But thou, our God, art gracious and true, patient, and ordering all things in mercy.

Tu autem, Deus noster, suavis et verus es, patiens, et in misericordia disponens omnia.

For us, thou art God; thou, beneficent and truthful, thou, always patient and merciful towards the world thou governest.

For if we sin, we are thine, knowing thy greatness: and if we sin not, we know that we are counted with thee.

Etenim si peccaverimus, tui sumus, scientes magnitudinem tuam; et si non peccaverimus, scimus quoniam apud te sumus computati.

Sin we, still we are thy worshippers; have we not proof of thy power? Sin we not, of this, too, we have proof, that thou wilt count us for thy own.

For to know thee is perfect justice: and to know thy justice, and thy power, is the root of immortality.

Nosse enim te, consummata justitia est; et scire justitiam et virtutem tuam, radix est immortalitatis.

To know thee as thou art, is the soul’s full health; to have proof of thy power, is the root whence springs immortality.

For the invention of mischievous men hath not deceived us, nor the shadow of a picture, a fruitless labour, a graven figure with divers colours,

Non enim in errorem induxit nos hominum malæ artis excogitatio, nec umbra picturæ labor sine fructu, effigies sculpta per varios colores:

Not for us to be led astray by foolish tales of man’s imagining, by the sculptor’s barren art, as he picks out some image with motley colours,

The sight whereof enticeth the fool to lust after it, and he loveth the lifeless figure of a dead image.

cujus aspectus insensato dat concupiscentiam, et diligit mortuæ imaginis effigiem sine anima.

to set fools gaping at the sight of a lifeless shadow, all seeming and no breathing.

The lovers of evil things deserve to have no better things to trust in, both they that make them, and they that love them, and they that worship them.

Malorum amatores digni sunt qui spem habeant in talibus, et qui faciunt illos, et qui diligunt, et qui colunt.

Lovers they are of their own ruin, worthy of the fond hopes they cherish, that make such things, or sigh after them, or do them reverence.

The potter also tempering soft earth, with labour fashioneth every vessel for our service, and of the same clay he maketh both vessels that are for clean uses, and likewise such as serve to the contrary: but what is the use of these vessels, the potter is the judge.

Sed et figulus mollem terram premens, laboriose fingit ad usus nostros unumquodque vas; et de eodem luto fingit quæ munda sunt in usum vasa, et similiter quæ his sunt contraria: horum autem vasorum quis sit usus, judex est figulus.

Despise we not the potter’s toil, that works the pliant earth between his fingers, and makes a cup here, a dish there for our use. Serve they noble ends or base, all alike come from the same clay, and what employment each of them shall find, it is the potter’s right to determine.

And of the same clay by a vain labour he maketh a god: he who a little before was made of earth himself, and a little after returneth to the same out of which he was taken, when his life which was lent him shall be called for again.

Et cum labore vano deum fingit de eodem luto ille qui paulo ante de terra factus fuerat, et post pusillum reducit se unde acceptus est, repetitus animæ debitum quam habebat.

But very ill is that toil bestowed, when he uses the same clay to fashion some god that is no god. Bethink thee, potter, that it is but a little while since thou thyself wast fashioned out of the same earth, and ere long, when the lease of thy soul falls due, to that earth thou shalt return.

But his care is, not that he shall labour, nor that his life is short, but he striveth with the goldsmiths and silversmiths: and he endeavoureth to do like the workers in brass, and counteth it a glory to make vain things.

Sed cura est illi non quia laboraturus est, nec quoniam brevis illi vita est: sed concertatur aurificibus et argentariis; sed et ærarios imitatur, et gloriam præfert, quoniam res supervacuas fingit.

But no, he never looks forward to the day when he will be past work; how short life is, he recks not; he must vie with goldsmith and silversmith, he must be even with his neighbour that works in bronze; in puppet-making all his hope lies of winning fame.

For his heart is ashes, and his hope vain earth, and his life more base than clay:

Cinis est enim cor ejus, et terra supervacua spes illius, et luto vilior vita ejus:

O heart of dust, O ambition worthless as the sand, life than his own clay more despicable!

Forasmuch as he knew not his maker and him that inspired into him the soul that worketh, and that breathed into him a living spirit.

quoniam ignoravit qui se finxit, et qui inspiravit illi animam quæ operatur, et qui insufflavit ei spiritum vitalem.

No thought for the God that was his own fashioner, quickened him with the pulse of energy, breathed into him a living spirit!

Yea and they have counted our life a pastime, and the business of life to be gain, and that we must be getting every way, even out of evil.

Sed et æstimaverunt ludum esse vitam nostram, et conversationem vitæ compositam ad lucrum, et oportere undecumque etiam ex malo acquirere.

Existence, for him, only a toy to be played with; our life here, only a market-place, where a man must needs get his living by fair means or foul!

For that man knoweth that he offendeth above all others, who of earthly matter maketh brittle vessels, and graven gods.

Hic enim scit se super omnes delinquere, qui ex terræ materia fragilia vasa et sculptilia fingit.

Such a man, as no other, sins with his eyes open; from the same earthenware he will make you fragile pot or carved effigy as you will.

But all the enemies of thy people that hold them in subjection, are foolish, and unhappy, and proud beyond measure:

Omnes enim insipientes, et infelices supra modum animæ superbi, sunt inimici populi tui, et imperantes illi:

Fools all, and doomed to misery beyond the common doom of tyrants, were the enemies that from time to time have lorded it over thy people.

For they have esteemed all the idols of the heathens for gods, which neither have the use of eyes to see, nor noses to draw breath, nor ears to hear, nor fingers of hands to handle, and as for their feet, they are slow to walk.

quoniam omnia idola nationum deos æstimaverunt, quibus neque oculorum usus est ad videndum, neque nares ad percipiendum spiritum, neque aures ad audiendum, neque digiti manuum ad tractandum, sed et pedes eorum pigri ad ambulandum.

Gods, for them, were all the idols of the heathen, with their sightless eyes, their nostrils that never drew breath, deaf ears, unfeeling hands, and feet that still would walk, yet still tarry;

For man made them: and he that borroweth his own breath, fashioned them. For no man can make a god like to himself.

Homo enim fecit illos; et qui spiritum mutuatus est, is finxit illos. Nemo enim sibi similem homo poterit deum fingere.

gods man-made, gods of his fashioning that is a debtor for the very breath he draws. For indeed, the gods man fashions are less than himself;

For being mortal himself, he formeth a dead thing with his wicked hands. For he is better than they whom he worshippeth, because he indeed hath lived, though he were mortal, but they never.

Cum enim sit mortalis, mortuum fingit manibus iniquis. Melior enim est ipse his quos colit, quia ipse quidem vixit, cum esset mortalis, illi autem numquam.

vain his impiety, since he is but mortal, they already dead; better he than they, since he lived once, and they never.

Moreover they worship also the vilest creatures: but things without sense compared to these, are worse than they.

Sed et animalia miserrima colunt; insensata enim comparata his, illis sunt deteriora.

And what beasts are these they worship? Of all beasts, the most hateful; such models they have foolishly chosen as cannot vie with the others;

Yea, neither by sight can any man see good of these beasts. But they have fled from the praise of God, and from his blessing.

Sed nec aspectu aliquis ex his animalibus bona potest conspicere: effugerunt autem Dei laudem et benedictionem ejus.

as have no beauty, even beast-fashion, to make them desirable; the least honourable of God’s creatures and the least blessed.