Wisdom:12

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* For thine incorruptible Spirit is in all things . * Therefore chastenest thou them by little and little that offend , and warnest them by putting them in remembrance wherein they have offended , that leaving their wickedness they may believe on thee , O Lord . * For it was thy will to destroy by the hands of our fathers both those old inhabitants of thy holy land , * Whom thou hatedst for doing most odious works of witchcrafts , and wicked sacrifices ; * And also those merciless murderers of children , and devourers of man 's flesh , and the feasts of blood , * With their priests out of the midst of their idolatrous crew , and the parents , that killed with their own hands souls destitute of help : * That the land , which thou esteemedst above all other , might receive a worthy colony of God 's children . * Nevertheless even those thou sparedst as men , and didst send wasps , forerunners of thine host , to destroy them by little and little . * Not that thou wast unable to bring the ungodly under the hand of the righteous in battle , or to destroy them at once with cruel beasts , or with one rough word : * But executing thy judgments upon them by little and little , thou gavest them place of repentance , not being ignorant that they were a naughty generation , and that their malice was bred in them , and that their cogitation would never be changed . * For it was a cursed seed from the beginning ; neither didst thou for fear of any man give them pardon for those things wherein they sinned . * For who shall say , What hast thou done ? or who shall withstand thy judgment ? or who shall accuse thee for the nations that perish , whom thou made ? or who shall come to stand against thee , to be revenged for the unrighteous men ? * For neither is there any God but thou that careth for all , to whom thou mightest shew that thy judgment is not unright . * Neither shall king or tyrant be able to set his face against thee for any whom thou hast punished . * Forsomuch then as thou art righteous thyself , thou orderest all things righteously : thinking it not agreeable with thy power to condemn him that hath not deserved to be punished . * For thy power is the beginning of righteousness , and because thou art the Lord of all , it maketh thee to be gracious unto all . * For when men will not believe that thou art of a full power , thou shewest thy strength , and among them that know it thou makest their boldness manifest . * But thou , mastering thy power , judgest with equity , and orderest us with great favour : for thou mayest use power when thou wilt . * But by such works hast thou taught thy people that the just man should be merciful , and hast made thy children to be of a good hope that thou givest repentance for sins . * For if thou didst punish the enemies of thy children , and the condemned to death , with such deliberation , giving them time and place , whereby they might be delivered from their malice : * With how great circumspection didst thou judge thine own sons , unto whose fathers thou hast sworn , and made covenants of good promises ? * Therefore , whereas thou dost chasten us , thou scourgest our enemies a thousand times more , to the intent that , when we judge , we should carefully think of thy goodness , and when we ourselves are judged , we should look for mercy . * Wherefore , whereas men have lived dissolutely and unrighteously , thou hast tormented them with their own abominations . * For they went astray very far in the ways of error , and held them for gods , which even among the beasts of their enemies were despised , being deceived , as children of no understanding . * Therefore unto them , as to children without the use of reason , thou didst send a judgment to mock them . * But they that would not be reformed by that correction , wherein he dallied with them , shall feel a judgment worthy of God . * For , look , for what things they grudged , when they were punished , that is , for them whom they thought to be gods ; [now ] being punished in them , when they saw it , they acknowledged him to be the true God , whom before they denied to know : and therefore came extreme damnation upon them .

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