> [[wisdom-14|← Previous]] | [[wisdom-00|TOC]] | [[wisdom-16|Next →]] --- # Wisdom, Chapter 15 ## Chapter 15 1 But you, our God, are good and true, ^wisdom-15-1 slow to anger, and governing all with mercy. 2 For even if we sin, we are yours, and know your might; ^wisdom-15-2 but we will not sin, knowing that we belong to you. 3 For to know you well is complete righteousness, ^wisdom-15-3 and to know your might is the root of immortality. 4 For the evil creation of human fancy did not deceive us, ^wisdom-15-4 nor the fruitless labor of painters, A form smeared with varied colors, 5 the sight of which arouses yearning in a fool, ^wisdom-15-5 till he longs for the inanimate form of a dead image. 6 Lovers of evil things, and worthy of such hopes ^wisdom-15-6 are they who make them and long for them and worship them. ### The Potter’s Clay Idols 7 For the potter, laboriously working the soft earth, ^wisdom-15-7 molds for our service each single article: He fashions out of the same clay both the vessels that serve for clean purposes and their opposites, all alike; As to what shall be the use of each vessel of either class the worker in clay is the judge. 8 With misspent toil he molds a meaningless god from the selfsame clay, ^wisdom-15-8 though he himself shortly before was made from the earth, And is soon to go whence he was taken, when the life that was lent him is demanded back. 9 But his concern is not that he is to die ^wisdom-15-9 nor that his span of life is brief; Rather, he vies with goldsmiths and silversmiths and emulates molders of bronze, and takes pride in fashioning counterfeits. 10 Ashes his heart is! more worthless than earth is his hope, ^wisdom-15-10 more ignoble than clay his life; 11 Because he knew not the one who fashioned him, ^wisdom-15-11 and breathed into him a quickening soul, and infused a vital spirit. 12 Instead, he esteemed our life a mere game, ^wisdom-15-12 and our span of life a holiday for gain; “For one must,” says he, “make a profit in every way, be it even from evil.” 13 For more than anyone else he knows that he is sinning, ^wisdom-15-13 when out of earthen stuff he creates fragile vessels and idols alike. 14 But most stupid of all and worse than senseless in mind, ^wisdom-15-14 are the enemies of your people who enslaved them. 15 For they esteemed all the idols of the nations as gods, ^wisdom-15-15 which cannot use their eyes to see, nor nostrils to breathe the air, Nor ears to hear, nor fingers on their hands for feeling; even their feet are useless to walk with. 16 For it was a mere human being who made them; ^wisdom-15-16 one living on borrowed breath who fashioned them. For no one is able to fashion a god like himself; 17 he is mortal, and what he makes with lawless hands is dead. ^wisdom-15-17 For he is better than the things he worships; he at least lives, but never his idols. ### Second Example Resumed 18 Besides, they worship the most loathsome beasts— ^wisdom-15-18 as regards stupidity, these are worse than the rest, 19 For beasts are neither good-looking nor desirable; ^wisdom-15-19 they have escaped both the approval of God and his blessing. \* (15:1] – [3) As often before ([11:26]; [12:2]; [14:3] – [6]), the author addresses God directly, so that chaps. [11] – [19] can be conceived as a more or less continuous prayer (cf. [11:7] and [19:22]). This is the living God who is in stark contrast to the deadness of the idols that have been discussed. The merciful God (cf. [Ex 34:6]) is the source of immortality ([1:15]) for the community. \* (15:8] – [9) The author matches the irony of his words about the carpenter in [13:15] – [19] with this description of the potter’s vain work. \* (15:10) Ashes his heart is!: the words of this cry are taken from [Is 44:20] (the Septuagint). \* (15:18] – [19) The author here returns ([11:15]; [12:23] – [27]) to the main theme of chaps. [11] – [19], which was interrupted by the digression of [13:1] – [15:17]. \* (15:18) Worse than the rest: this may mean that the creatures worshiped by the Egyptians (e.g., crocodiles, serpents, scarabs, etc.) were less intelligent than the general run of beasts. a. (15:1) [Ex 34:6] – [7]; [Ps 86:5], [15]; [145:8], [9], [14]. b. (15:2) [Jb 10:14] – [15] LXX. c. (15:3) ([[wisdom-03|Wis 3]]:15]; [[john-17|Jn 17]]:3]. d. (15:4) [Wis 13:14]. e. (15:6) [Ps 115:8]. f. (15:7) [Wis 13:11]; [Jer 18:3] – [4]; [Rom 9:21]; [2 Tm 2:20] – [21]. g. (15:8) [Gn 3:19]; [Eccl 12:7]. h. (15:9) ([[baruch-06|Bar 6]]:46]. i. (15:10) [Jb 13:12] LXX. j. (15:11) [Gn 2:7]; [Zec 12:1]. k. (15:12) [Jas 4:13] – [14]. l. (15:14) ([[exodus-01|Ex 1]]:13]. m. (15:15) [Wis 14:11]; [Dt 4:28]; [Ps 115:4] – [7]; [135:15] – [18]. n. (15:16] – [17) [Wis 13:10]. o. (15:18) [Wis 11:15]; [12:24]. p. (15:19) [Gn 1:25]; [3:14]. --- _New American Bible, revised edition_ (2010, 1991, 1986, 1970) Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Washington, D.C. > [[wisdom-14|← Previous]] | [[wisdom-00|TOC]] | [[wisdom-16|Next →]]