King James Version · Under the Greeks
Wisdom of Solomon 19
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1As for the ungodly, came upon them without mercy unto the end: for he knew before what they would do; 2How that having given them leave to depart, and sent them hastily away, they would and pursue them. 3For whilst they were yet and making at the of , they added another foolish device, and pursued them as fugitives, whom they had intreated to be gone. 4For the destiny, whereof they were worthy, drew them unto this end, and made them forget the things that had already happened, that they might fulfil the punishment which was wanting to their torments: 5And that thy people might pass a wonderful way: but they might find a strange . 6For the whole creature in his proper kind was fashioned again anew, the peculiar that were given unto them, that thy children might be kept without hurt: 7As namely, a cloud shadowing the camp; and where water stood before, dry land appeared; and out of a way without impediment; and out of the stream a green field: 8Wherethrough all the people went that were defended with thy hand, seeing thy marvellous strange wonders. 9For they went at large like horses, and leaped like lambs, praising thee, O , who hadst them. 10For they were yet mindful of the things that were done while they sojourned in the strange land, how the ground brought forth flies instead of cattle, and how the river cast up a multitude of frogs instead of fishes. 11But afterwards they saw a new generation of fowls, when, being led with their appetite, they asked delicate meats. 12For quails came up unto them from the sea for their contentment. 13And punishments came upon the not without former signs by the force of thunders: for they suffered justly according to their own wickedness, insomuch as they used a more hard and hateful behaviour toward strangers. 14For the Sodomites did not receive those, whom they knew not when they came: but these brought friends into bondage, that had well deserved of them. 15And not only so, but peradventure some respect shall be had of those, because they used strangers not friendly: 16But these very grievously afflicted them, whom they had received with feastings, and were already made partakers of the same laws with them. 17Therefore even with blindness were these stricken, as those were at the doors of man: when, being compassed about with horrible great , every one sought the passage of his own doors. 18For the elements were changed in themselves by a kind of harmony, like as in a psaltery notes change the name of the tune, and yet are always sounds; which may well be perceived by the sight of the things that have been done. 19For earthly things were turned into watery, and the things, that before swam in the water, now went upon the ground. 20The had in the water, forgetting his own virtue: and the water forgat his own quenching nature. 21On the other side, the flames wasted not of the corruptible living things, though they walked therein; neither melted they the icy kind of meat that was of nature apt to melt. 22For in all things, O , thou didst magnify thy people, and them, neither didst thou lightly regard them: but didst assist them in every time and place.
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.