1 Meanwhile, for your holy ones there was great light. The Egyptians heard their voice without seeing them; they called them fortunate because they had not suffered;
2 they also thanked them, for in spite of the injustice done to them they had not retaliated, and asked their pardon for previous wrongs.
3 In contrast to this darkness, you gave your holy people a pillar of fire as a guide in their unmapped journey, as a mild sun during their glorious migration.
4 The enemy deserved to be without light and imprisoned in darkness for having imprisoned your sons, the people through whom the imperishable light of your laws would be given to the world.
5 They had intended to kill the infants of your holy people - and of those exposed only one child was saved. Because of that you retaliated by doing away with a multitude of their sons who perished together in the raging sea.
6 That night had been foretold to our fathers, and knowing in what promise they trusted, they could rejoice in all surety.
7 Your people waited for both the salvation of the just and the downfall of their enemies,
8 for the very punishment of our enemies brought glory to the people you have called - that is, to us.
9 The holy race secretly offered the Passover sacrifice and really agreed on this worthy pact: that they would share alike both blessings and dangers. And forthwith they began to sing the hymns of their fathers.
10 Then came discordant echoes from their enemies: plaintive voices mourning their children.
11 The same sentence struck slave and master alike; the common man and the king endured equal suffering.
12 They mourned together for innumerable victims, all stricken with the same kind of death. The living were not enough to bury them, for the flower of their race had perished in an instant.
13 Although sorcery had turned them into unbelievers, after the death of their firstborn they acknowledged that your people were the children of God.
14 While all was in quiet silence and the night was in the middle of its course,
15 your almighty Word leapt down from the Royal Throne - a stern warrior to a doomed world.
16 Carrying your fearful command like a sharpened sword and stretching from heaven to earth, he filled the universe with death.
17 Immediately they were overwhelmed with terrible dreams and hallucinations and assailed by sudden fears.
18 Thrown half-dead, some here and some there, they made known why they were dying,
19 for the dreams that had troubled them had also instructed them, lest they perish without knowing the reason for their misfortune.
20 Indeed the righteous, too, experienced death when a scourge struck a great number of them in the desert, but God's anger was short-lived.
21 A blameless man hastened to their defense. Using the weapons of his sacred office - prayer and atonement incense - he confronted the divine Wrath, putting an end to their affliction, and was thus recognized as your servant.
22 He vanquished your Wrath, but not by physical strength or by the force of arms. He won over the Punisher by reminding him of the sworn promises and covenants made with our fathers.
23 The dead were already piled up, one on top of the other, when he intervened, beating back Wrath and cutting it off from the living.
24 For the whole world was represented on his flowing robe, the glorious names of the fathers on the four rows of stones, and your majesty engraved on the diadem on his head.
25 The Destroyer, afraid of these, recoiled; a mere taste of Wrath had been sufficient.
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Wisdom 18 tells the story of the night of liberation of the people of Israel from slavery in Egypt and the passage through the Red Sea. The chapter highlights God's role as a protective and liberating of his people and the importance of faith in his divine intervention.
Exodus 14:21: "Then Moses reached over the sea, and the Lord, through a strong eastern wind all night, made the sea back into. He turned him into dry land, and the waters divided." This verse describes the miracle of the opening of the Red Sea, which was one of the most significant events in Israel's history and is mentioned in wisdom 18:15.
Exodus 15:1: "Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the Lord, 'I will sing to the Lord, for he is great! The horse and his knight precipitate in the sea!'" This song of praise to God is an answer to yours Powerful deliverance of the people of Israel of the Egyptian army in the Red Sea. The song of Moses mentioned in wisdom 18:9-10 also celebrates this event.
Exodus 14:13: "Moses answered the people, 'Don't be afraid! Be firm and see the deliverance you will bring to you today. The Egyptians you are seeing today, you will never summer them!'" Moses encouraged the people again of Israel to trust God and to believe that He would be able to free them from the power of the Egyptians. This message of hope and trust is an important theme in Wisdom 18.
Exodus 15:13: "With thy grace you have led the people who have rescue; This verse is part of the song of Moses and highlights the role of God as Savior and guide of his people. Wisdom 18 also emphasizes God's savior power and the importance of trusting in Him.
Exodus 15:16: "The people shall be shudder with fear; the inhabitants of Philistia shall be a sudden dread." The power of God and his intervention in the deliverance of his people were so significant that neighboring nations trembled with fear. The divine response to the oppression of the Egyptians and the liberation of the people of Israel are central themes in wisdom 18.
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