Chapter XII.
Moreover, it is right that thou shouldest fear God
while thou art yet young, before thou givest thyself over to evil
things, and before the great and terrible day of God cometh, when the
sun shall no longer shine, neither the moon, nor the rest of the stars,
but when in that storm and commotion of all things, the powers above
shall be moved, that is, the angels who guard the world; so that the
mighty men shall fail, and the women shall cease their labours, and
shall flee into the dark places of their dwellings, and shall have all
the doors shut. And a woman shall be restrained from grinding by
fear, and shall speak with the weakest voice, like the tiniest bird;
and all the impure women shall sink into the earth; and cities and
their blood-stained governments shall wait for the vengeance that comes
from above, while the most bitter and bloody of all times hangs over
them like a blossoming almond, and continuous punishments impend like a
multitude of flying locusts, and the transgressors are cast out of the
way like a black and despicable caper-plant. And the good man
shall depart with rejoicing to his own everlasting habitation; but the
vile shall fill all their places with wailing, and neither silver laid
up in store, nor proved gold, shall be of use any more. For a
mighty stroke114
| 114
καθέξει
πληγή. Œcolampadius renders
it, magnus enim fons, evidently reading πηγή. |
shall fall upon all
things, even to the
pitcher that standeth by the well, and the
wheel of
the
vessel which may chance to have been left in the hollow, when the
course of time comes to its end
115
| 115 The text
is, ἐν τῷ
κοιλώματι
παυσαμένης
χρόνον τε
περιδρομῆς,
for which we may read, ἐν τῷ
κοιλώματι,
παυσαμενῆς
χρόνων τε
περιδρομῆς.
Others apparently propose for παυσαμενῆς
, δεξαμενῆς =
at the hollow of the cistern. |
and
the ablution-bearing period of a
life that is like
water has passed
away.
116
| 116 The text
is, καὶ τῆς
δι᾽ υδατος
ζωῆς
παροδεύσαντος
τοῦ
λουτροφόρου
αἰῶνος. Billius
understands the age to be called λουτροφόρου,
because, as long as we are in life, it is possible to obtain remission
for any sin, or as referring to the rite of baptism. |
And for men
who
lie on
earth there is but one
salvation, that their
souls
acknowledge and
wing their way to Him by whom they have been
made. I say, then, again what I have said already, that
man’s
estate is altogether
vain, and that nothing can exceed the
utter
vanity which attaches to the objects of man’s
inventions. And superfluous is my labour in
preaching discreetly,
inasmuch as I am attempting to
instruct a people here, so indisposed to
receive either teaching or healing. And truly the
noble man is
needed for the understanding of the words of
wisdom. Moreover, I,
though already aged, and having passed a long
life, laboured to find
out those things which are well-pleasing to
God, by means of the
mysteries of the
truth. And I know that the
mind is no less
quickened and stimulated by the
precepts of the
wise, than the body is
wont to be when the
goad is applied, or a
nail is fastened in
it.
117
| 117
ηλῳ
ἐμπερονηθέντα.
The Septuagint reads, λόγοι σοφῶν
ὡς τὰ
βούκεντρα
καὶ ὡς ἧλοι
πεφυτευμένοι,
like nails planted, etc. Others read πεπυρωμένοι, igniti. The Vulg. has, quasi clavi
in altum defixi. |
And some will
render again those
wise lessons which they have received from one good
pastor and
teacher, as if all with one mouth and in mutual
concord set
forth in larger detail the truths
committed to them. But in many
words there is no
profit. Neither do I
counsel thee, my
friend,
to
write down
vain things about what is fitting,
118
| 118
περὶ τὸ
προσῆκον, for which
some read, παρὰ
τὸ προσῆκον,
beyond or contrary to what is fitting. |
from which there in nothing to be
gained
but weary labour. But, in fine, I shall require to use some such
conclusion as this: O men, behold, I charge you now expressly and
shortly, that ye
fear God, who is at once the
Lord and the
Overseer
119
of all, and that ye
keep also His
commandments; and that ye believe that all shall be
judged severally in the future, and that every man shall receive the
just recompense for his
deeds, whether they be good or whether they be
evil.
120
| 120 [The
incomparable beauty of our English version of this twelfth chapter of
Koheleth is heightened not a little by comparison with this
turgid metaphrase. It fails, in almost every instance, to extract
the kernel of the successive στίχοι of this
superlatively poetic and didactic threnode. It must have been a
youthful work.] |
E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
