Wisdom 15:16-18
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
16 For it was a mere human being who made them;(A)
one living on borrowed breath who fashioned them.
For no one is able to fashion a god like himself;
17 he is mortal, and what he makes with lawless hands is dead.
For he is better than the things he worships;
he at least lives, but never his idols.
Second Example Resumed
18 [a]Besides, they worship the most loathsome beasts—(B)
as regards stupidity, these are worse than the rest,[b]
Footnotes
- 15:18–19 The author here returns (11:15; 12:23–27) to the main theme of chaps. 11–19, which was interrupted by the digression of 13:1–15:17.
- 15:18 Worse than the rest: this may mean that the creatures worshiped by the Egyptians (e.g., crocodiles, serpents, scarabs, etc.) were less intelligent than the general run of beasts.
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