17 But, being mortal, he maketh ka dead thing by the work of lawless hands;

For he is better than the objects of his worship,

1 Forasmuch as he indeed had life, but they never.

18 Yea, and m the creatures that are most hateful do they worship,

2 For, being compared as to want of sense, these are worse than all others;

19 Neither, as seen beside other creatures, are they beautiful, so that one should desire them, But they have escaped both the praise of God and his blessing.

16

I For this cause were these men worthily punished through creatures like those which they worship,

And tormented through a multitude

of vermin.

2 Instead of which punishment, thou, bestowing benefits on thy people, P Preparedst quails for food,

Food of rare taste, to satisfy the desire of their appetite;

3 To the end that thine enemies, desiring food,

Might for the hideousness of the creatures sent among them Loathe even the necessary appetite; But these, thy people, "having for a short space suffered want,

Might even partake of food of rare taste.

4 For it was needful that upon those should come inexorable want in their tyrannous dealing,

But that sto these it should only be shewed how their enemies were tormented.

5 For even when terrible raging of wild beasts came upon 5 thy people, And they were perishing by the bites of crooked serpents, Thy wrath continued not to the uttermost;

6 But for admonition were they troubled for a short space,

Having wa token of salvation,

And there was not found a healing for their life,

Because they were worthy to be punished by such as these;

10 But thy sons not the very teeth of venomous dragons overcame, For thy mercy passed by where they were, and whealed them.

For they were 6bitten, cto put them in remembrance of thine doracles; And were quickly saved, lest, falling into deep forgetfulness,

They should become unable to be 8 roused by thy beneficence: For of a truth it was neither herb nor emollifying plaister that cured them,

But thy word, O Lord, which healeth all things;

For thou hast authority over life | and death,

And thou leadest down to the gates of Hades, and leadest up again. But though a man may slay by his 9 wickedness,

Yet the spirit that is gone forth he Cp. Eccies. turneth not again,

Neither giveth release to the soul that Hades hath received.

17

18

8.8.

For ungodly men, 10 i refusing to know ch. 12. 27. thee, were scourged in the strength

of thine arm,

Cp. Ex. 5.2.

¿ See Deut. 4. 34.

k Pursued with strange rains and See Ex. 9. hails and showers inexorable,

And utterly consumed with fire;
For, what was most marvellous of
all,

In the water which quencheth all
things the fire wrought yet more
mightily;

m For the world fighteth for the righteous.

For at one time the flame lost its fierceness,

That it might not burn up the creatures sent against the ungodly,

• But that these themselves as they looked might, 11 see that they were chased through the judgement of God:

That thou art he that delivereth out of every evil.

9 For them verily the bites of "locusts and flies did slay,

1 Most authorities read Of which, he indeed. strange.

20

midst of water it burneth above the power of fire,

That it may destroy the 12 fruits of an unrighteous land.

Instead whereof thou gavest thy people "angels' food to eat,

And bread ready for their use didst thou provide for them from heaven without their toil,

Bread having the virtue of every pleasant savour,

And agreeing to every taste;

2 The Greek text here is perhaps corrupt.

3 Gr.

12

13

14

i C'p. ver. 16, 17

iThey themselves, prisoners of darkness, and bound in the fetters of a long night,

15

& ch. 18. 4

& Ex. 10. 22, 23.

3 Cp. Isai. 29. 15.

Close kept beneath their roofs,
Lay exiled from the eternal provi-

dence.

3 For while they thought that they were unseen in their secret sins,

rece88.

Yet, I scared with the creepings of ver

min and hissings of serpents, 10 they perished 11 for very trembling, Refusing even to look on the air, which could on no side be escaped.

21.

m Cp. Ezek. 32. 7, 8.

n See Deut. 28. 65-67.

ch. 18. 13.

See Ex. 7. 11.

Cp. Ex. 8.

18

& 9. 11.

? See ch. 16. 1.

2. 15

12 For wickedness, rcondemned by Cp. Rom.
a witness within, is a coward
thing,

And, being pressed hard by con-
science, always 13forecasteth the
worst lot:

For fear is nothing else but "a sur-
render of the succours which rea-
son offereth;

And from within the heart the ex

pectation of them being less
Maketh of greater account the igno-
rance of the cause that bringeth
the torment.

But they, all through the night
which was powerless indeed,

And which came upon them out of
the recesses of powerless Hades,
All sleeping the same sleep,
Now were haunted by wmonstrous
apparitions,

And now were paralysed by their
soul's surrendering;

For fear sudden and unlooked for
14 came upon them.

2 Or, creation Gr. substance. 3 Some authorities
6 Or, set forth 7 Gr. scattered by. 8 Gr. the
10 Some authorities read And the mockeries
12 This is

11 Or, trembling, and refusing to

13 Most authorities read hath added.

& 1 John 3. 20.

$ Cp. Ps. 53. 5 & Prov. 28.

1.

* Cp. Gen. 42. 21.

" See Job

15. 20-24. "Cp. ver. 15.

w Cp. ver. 3.

*Cp. ver. 12.

And standing it filled all things with

death;

And while it touched the heaven it trode upon the earth.

17 Then forthwith'apparitions in dreams terribly troubled them,

And fears came upon them unlooked for:

18 And each, one thrown here half dead, another there,

Made manifest wherefore he was dying:

19 For the dreams, perturbing them, did foreshew this,

That they might not perish without knowing why they were afflicted.

20 But it befell the righteous also to make trial of death,

And a multitude were stricken in the wilderness:

Howbeit the wrath endured not for long.

21 m For a blameless man hasted to be their champion:

Bringing the weapon of his own ministry,

Even prayer and the propitiation of incense,

He withstood the indignation, and set an end to the calamity, Shewing that he was thy servant. 22 And he overcame the 2anger,

Not by strength of body, not by efficacy of weapons;

But by word did he subdue the minister of punishment,

By bringing to remembrance oaths and covenants made with the fathers.

23 For when the dead were already fallen in heaps one upon another, P Standing between he stopped the advancing wrath,

And 5 cut off the way to the living. 24 For upon his along high-priestly robe was the whole world,

And the glories of the fathers were upon the graving of "the four rows of precious stones,

And thy majesty was upon the diadem of his head.

25 To these the destroyer gave place, and these the people feared; For it was enough only u to make trial of the wrath.

12

their deliverer.

For they still remembered the things that came to pass in the time of their sojourning,

How that instead of 13 bearing 14 cattle

the land brought forth 15 lice, And instead of 16 fish the river cast up ma multitude of frogs.

n But afterwards they saw also a new 17 race of birds,

When, led on by desire, they asked for luxurious dainties; For, to solace them, "there came up for them quails from the sea,

punishments

15 Or,

4, 6.

20

& 78. 52

& Isai. 63.
11.

* See Ex. 15. 1-18.

Ex. 8. 16.

m Ex. 8. 3,6.

* Cp. ch. 16.

2.

See Ex. 16.

13.

Not without the tokens that were given 1beforehand by the force of the thunders;

For justly did they suffer through their own wickednesses,

P For 2 grievous indeed was the hatred which they practised toward guests. 14 For whereas the men of Sodom I received not 4 the strangers when they came among them; 5r The Egyptians made slaves of guests who were their benefactors. 15 And not only so, but God shall 6 visit 7the men of Sodom after another sort,

9 Since they received as enemies them that were aliens;

16 8 Whereas these first welcomed with feastings,

And then afflicted with dreadful toils, Them that had already shared with them in the same rights.

17 And moreover they were stricken with loss of sight

(Even as were "those others at "the righteous man's doors),

When, wbeing compassed about with yawning darkness,

They sought every one the passage through his own door.

WHEREAS many and great things have been delivered unto us by a the law and the prophets, and by the others that have followed in their steps, for the which things we must give Israel the praise of instruction and wisdom; and since not only the readers must needs become skilful themselves, but also they that love learning must be able to profit them which are without, both by speaking and writing; my grandfather Jesus, having much given himself to the reading of the law, and the prophets, and the other books of our fathers, and having gained great familiarity therein, was drawn on also himself to write somewhat pertaining to instruction and wisdom; in order that those who love learn

| ing, and are addicted to these things, might make progress much more by living according to the law. Ye are intreated therefore to read with favour and attention, and to pardon us, if in any parts of what we have laboured to interpret, we may seem to fail in some of the phrases. For things originally spoken bin Hebrew have not the same force in them, when they are translated into another tongue: and not only these, but a the law itself, and the prophecies, and the rest of the books, have no small difference, when they are spoken in their original language. For having come into Egypt in the eight and thirtieth year of Euergetes the king, and having continued there some time, I found 11 a copy affording no small instruction. I thought it therefore most necessary for me to

Or The

visit

¿ Cp. Acts 21. 40 & 22. 2.