ḤAḴMAH 11 (Wisdom 11)

1 She prospered their works in the hand of the qodesh naḇi.

2 They went through the wilderness that was uninhabited,
And pitched tents in places where there lay no way.

3 They stood against their enemies,
And were avenged of their adversaries.

4 When they were thirsty, they called upon You,
And water was given them out of the flinty rock,
And their thirst was quenched out of the solid rock.

5 For in what matters their enemies were punished,
By the same they in their need were benefited.

6 For instead of a constant running river troubled with foul blood,

7 For a visible reproof of that command, whereby the infants were slain,
You gave to them abundance of water by means of which they had no expectancy;

8 Revealing by that thirst at that time how you had punished their adversaries.

9 For when they were tried although chastised in kindness,
They knew how the wicked were judged in wrath and tortured,
Thirsting in a different manner than the righteous.

10 For these You admonish and try, as a Father,
But the other, as a severe Sovereign,
You condemn and punish.

11 Whether they were absent or present,
They were punished alike.

12 For a double grief came upon them,
And a groaning for the remembrance of what was past.

13 For when they heard through their own punishments the other had benefited,
They sensed that it was from 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄.

14 For whom they treated with scorn,
When he was sent out long before the throwing out of the infants,
In the end, when they saw what came to be, they admired him.

15 But for the foolish schemes of their wickedness,
Being deceived, they worshipped serpents empty of reason, and vile beasts,
You sent a multitude of beastly creatures upon them for vengeance;

16 That they might know, that in all the ways a man sins,
By the same he shall also be punished.

17 For Your Almighty hand, that made the world of formless matter,
Did not lack the means to send a multitude of bears or fierce lions among them,

18 Or newly created, unknown wild beasts full of rage,
Breathing out either fiery breath, or a filthy stench of billowing smoke,
Or shooting scorching sparks out of their eyes;

19 From which not only the damage might kill them at once,
But also the terrible sight utterly destroy them.

20 And even without all these they might have collapsed with one blast,
Being punished by vengeance, and scattered abroad through the breath of Your power;
But You have ordered all in measure and number and weight.

21 For You show Your great power at all times when you desire;
And who withstands the strength of Your arm?

22 For the whole world is like a small grain in the balance before You,
Even as a drop of the morning dew that falls down upon the earth.

23 But You show favour upon all;
For You do all,
And overlook the sins of men, that they should repent.

24 For You love all that exist, and loathe none whom You have made;
For You would never have made any matter, if You had hated it.

25 And how could any matter have endured, if it had not been Your desire?
Or been preserved, if not called by You?

26 But You spare all: for they are Yours, O 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄,
You lover of the living.