Wisdom 9:13-18

Good News Translation

¹³ Who can ever learn the will of God? ¹⁴ Human reason is not adequate for the task, and our philosophies tend to mislead us, ¹⁵ because our mortal bodies weigh our souls down. The body is a temporary structure made of earth, a burden to the active mind. ¹⁶ All we can do is make guesses about things on earth; we must struggle to learn about things that are close to us. Who, then, can ever hope to understand heavenly things? ¹⁷ No one has ever learned your will, unless you first gave him Wisdom, and sent your holy spirit down to him. ¹⁸ In this way people on earth have been set on the right path, have learned what pleases you, and have been kept safe by Wisdom.