Wis 12:1 For thine incorruptible Spirit is in
all things.
Wis 12:2 Therefore chastenest thou them by little and little that offend,
and warnest them by putting them in remembrance wherein they have offended,
that leaving their wickedness they may believe on thee, O Lord.
Wis 12:3 For it was thy will to destroy by the hands of our fathers both
those old inhabitants of thy holy land,
Wis 12:4 Whom thou hatedst for doing most odious works of witchcrafts, and
wicked sacrifices;
Wis 12:5 And also those merciless murderers of children, and devourers of
man's flesh, and the feasts of blood,
Wis 12:6 With their priests out of the midst of their idolatrous crew, and
the parents, that killed with their own hands souls destitute of help:
Wis 12:7 That the land, which thou esteemedst above all other, might receive
a worthy colony of God's children.
Wis 12:8 Nevertheless even those thou sparedst as men, and didst send wasps,
forerunners of thine host, to destroy them by little and little.
Wis 12:9 Not that thou wast unable to bring the ungodly under the hand of
the righteous in battle, or to destroy them at once with cruel beasts, or
with one rough word:
Wis 12:10 But executing thy judgments upon them by little and little, thou
gavest them place of repentance, not being ignorant that they were a naughty
generation, and that their malice was bred in them, and that their
cogitation would never be changed.
Wis 12:11 For it was a cursed seed from the beginning; neither didst thou
for fear of any man give them pardon for those things wherein they sinned.
Wis 12:12 For who shall say, What hast thou done? or who shall withstand thy
judgment? or who shall accuse thee for the nations that perish, whom thou
made? or who shall come to stand against thee, to be revenged for the
unrighteous men?
Wis 12:13 For neither is there any God but thou that careth for all, to whom
thou mightest shew that thy judgment is not unright.
Wis 12:14 Neither shall king or tyrant be able to set his face against thee
for any whom thou hast punished.
Wis 12:15 Forsomuch then as thou art righteous thyself, thou orderest all
things righteously: thinking it not agreeable with thy power to condemn him
that hath not deserved to be punished.
Wis 12:16 For thy power is the beginning of righteousness, and because thou
art the Lord of all, it maketh thee to be gracious unto all.
Wis 12:17 For when men will not believe that thou art of a full power, thou
shewest thy strength, and among them that know it thou makest their boldness
manifest.
Wis 12:18 But thou, mastering thy power, judgest with equity, and orderest
us with great favour: for thou mayest use power when thou wilt.
Wis 12:19 But by such works hast thou taught thy people that the just man
should be merciful, and hast made thy children to be of a good hope that
thou givest repentance for sins.
Wis 12:20 For if thou didst punish the enemies of thy children, and the
condemned to death, with such deliberation, giving them time and place,
whereby they might be delivered from their malice:
Wis 12:21 With how great circumspection didst thou judge thine own sons,
unto whose fathers thou hast sworn, and made covenants of good promises?
Wis 12:22 Therefore, whereas thou dost chasten us, thou scourgest our
enemies a thousand times more, to the intent that, when we judge, we should
carefully think of thy goodness, and when we ourselves are judged, we should
look for mercy.
Wis 12:23 Wherefore, whereas men have lived dissolutely and unrighteously,
thou hast tormented them with their own abominations.
Wis 12:24 For they went astray very far in the ways of error, and held them
for gods, which even among the beasts of their enemies were despised, being
deceived, as children of no understanding.
Wis 12:25 Therefore unto them, as to children without the use of reason,
thou didst send a judgment to mock them.
Wis 12:26 But they that would not be reformed by that correction, wherein he
dallied with them, shall feel a judgment worthy of God.
Wis 12:27 For, look, for what things they grudged, when they were punished,
that is, for them whom they thought to be gods; [now] being punished in
them, when they saw it, they acknowledged him to be the true God, whom
before they denied to know: and therefore came extreme damnation upon them.