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he has destroyed it, overthrowing it. 12,16a with him are might and strength, 16b with him are knowledge and understanding. Then also concerning wisdom: 12,17a leading, he says, counselors of the earth away captive, 17b and he has made the judges of the earth foolish. 12,18a establishing kings upon thrones 18b and girding them with a belt on their loins, 12,19a he who sends away priests as captives, 19b and has overthrown the mighty ones of the earth. 12,20a changing the lips of the faithful, 20b and he has known the understanding of elders; 12,21a pouring contempt upon rulers, 21b but he has healed the lowly. "Are not these also," he says, "wondrous works of the wisdom of God? I know even the most of them," he says. 12,22a he who reveals, he says, deep things out of darkness, 22b and has brought out to light the shadow of death. 12,23a misleading nations and destroying them, 23b overthrowing nations and guiding them, 12,24a changing the hearts of the rulers of the earth, 24b and he has made them wander in a way they did not know. 12,25a let them grope for darkness and not light, 25b and they have wandered like a drunkard.

13,1a behold, my eye has seen these things 1b and my ear has heard, 13,2a

and I know as many things as you also understand, 2b and though being younger than you, I am not less intelligent than you. "For what? Even if I am younger," he says, "I know these things clearly." 13,3a But nevertheless I will speak to the Lord, 3b and I will reason before him, if he wishes. Do you see? This is what he said: "Do not suppose," he says, "that if I said something harsh and offensive, I say these things out of ignorance; for I know what I have said. But I will not refrain from speaking to God. For I am not speaking to a man, but to God who knows the secrets of the mind. It is better for me," he says, "to be judged by God than by you." 13,4a For you are unjust physicians 4b and healers of evils, all of you. 13,5a Would that you would be silent, 5b and it will turn out to be wisdom for you. For when someone utters things that make no sense, it is better to be silent, and being silent he will be wiser than speaking. 110 13,6a Hear now the reasoning of my mouth, 6b and attend to the judgment of my lips. 13,7a Do you not speak before the Lord, 7b and utter deceit before him, speaking well? What he says is something like this: "Do you not think God hears," he says, "what you are saying, that you speak with deceit, not with good intent, but wishing only to strike and wound my reputation. For even if the words are correct, they are not with a correct mind, not so as to correct, not so as to admonish, not so as to make better—for you are not teaching one who is ignorant—but so as to cast down." 13,8a Or do you shrink, he says, 8b from becoming judges yourselves, 13,9a though speaking well. For if he should search you out, 9b even if doing all things you should be added to his way, 13,10a he will reprove you no less. If he should search you out, he says. "Now you who are speaking now, if the matter were being judged by you, you would not have uttered these things." That is: "If you were me and he examined your affairs precisely, you would not become judges as you are now." Or again otherwise: "Behold, I say these things also: you who say these things cannot become judges of my words. For even if," he says, "you should say more than these things and do everything so as to speak on his behalf, he will no less reprove you and demand a reckoning and an account." 13,10b But if you also secretly show partiality, 13,11a will not his terrors confound you? 11b and the fear of the Lord will fall upon you, 13,12a and your boasting will turn out to be like ashes, 12b and your body to clay. 13,13 Be silent, he says, that I may speak,—that is, "be quiet"—and I will rest, he says, from my wrath. Do you see, that the words were not of one simply justifying himself, but a certain consolation for the pain? 111 13,13 and I will rest, he says, from my wrath 13,14a taking up my flesh with my teeth. "Just as," he says, "those who devour themselves have a certain consolation, just as those who bite their own flesh in their pains have a certain consolation, so also do I in uttering these things." 13,14b But my soul, he says, I will put in my hands, 13, 15a if the mighty one should subdue me, since he has also begun. Is it that

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ἀπώλεσε καταστρέψας αὐτήν. 12,16a παρ' αὐτῷ κράτος καὶ ἰσχύς, 16b παρ' αὐτῷ ἐπιστήμη καὶ σύνεσις. εἶτα καὶ περὶ τῆς σοφίας· 12,17a διάγων, φησίν, βουλευτὰς γῆς αἰχμαλώτους, 17b κριτὰς δὲ γῆς ἐξέστησεν. 12,18a καθιστάνων βασιλεῖς ἐπὶ θρόνων 18b καὶ περιζωννύων αὐτοὺς ζώνην ὀσφύος αὐτῶν, 12,19a ὁ ἐξαποστέλλων ἱερεῖς αἰχμαλώτους, 19b δυ109 νάστας δὲ γῆς κατέστρεψεν. 12,20a διαλλάσσων χείλη πιστῶν, 20b σύνεσιν δὲ πρεσβυτέρων ἔγνω· 12,21a ἐκχέων ἀτιμίαν ἐπ' ἄρχοντας, 21b ταπεινοὺς δὲ ἰάσατο. «οὐχὶ σοφίας καὶ ταῦτα», φησίν, «ἔργα τοῦ θεοῦ παράδοξα; οἶδα ἐγὼ καὶ τὰ πλεῖστα αὐτῶν» φησίν. 12,22a ὁ ἀποκαλύπτων, φησίν, βαθέα ἐκ σκότους, 22b ἐξήγαγε δὲ εἰς φῶς σκιὰν θανάτου. 12,23a πλανῶν ἔθνη καὶ ἀπολλύων αὐτά, 23b καταστρωννύων ἔθνη καὶ καθοδηγῶν αὐτά, 12,24a διαλλάσσων καρδίας ἀρχόντων γῆς, 24b ἐπλάνησε δὲ αὐτοὺς ὁδῷ ᾗ οὐκ ᾔδεισαν. 12,25a ψηλαφήσαισαν σκότος καὶ μὴ φῶς, 25b ἐπλανήθησαν δὲ ὥσπερ ὁ μεθύων.

13,1a ἰδοὺ ταῦτα ἑώρακέ μου ὁ ὀφθαλμὸς 1b καὶ τὸ οὖς μου ἀκήκοεν, 13,2a

καὶ οἶδα, ὅσα καὶ ὑμεῖς ἐπίστασθε, 2b καί γε νεώτερος ὑμῶν ὢν οὐκ εἰμὶ ἀσυνετώτερος ὑμῶν. «τί γάρ; εἰ καὶ νεώτερός εἰμι», φησίν, «οἶδα ταῦτα σαφῶς.» 13,3a οὐ μὴν δὲ ἀλλὰ πρὸς κύριον λαλήσω ἐγώ, 3b ἐλέγξω δὲ ἐναντίον αὐτοῦ, ἐὰν βούληται. ὁρᾷς; τοῦτό ἐστιν, ὅπερ εἶπεν· «μὴ νομίσητε», φησίν, «εἴ τι βαρὺ καὶ ἐπαχθὲς εἶπον, ὑπὸ ἀγνοίας με ταῦτα λέγειν· οἶδα μὲν γάρ, ἅπερ εἶπον. οὐ μὴν ἀποστήσομαι τοῦ λέγειν πρὸς τὸν θεόν. μὴ γὰρ πρὸς ἄνθρωπον λέγω· πρὸς τὸν θεὸν τὸν εἰδότα τὰ ἀπόρρητα τῆς διανοίας. βέλτιόν μοι», φησίν, «πρὸς τὸν θεὸν κρίνεσθαι ἢ πρὸς ὑμᾶς.» 13,4a ὑμεῖς γάρ ἐστε ἰατροὶ ἄδικοι 4b καὶ ἰαταὶ κακῶν πάντες. 13,5a εἴη δὲ ὑμῖν κωφεῦσαι, 5b καὶ ἀποβήσεται ὑμῖν εἰς σοφίαν. ὅταν γάρ τις τὰ μὴ λόγον ἔχοντα φθέγγηται, βέλτιον σιγᾶν, καὶ σιωπῶν μᾶλλον ἔσται σοφὸς ἢ λέγων. 110 13,6a ἀκούσατε δὴ ἔλεγχον στόματός μου, 6b κρίσει δὲ χειλέων μου προσέχετε. 13,7a πότερον οὐκ ἔναντι κυρίου λαλεῖτε, 7b ἔναντι δὲ αὐτοῦ φθέγγεσθε δόλον, καλῶς γε λαλοῦντες; ὃ λέγει, τοιοῦτόν ἐστιν· «οὐ νομίζετε τὸν θεὸν ἀκούειν», φησίν, «ἃ λέγετε, ὅτι μετὰ δόλου διαλέγεσθε, οὐχὶ προαιρέσει ἀγαθῇ, ἀλλὰ πλῆξαι βουλόμενοι μόνον καὶ τὴν δόξαν τρῶσαι τὴν ἐμήν. εἰ γὰρ καὶ τὰ ῥήματα ὀρθά, ἀλλ' οὐ μετὰ διανοίας ὀρθῆς, οὐχ ὥστε διορθῶσαι, οὐχ ὥστε νουθετῆσαι, οὐχ ὥστε βελτίω ποιῆσαι- οὐ γὰρ ἀγνοοῦντα διδάσκετε-, ἀλλ' ὥστε καταβάλλειν.» 13,8a ἢ ὑποστέλλεσθε, φησίν, 8b αὐτοὶ ὑμεῖς κριταὶ γίνεσθαι, 13,9a καλῶς γε λαλοῦντες. ἐὰν γὰρ ἐξιχνιάσῃ ὑμᾶς, 9b εἰ καὶ τὰ πάντα ποιοῦντες προστεθήσεσθε ὁδῷ αὐτοῦ, 13,10a οὐθὲν ἧττον ἐλέγξει ὑμᾶς. ἐὰν ἐξιχνιάσῃ ὑμᾶς, φησίν. «νῦν ὑμεῖς οἱ λαλοῦντες νῦν, εἰ ἐφ' ὑμῶν τὸ πρᾶγμα ἐκρίνετο, οὐκ ἂν ταῦτα ἐφθέγξασθε.» τουτέστιν· «εἰ ὑμεῖς ἦτε ἐγὼ καὶ ἐξήταζεν ὑμῶν τὰ πράγματα ἀκριβῶς, οὐκ ἂν ἐγένεσθε κριταὶ καθάπερ νῦν.» ἢ πάλιν ἄλλως· «ἰδοὺ λέγω καὶ ταῦτα· οὐ δύνασθε γενέσθαι κριταὶ τοῖς ἐμοῖς ῥήμασιν ὑμεῖς οἱ ταῦτα λαλοῦντες. κἂν γάρ», φησίν, «πλείονα τούτων εἴπητε καὶ πάντα ποιήσητε ὥστε ὑπὲρ τοῦ μέρους αὐτοῦ εἰπεῖν, οὐδὲν ἧττον ἐλέγξει ὑμᾶς καὶ ἀπαιτήσει λόγον καὶ εὐθύνας.» 13,10b εἰ δὲ καὶ κρυφῇ πρόσωπα θαυμάζετε, 13,11a πότερον οὐχὶ δεινὰ αὐτοῦ στροβήσει ὑμᾶς; 11b φόβος δὲ κυρίου ἐπιπεσεῖται ὑμῖν, 13,12a καὶ ἀποβήσεται ὑμῶν τὸ γαυρίαμα ἴσα σποδῷ, 12b τὸ δὲ σῶμα πήλινον. 13,13 κωφεύσατε, φησίν, ἵνα λαλήσω,-τουτέστιν· «σιωπήσατε»-καὶ ἀναπαύσομαι, φησίν, θυμοῦ μου. ὁρᾷς, ὅτι οὐχὶ δικαιοῦντος ἁπλῶς ἑαυτὸν ἦν τὰ ῥήματα, ἀλλὰ παραμυθία τις τῆς ὀδύνης; 111 13,13 καὶ ἀναπαύσομαι, φησίν, θυμοῦ μου 13,14a ἀναλαβὼν τὰς σάρκας μου τοῖς ὀδοῦσί μου. «ὥσπερ», φησίν, «οἱ κατεσθίοντες ἑαυτοὺς παραμυθίαν ἔχουσί τινα, ὥσπερ οἱ τὰς σάρκας τὰς ἑαυτῶν καταδάκνοντες ἐν ταῖς ὀδύναις ἔχουσί τινα παραμυθίαν, οὕτω καὶ ἐγὼ ταῦτα φθεγγόμενος.» 13,14b ψυχὴν δέ μου, φησίν, θήσομαι ἐν χερσί μου, 13, 15a ἐάν με χειρώσηται ὁ δυνάστης, ἐπεὶ καὶ ἦρκται. ἆρα