men for the sake of repentance.
25 For thou lovest all things that are, and hatest none of the things which thou hast made: for thou didst not appoint, or make any thing hating it.
26 And how could any thing endure, if thou wouldst not? or be preserved, if not called by thee?
27 But thou sparest all: because they are thine, O Lord, who lovest souls.

Old Testament first published 1609 by the English College at Douay
New Testament first published 1582 by the English College at Rheims
Revised and Annotated 1749 by Bishop Richard Challoner
Imprimatur. +James Cardinal Gibbons, Archbishop of Baltimore, September 1, 1899

Latin (Clementine Vulgate)

1 Direxit opera eorum in manibus prophetæ sancti.
2 Iter fecerunt per deserta quæ non habitabantur,
et in locis desertis fixerunt casas.
3 Steterunt contra hostes,
et de inimicis se vindicaverunt.
4 Sitierunt, et invocaverunt te,
et data est illis aqua de petra altissima,
et requies sitis de lapide duro.

5 Per quæ enim pœnas passi sunt inimici illorum
a defectione potus sui,
et in eis cum abundarent filii Israël lætati sunt:
6 per hæc, cum illis deessent, bene cum illis actum est.
7 Nam pro fonte quidem sempiterni fluminis,
humanum sanguinem dedisti injustis.
8 Qui cum minuerentur in traductione infantium occisorum,
dedisti illis abundantem aquam insperate,
9 ostendens per sitim quæ tunc fuit,
quemadmodum tuos exaltares,
et adversarios illorum necares.
10 Cum enim tentati sunt,
et quidem cum misericordia disciplinam accipientes,
scierunt quemadmodum cum ira judicati impii tormenta paterentur.
11 Hos quidem tamquam pater monens probasti;
illos autem tamquam durus rex interrogans condemnasti.
12 Absentes enim, et præsentes, similiter torquebantur.
13 Duplex enim illos acceperat tædium et gemitus,
cum memoria præteritorum.
14 Cum enim audirent per sua tormenta bene secum agi,
commemorati sunt Dominum, admirantes in finem exitus.
15 Quem enim in expositione prava projectum deriserunt,
in finem eventus mirati sunt,
non similiter justis sitientes.
16 Pro cogitationibus autem insensatis iniquitatis illorum,
quod quidam errantes colebant mutos serpentes
et bestias supervacuas,
immisisti illis multitudinem mutorum animalium in vindictam;
17 ut scirent quia per quæ peccat quis, per hæc et torquetur.
18 Non enim impossibilis erat omnipotens manus tua,
quæ creavit orbem terrarum ex materia invisa,
immittere illis multitudinem ursorum, aut audaces leones,
19 aut novi generis ira plenas ignotas bestias,
aut vaporem ignium spirantes,
aut fumi odorem proferentes,
aut horrendas ab oculis scintillas emittentes;
20 quarum non solum læsura poterat illos exterminare,
sed et aspectus per timorem occidere.
21 Sed et sine his uno spiritu poterant occidi,
persecutionem passi ab ipsis factis suis,
et dispersi per spiritum virtutis tuæ:
sed omnia in mensura, et numero et pondere disposuisti.
22 Multum enim valere, tibi soli supererat semper:
et virtuti brachii tui quis resistet?
23 Quoniam tamquam momentum stateræ,
sic est ante te orbis terrarum,
et tamquam gutta roris antelucani quæ descendit in terram.
24 Sed misereris omnium, quia omnia potes;
et dissimulas peccata hominum, propter pœnitentiam.
25 Diligis enim omnia quæ sunt,
et nihil odisti eorum quæ fecisti;
nec enim odiens aliquid constituisti aut fecisti.
26 Quomodo autem posset aliquid permanere, nisi tu voluisses?
aut quod a te vocatum non esset conservaretur?
27 Parcis autem omnibus, quoniam tua sunt, Domine,
qui amas animas.

Transcribed as part of the Clementine Vulgate Project
Please notify the original transcriber (little.mouth@soon.com) of any errors in this Latin edition

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