King James Version · Under the Greeks
Wisdom of Solomon 18
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1Nevertheless thy had a very great , whose voice they hearing, and not seeing their shape, because they also had not suffered the same things, they counted them happy. 2But for that they did not hurt them now, of whom they had been wronged before, they thanked them, and besought them pardon for that they had been . 3Instead whereof thou gavest them a burning , both to be a guide of the unknown journey, and an harmless sun to entertain them honourably. 4For they were worthy to be deprived of and imprisoned , who had kept thy sons shut up, by whom the uncorrupt of was to be given unto the world. 5And when they had determined to the babes of , one child being cast forth, and , to reprove them, thou tookest away of their children, and destroyedst them altogether in a mighty water. 6Of that night were our fathers certified afore, that assuredly knowing unto what they had given credence, they might afterwards be of good cheer. 7So of thy people was accepted both the of , and of the . 8For wherewith thou didst punish our , by the same thou didst us, whom thou hadst called. 9For children of good men did secretly, and with one consent made a law, that should be like partakers of the same good and evil, the fathers now singing out the songs of . 10But on the other side there sounded an ill according cry of the , and a lamentable noise was carried abroad for children that were bewailed. 11The master and the servant were punished after one manner; and like as the king, so suffered the common person. 12So they all together had innumerable with one kind of ; neither were the living sufficient to bury them: for in one moment the noblest of them was destroyed. 13For whereas they would not any thing by reason of the enchantments; upon the of , they acknowledged this people to be . 14For while all things were in quiet silence, and that night was in the midst of her swift course, 15Thine Almighty word leaped down from out of thy royal , as a fierce man of war into the midst of a land of , 16And brought thine unfeigned as a sharp , and standing up filled all things with ; and it touched the , but it stood upon the earth. 17Then suddenly of horrible troubled them sore, and terrors came upon them unlooked for. 18And one thrown here, and another there, half , shewed the cause of his . 19For the that troubled them did foreshew this, lest they should , and not know why they were afflicted. 20Yea, the tasting of touched also, and there was a of in : but the not long. 21For then the blameless man made haste, and stood forth to defend them; and bringing the shield of his proper ministry, even , and the propitiation of , set himself against the , and so brought the calamity to an end, declaring that he was thy servant. 22So he overcame , not with strength of body, nor force of arms, but with a word subdued him that punished, alleging the and made with the fathers. 23For when were now fallen down by heaps one upon another, standing between, he stayed the , and parted to the living. 24For in the long garment was the whole world, and in the four rows of the stones was the of the fathers graven, and thy Majesty upon the of his head. 25Unto these gave place, and was afraid of them: for it was enough that they only tasted of the .
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.