Wisdom of Solomon 12

1 Your imperishable Spirit is in everything. 2 Therefore you correct those who fall little by little. You warn them by reminding them of the ways they sin, so that they may abandon evil and believe in you, Lord.

3 You also hated the ancient inhabitants of your holy land, 4 because they practiced detestable works of sorcery and performed ungodly rites, 5 mercilessly murdered children, feasted on human flesh and blood, and served as initiates within their cult group, 6 and were parents who murdered helpless lives with their own hands. You willed to destroy them by the hands of our ancestors, 7 so that the land you valued above every other might receive a worthy settlement of God’s servants.

8 Yet you spared even these people because they were human beings, and you sent hornets as forerunners of your army to destroy them little by little. 9 It was not because you were unable to hand the ungodly over to the righteous in battle or destroy them at once with terrifying animals or a harsh word. 10 Instead, by judging them little by little, you gave them room for a change of heart. You were not unaware that their generation was evil, that wickedness was innate in them, and that their way of thinking would never change. 11 They were a cursed offspring from the beginning, and it was not from fear of anyone that you left their sins unpunished.

12 Who will say, ‘What have you done?’ Who will oppose your judgment? Who will accuse you concerning nations you made that perish? Who will stand against you to defend unrighteous people? 13 There is no God besides you who cares for everyone, so you have no need to prove that your judgment is not unjust. 14 No king or tyrant can confront you on behalf of anyone you punished. 15 Because you are righteous, you order everything righteously, considering it foreign to your power to condemn someone who does not deserve punishment. 16 Your power is the beginning of righteousness, and your rule over all causes you to spare all.

17 You display your strength when the perfection of your power is doubted, and you expose the boldness of those who know it. 18 Although you master your power, you judge with gentleness and govern us with great forbearance, for you can use your power whenever you wish. 19 By these works you taught your people that the righteous must be humane, and you gave your children good hope because you grant a change of heart after sins.

20 If you punished your servants’ enemies, people who deserved death, with such attentiveness and leniency, giving them time and opportunity to abandon their evil, 21 with how much greater care did you judge your own children, whose ancestors received your sworn oaths and covenants of good promises? 22 So while you discipline us, you whip our enemies ten thousand times over, so that when we judge we may consider your goodness and when we are judged we may expect mercy.

23 Therefore you tormented people who lived in folly and wrongdoing by means of their own detestable things. 24 They wandered very far along the paths of error and regarded as gods creatures despised even among the ugliest animals, deceived like children without understanding. 25 Therefore you sent a judgment that mocked them as children without reason. 26 But those who would not be corrected by a mocking discipline will experience a judgment worthy of God. 27 They were outraged by the very creatures that made them suffer. Yet when those supposed gods became their punishment, they saw and acknowledged the true God whom they had earlier refused to know. Therefore final condemnation came upon them.