Wisdom 13 • Recognizing the Maker and the folly of idols — Greek text and reception
Each card preserves the Greek reading and its textual and reception notes. This source provides a Greek study edition; Hebrew counterparts and Hebrew–Greek classifications are not supplied.
Chapter 13 • Recognizing the Maker and the folly of idols
Creation points beyond itself
Verse 13:1
Greek–English Saints Priority
For all human beings in whom ignorance of God was present were futile by nature;
from the good things seen they could not know the One who is,
nor, attending to the works, did they recognize the Artisan.
Textual & Reception Notes
The relative clause qualifies the people described. ‘The One who is’ preserves τὸν ὄντα, and Artisan preserves the maker image.
Verse 13:2
Greek–English Saints Priority
Instead, they supposed fire or wind or swift-moving air,
or the circuit of stars or violent water,
or the lights of heaven to be gods, rulers of the world.
Textual & Reception Notes
Wind and moving air are separately named, as are the star circuit and heavenly lights.
Verse 13:3
Greek–English Saints Priority
If, delighted by their beauty, they supposed these things to be gods,
let them know how much better than these their Master is;
for the Originator of beauty created them.
Textual & Reception Notes
Verse 13:4
Greek–English Saints Priority
And if they were astonished at their power and activity,
let them understand from these how much more powerful is the One who fashioned them.
Textual & Reception Notes
Verse 13:5
Greek–English Saints Priority
For from the greatness and beauty of created things
their Maker is seen by analogy.
Textual & Reception Notes
Ἀναλόγως marks an analogical perception from creation; the translation does not turn it into identity between the Maker and the creatures.
Verse 13:6
Greek–English Saints Priority
Yet the blame upon these is small,
for perhaps they themselves go astray
while seeking God and wishing to find Him.
Textual & Reception Notes
The mitigating ‘perhaps’ and ‘small’ are explicit; the following qualification is retained separately.
Verse 13:7
Greek–English Saints Priority
For living among His works, they search them out
and are persuaded by their appearance, because the things seen are beautiful.
Textual & Reception Notes
Verse 13:8
Greek–English Saints Priority
But again, even they are not excusable;
Textual & Reception Notes
The turn does not erase the preceding relative mitigation.
Verse 13:9
Greek–English Saints Priority
for if they were able to know so much
that they could investigate the world,
how did they not more quickly find the Master of these things?
Textual & Reception Notes
Αἰών is rendered world in this cosmic inquiry; its broader sense can concern an age or enduring order.
The woodworker’s helpless god
Verse 13:10
Greek–English Saints Priority
But wretched are those whose hopes rest in dead things,
who called the works of human hands gods:
gold and silver, exercises of craftsmanship,
likenesses of living creatures,
or a useless stone, the work of an ancient hand.
Textual & Reception Notes
The materials and representations are not collapsed into a single generic object.
Verse 13:11
Greek–English Saints Priority
If a woodcutting craftsman saws down a manageable tree,
skillfully scrapes off all its bark,
and, working it handsomely,
fashions a useful vessel for the service of life,
Textual & Reception Notes
Εὐκίνητον concerns something readily moved or handled; manageable is adopted in the woodworking context.
Verse 13:12
Greek–English Saints Priority
and burns the scraps from the work
to prepare food and eats his fill,
Textual & Reception Notes
Verse 13:13
Greek–English Saints Priority
then takes the scrap left from these, useful for nothing,
a crooked piece of wood grown full of knots,
and carves it with the care of his leisure,
shapes it with practiced understanding,
and makes it resemble a human image,
Textual & Reception Notes
The object is a remainder from useful work and fuel; the contrast with its later worship is part of the argument.
Verse 13:14
Greek–English Saints Priority
or makes it like some worthless animal,
coating it with red ocher and reddening its surface with paint,
and covering every blemish in it,
Textual & Reception Notes
Μίλτος is red ocher; φῦκος denotes a coloring substance or cosmetic here. No modern pigment formula is supplied.
Verse 13:15
Greek–English Saints Priority
and makes for it a dwelling worthy of it,
sets it in a wall, and secures it with iron,
Textual & Reception Notes
Verse 13:16
Greek–English Saints Priority
then he takes thought for it so that it will not fall,
knowing that it cannot help itself;
for it is an image and needs help.
Textual & Reception Notes
The artisan’s knowledge of the image’s helplessness is explicit.
Verse 13:17
Greek–English Saints Priority
Yet when praying concerning his possessions, marriage, and children,
he is not ashamed to address what has no soul;
for health he calls upon what is weak,
Textual & Reception Notes
Ἄψυχον is without soul or life; the contrast concerns an inanimate manufactured object.
Verse 13:18
Greek–English Saints Priority
for life he petitions what is dead,
for assistance he begs what is utterly inexperienced,
for a journey what cannot even use its feet,
Textual & Reception Notes
The three mismatches are separately retained.
Verse 13:19
Greek–English Saints Priority
and for gain, work, and success of his hands,
he asks vigor of what is most powerless with its hands.
Textual & Reception Notes
The repeated hand image and the contrast of vigor with powerlessness are explicit.