Sabiduría 14 — La locura de la idolatría y la providencia de Dios

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1. 1.Folly of a Navigator Praying to an Idol Again, one preparing to sail and about to voyage over raging waves calls upon a piece of wood more fragile than the ship which carries him.💡
2. 2.For it was desire for gain that planned that vessel, and wisdom was the craftsman who built it;💡
3. 3.but it is thy providence, O Father, that steers its course, because thou hast given it a path in the sea, and a safe way through the waves,💡
4. 4.showing that thou canst save from every danger, so that even if a man lacks skill, he may put to sea.💡
5. 5.It is thy will that works of thy wisdom should not be without effect; therefore men trust their lives even to the smallest piece of wood, and passing through the billows on a raft they come safely to land.💡
6. 6.For even in the beginning, when arrogant giants were perishing, the hope of the world took refuge on a raft, and guided by thy hand left to the world the seed of a new generation.💡
7. 7.For blessed is the wood by which righteousness comes.💡
8. 8.But the idol made with hands is accursed, and so is he who made it; because he did the work, and the perishable thing was named a god.💡
9. 9.For equally hateful to God are the ungodly man and his ungodliness,💡
10. 10.for what was done will be punished together with him who did it.💡
11. 11.Therefore there will be a visitation also upon the heathen idols, because, though part of what God created, they became an abomination, and became traps for the souls of men and a snare to the feet of the foolish.💡
12. 12.The Origin and Evils of Idolatry For the idea of making idols was the beginning of fornication, and the invention of them was the corruption of life,💡
13. 13.for neither have they existed from the beginning nor will they exist for ever.💡
14. 14.For through the vanity of men they entered the world, and therefore their speedy end has been planned.💡
15. 15.For a father, consumed with grief at an untimely bereavement, made an image of his child, who had been suddenly taken from him; and he now honored as a god what was once a dead human being, and handed on to his dependents secret rites and initiations.💡
16. 16.Then the ungodly custom, grown strong with time, was kept as a law, and at the command of monarchs graven images were worshiped.💡
17. 17.When men could not honor monarchs in their presence, since they lived at a distance, they imagined their appearance far away, and made a visible image of the king whom they honored, so that by their zeal they might flatter the absent one as though present.💡
18. 18.Then the ambition of the craftsman impelled even those who did not know the king to intensify their worship.💡
19. 19.For he, perhaps wishing to please his ruler, skilfully forced the likeness to take more beautiful form,💡
20. 20.and the multitude, attracted by the charm of his work, now regarded as an object of worship the one whom shortly before they had honored as a man.💡
21. 21.And this became a hidden trap for mankind, because men, in bondage to misfortune or to royal authority, bestowed on objects of stone or wood the name that ought not to be shared.💡
22. 22.Afterward it was not enough for them to err about the knowledge of God, but they live in great strife due to ignorance, and they call such great evils peace.💡
23. 23.For whether they kill children in their initiations, or celebrate secret mysteries, or hold frenzied revels with strange customs,💡
24. 24.they no longer keep either their lives or their marriages pure, but they either treacherously kill one another, or grieve one another by adultery,💡
25. 25.and all is a raging riot of blood and murder, theft and deceit, corruption, faithlessness, tumult, perjury,💡
26. 26.confusion over what is good, forgetfulness of favors, pollution of souls, sex perversion, disorder in marriage, adultery, and debauchery.💡
27. 27.For the worship of idols not to be named is the beginning and cause and end of every evil.💡
28. 28.For their worshipers either rave in exultation, or prophesy lies, or live unrighteously, or readily commit perjury;💡
29. 29.for because they trust in lifeless idols they swear wicked oaths and expect to suffer no harm.💡
30. 30.But just penalties will overtake them on two counts: because they thought wickedly of God in devoting themselves to idols, and because in deceit they swore unrighteously through contempt for holiness.💡
31. 31.For it is not the power of the things by which men swear, but the just penalty for those who sin, that always pursues the transgression of the unrighteous.💡