Wisdom 11:2-16
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
III. Special Providence of God During the Exodus[a]
Introduction
2 They journeyed through the uninhabited desert,
and in lonely places they pitched their tents;(A)
3 they withstood enemies and warded off their foes.(B)
4 When they thirsted, they called upon you,
and water was given them from the sheer rock,
a quenching of their thirst from the hard stone.
5 For by the things through which their foes were punished
they in their need were benefited.(C)
First Example: Water Punishes the Egyptians and Benefits the Israelites
6 Instead of a river’s[b] perennial source,
troubled with impure blood(D)
7 as a rebuke to the decree for the slaying of infants,
You gave them abundant water beyond their hope,
8 after you had shown by the thirst they experienced
how you punished their adversaries.
9 For when they had been tried, though only mildly chastised,(E)
they recognized how the wicked, condemned in anger, were being tormented.
10 You tested your own people, admonishing them as a father;
but as a stern king you probed and condemned the wicked.
11 Those near and far were equally afflicted:(F)
12 for a twofold grief[c] took hold of them(G)
and a groaning at the remembrance of the ones who had departed.
13 For when they heard that the cause of their own torments
was a benefit to these others, they recognized the Lord.
14 For though they had mocked and rejected him who had been cast out and abandoned long ago,
in the final outcome, they marveled at him,
since their thirst proved unlike that of the righteous.(H)
Second Example: Animals Punish the Egyptians and Benefit the Israelites
15 In return for their senseless, wicked thoughts,
which misled them into worshiping dumb[d] serpents and worthless insects,
You sent upon them swarms of dumb creatures for vengeance;(I)
16 that they might recognize that one is punished by the very things through which one sins.(J)
Footnotes
- 11:2–19:22 Few verses in chaps. 11–19 can be fully understood without consulting the passages in the Pentateuch which are indicated in the cross-references. The theme of this part of the book is expressed in v. 5 and is illustrated in the following chapters by five examples drawn from Exodus events.
- 11:6–8 River: the Nile; the contrast is between the first plague of Egypt (Ex 7:17–24) and the water drawn from the rock in Horeb (Ex 17:5–7; Nm 20:8–11).
- 11:12 Twofold grief: the double distress described in vv. 13–14.
- 11:15 Dumb: that is, irrational.
Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.