King James Version · Under the Greeks
Wisdom of Solomon 10
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1She preserved the first formed of the world, that was created alone, and brought him out of his fall, 2And gave him to rule all things. 3But when the unrighteous went away from her in his , he also in the fury wherewith he murdered his brother. 4For whose cause the earth being drowned with the flood, again preserved it, and directed the course of in a piece of wood of small value. 5Moreover, the nations in their conspiracy being confounded, she found out , and preserved him blameless unto , and kept him strong against his tender toward his son. 6When the ungodly , she man, who fled from the which fell down upon the five cities. 7Of whose wickedness even to this day the waste land that smoketh is a , and plants bearing fruit that never come to ripeness: and a standing pillar of salt is a monument of an unbelieving . 8For regarding not , they gat not only this hurt, that they knew not the things which were good; but also left behind them to the world a memorial of their foolishness: so that in the things wherein they offended they could not so much as be hid. 9But from pain those that attended upon her. 10When fled from his brother’s she guided him in right , shewed him of , and gave him knowledge of things, made him rich in his travels, and multiplied the fruit of his labours. 11In the covetousness of such as oppressed him she stood by him, and made him rich. 12She defended him from his , and kept him safe from those that lay in wait, and in a sore conflict she gave him the victory; that he might know that goodness is stronger than all. 13When was sold, she forsook him not, but him from : she went down with him into , 14And left him not in bonds, till she brought him the sceptre of , and against those that oppressed him: as for them that had accused him, she shewed them to be liars, and gave him perpetual . 15She people and blameless from the nation that oppressed them. 16She entered into the of the , and withstood dreadful kings in wonders and signs; 17Rendered to a reward of their labours, guided them in a marvellous way, and was unto them for a cover by day, and a of stars in the night season; 18Brought them through , and led them through much water: 19But she drowned their , and cast them up out of the bottom of the deep. 20Therefore spoiled the ungodly, and praised thy name, O , and magnified with one accord thine hand, that fought for them. 21For opened the of the dumb, and made the of them that cannot speak eloquent.
The 1611 translation, public domain. Its original printing included the Apocrypha, which is why the deuterocanonical books can be read here. Notes and cards are EKLI’s own.
The world at this moment · Under the Greeks, 332 BC to 63 BC ›
Alexander's conquest and the kingdoms of his successors. Greek language and custom press in everywhere, and the crisis under Antiochus IV provokes the Maccabean revolt.
- The successors
- Alexander dies at thirty-two and his generals carve up the empire. Judea sits on the border between the Ptolemies in Egypt and the Seleucids in Syria, and is fought over by both for a century and a half, which is the ordinary condition of the corridor.
- Hellenism
- Not just conquest but a culture: the gymnasium, the theatre, Greek names, Greek dress, Greek as the language of anyone with ambitions. Some Jews embraced it, some resisted it, and the argument between them is the real subject of the Maccabean books. In Alexandria the Hebrew scriptures are translated into Greek, producing the Septuagint, which is the Bible most New Testament writers quote.
- The crisis
- Antiochus IV bans the practice of Judaism, plunders the temple, and sets up a pagan altar in it in 167 BC. The revolt under the Maccabees wins, the temple is rededicated in 164 BC, which is the origin of Hanukkah, and Judea has about eighty years of independence under the Hasmoneans before Rome arrives.
- Further afield
- Rome fights Carthage three times and ends up master of the Mediterranean. Euclid writes the Elements and Archimedes does his work at Syracuse. In China the Qin unify the country in 221 BC and the Han follow, opening what becomes the Silk Road.