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1Wisdom prospered their works by the hand of a holy prophet.[#Deut 18.18; 34.10; #11.1 Gk She]
2They journeyed through an uninhabited wilderness[#Ex 16.1; Deut 32.10]
and pitched their tents in untrodden places.
3They withstood their enemies and fought off their foes.[#Ex 17.10–13]
4When they were thirsty, they called upon you,[#Ex 17.6; Num 20.11; Deut 8.15; Ps 114.8]
and water was given them out of flinty rock
and from hard stone a remedy for their thirst.
5For through the very things by which their enemies were punished,
they themselves received benefit in their need.
6Instead of the fountain of an ever-flowing river,[#Ex 7.17]
stirred up and defiled with blood
7in rebuke for the decree to kill the infants,[#Ex 1.16, 22; Wis 18.5]
you gave them abundant water unexpectedly,
8showing by their thirst at that time[#Ex 7.20]
how you punished their enemies.
9For when they were tried, though they were being disciplined in mercy,[#v 6 ; Wis 16.3, 4]
they learned how the ungodly were tormented when judged in wrath.
10For you tested them as a parent does in warning,[#Deut 8.5; Wis 16.6; Heb 12.7; #11.10 Gk a father]
but you examined the ungodly as a stern king does in condemnation.
11Whether absent or present, they were equally distressed,
12for a twofold grief possessed them
and a groaning at the memory of what had occurred.
13For when they heard that through their own punishments[#Ex 8.8–19]
the righteous had received benefit, they perceived it was the Lord’s doing.
14For though they had mockingly rejected him who long before had been cast out and exposed,[#Ex 2.3]
at the end of the events they marveled at him,
when they felt thirst in a different way from the righteous.
15In return for their foolish and wicked thoughts,[#Ex 8.2, 17, 24; Wis 16.1; 17.9]
which led them astray to worship irrational serpents and worthless animals,
you sent upon them a multitude of irrational creatures to punish them,
16so that they might learn that one is punished by the very things by which one sins.[#Wis 12.23, 24, 27; 16.1]
17For your all-powerful hand,[#Gen 1.2; Wis 12.9; Sir 39.30]
which created the world out of formless matter,
did not lack the means to send upon them a multitude of bears or bold lions
18or newly created unknown beasts full of rage[#Job 41.19, 20; Wis 16.5]
or such as breathe out fiery breath
or belch forth a thick pall of smoke
or flash terrible sparks from their eyes;
19not only could the harm they did destroy people,[#11.19 Gk them]
but the mere sight of them could kill by fright.
20Even apart from these, people could fall at a single breath[#2 Esd 4.36, 37; #11.20 Gk they]
when pursued by justice
and scattered by the breath of your power.
But you have arranged all things by measure and number and weight.
21For it is always in your power to show great strength,[#2 Chr 20.6]
and who can withstand the might of your arm?
22Because the whole world before you is like a speck that tips the scales[#Isa 40.15; Hos 6.4; 13.3]
and like a drop of morning dew that falls on the ground.
23But you are merciful to all, for you can do all things,[#Sir 18.13; Acts 17.30; 2 Pet 3.9]
and you overlook people’s sins, so that they may repent.
24For you love all things that exist[#Ps 145.9]
and detest none of the things that you have made,
for you would not have formed anything if you had hated it.
25How would anything have endured if you had not willed it?[#Rom 4.17]
Or how would anything not called forth by you have been preserved?
26You spare all things, for they are yours, O Lord, you who love the living.[#Wis 12.8, 16, 18]