The In-Dept Study of the Bible
Solomon 18
1 But for your holy ones there was great
light. Their enemies, hearing their voice but
not seeing their form, counted it a happy
thing that they too had suffered,
2 yet for that they do not hurt them, though
wronged by them before, they are
thankful; and because they had been at variance
with them, they begged for pardon.
3 Therefore you provided a burning pillar
of fire, to be a guide for your people’s
unknown journey, and a harmless sun for
their glorious exile.
4 For the Egyptians well deserved to be
deprived of light and imprisoned by
darkness, they who had imprisoned your children,
through whom the incorruptible light
ofthe law was to be given to the race of men.
5 After they had taken counsel to kill the
babes of the holy ones, and when a single child had been
abandoned and saved to convict them of their sin,
you took away from them their multitude of children,
and destroyed all their army together
in a mighty flood.
6 Our fathers were made aware of that
night beforehand, that, having sure knowledge, they
mightbe cheeredby the oaths which
they had trusted.
7 Salvation of the righteous and destruction
of the enemies was expected by your people.
8 For as you took vengeance on the adversaries,
by the same means, calling us to yourself,
you glorified us.
9 For holy children of good men offered
sacrifice in secret, and with one consent
they agreed to the covenant of the divine law,
that they would partake alike in the
same good things and the same perils,
the fathers already leading the sacred
songs of praise.
10 But the discordant cry of the enemies
echoed back, and a pitiful voice of lamentation for
children was spread abroad.
11 Both servant and master were punished
with the same just doom, and the commoner
suffering the same as king;
12 Yes, they all together, under one form of
death, had corpses without number.
For the living were not sufficient even to
bury them, Since at a single stroke, their most
cherished offspring was consumed.
13 For while they were disbelieving all
things by reason of the enchantments,
upon the destruction of the firstborn
they confessed the people to be
God’s children.
14 For while peaceful silence wrapped all
things, and night in her own swiftness was
half spent,
15 your all-powerful word leaped from
heaven, from the royal throne,
a stern warrior, into the midst of the
doomed land,
16 bearing as a sharp sword your authentic
commandment, and standing, it filled all things with
death, and while it touched the heaven it
stood upon the earth.
17 Then immediately apparitions in
dreams terribly troubled them,
and unexpected fears came upon
them.
18 And each, one thrown here half dead,
another there, made known why he was dying;
19 for the dreams, disturbing them, forewarned them of this,
that they might not perish without
knowing why they were afflicted.
20 The experience of death also touched the
righteous, and a multitude were destroyed in the
wilderness, but the wrath didn’t last long.
21 For a blameless man hurried to be their
champion, bringing the weapon of his own ministry,
prayer, and the atoning sacrifice of
incense. He withstood the indignation and set an
end to the calamity, showing that he was your servant.
22 And he overcame the anger,
not by strength of body, not by force of
weapons, but by his word, he subdued the
avenger by bringing to remembrance oaths
and covenants made with the fathers.
23 For when the dead had already fallen in
heaps one upon another,
he intervened and stopped the wrath,
and cut off its way to the living.
24 For the whole world was pictured on his
long robe, and the glories of the fathers were
upon the engraving of the four rows
of precious stones, and your majesty
was upon the diadem on his head.
25 The destroyer yielded to these, and they
feared; for it was enough only to test the
wrath.