14:1 再如：有个准备航海的人，行将在怒涛中航行之际，竟向一块比自己乘的船还易坏的木头呼求。
Again, one preparing for a voyage and about to traverse the wild waves cries out to wood more unsound than the boat that bears him. 14:2 船固然是因求财的贪心而发明的，亦是匠人以智慧造成的；
For the urge for profits devised this latter, and Wisdom the artificer produced it. 14:3 但最后，父啊!还是你的照顾在驾驶，因为原是你在海洋中划出了一条路线，在波浪中开辟了一条安全的路径，
But your providence, O Father! guides it, for you have furnished even in the sea a road, and through the waves a steady path, 14:4 表示你能救人脱离各种危险，连没有技术的人，也能航海。
Showing that you can save from any danger, so that even one without skill may embark. 14:5 你决不愿使你智慧的工作弃之不用，因此，人将生命托给一片小木，借一叶扁舟，经过巨涛而平安到达海岸。
But you will that the products of your Wisdom be not idle; therefore men trust their lives even to frailest wood, and have been safe crossing the surge on a raft. 14:6 其实，在当初，当那些傲慢的巨人被灭绝的时候，世界的希望逃入了一叶扁舟，经你手的驾驶，才得给后世留下了新生的苗裔。
For of old, when the proud giants were being destroyed, the hope of the universe, who took refuge on a raft, left to the world a future for his race, under the guidance of your hand. 14:7 木头如使用得当，是可祝福的；
For blest is the wood through which justice comes about; 14:8 但是，人手造的木偶和木偶的制造者，却是可诅咒的：制造者，因为他造了木偶；木偶，因为虽是腐败的东西，竟被称为神。
but the handmade idol is accursed, and its maker as well: he for having produced it, and it, because though corruptible, it was termed a god. 14:9 不虔敬的人，与他行的不虔敬的事，同样为天主所憎恶；
Equally odious to God are the evildoer and his evil deed; 14:10 所以，木偶与造木偶的，都必遭受惩罚。
and the thing made shall be punished with its contriver. 14:11 为此，天主必要惩罚列邦的偶像，因为偶像在天主的造物中，成了可憎之物，成了人们灵魂的障碍，作了愚人脚前的陷阱。
Therefore upon even the idols of the nations shall a visitation come, since they have become abominable amid God’s works, Snares for the souls of men and a trap for the feet of the senseless. 14:12 发明偶像，是淫乱的开端；创造偶像，是人生的腐败。
For the source of wantoness is the devising of idols; and their invention was a corruption of life. 14:13 起初原无偶像，也不能永久长存；
For in the beginning they were not, nor shall they continue forever; 14:14 由于人的虚荣心，偶像才进入了世界；为此，已注定很快就要结束。
for by the vanity of men they came into the world, and therefore a sudden end is devised for them. 14:15 一个父亲因他儿子的夭折，甚为悲伤，遂为自己早死的儿子立像，他虽是已死的人，如今却敬之如神，并传令家属礼拜献祭。
For a father, afflicted with untimely mourning, made an image of the child so quickly taken from him, And now honored as a god what was formerly a dead man and handed down to his subjects mysteries and sacrifices. 14:16 这种不虔敬的事，相沿日久，便成了习俗，以致守如法律；再加上君王的命令，雕像遂受崇拜。
Then, in time, the impious practice gained strength and was observed as law, and graven things were worshiped by princely decrees. 14:17 住在远方的人，不能当面尊敬国王，便由远方设想君王的相貌，为所要尊敬的君王，制造一座可见的肖像，向那不在跟前的，殷勤献媚，如同就在跟前一样。
Men who lived so far away that they could not honor him in his presence copied the appearance of the distant king And made a public image of him they wished to honor, out of zeal to flatter him when absent, as though present. 14:18 艺术家的野心，把那些不认识君王的人，也都诱来，为扩大这项敬礼；
And to promote this observance among those to whom it was strange, the artisan’s ambition provided a stimulus. 14:19 艺术家原为讨有权威者的欢心，就竭力运用自己的技术，使君王的肖像格外美丽；
For he, mayhap in his determination to please the ruler, labored over the likeness to the best of his skill; 14:20 民众受了这精美手工的吸引，不久以前那当人尊敬的，现在却奉之为神了。
And the masses, drawn by the charm of the workmanship, soon thought he should be worshiped who shortly before was honored as a man. 14:21 这便成了人生的隐祸，因为遭受不幸，或受暴君压迫的人们，将「那不可道出的名字，」加给了木石。
And this became a snare for mankind, that men enslaved to either grief or tyranny conferred the incommunicable Name on stocks and stones. 14:22 他们对天主的认识错到如此地步，还以为不足；甚至愚昧使他们生活在强烈的战斗中，还将这样的大祸，称为和平。
Then it was not enough for them to err in their knowledge of God; but even though they live in a great war of ignorance, they call such evils peace. 14:23 因他们祭杀孩童，或举行秘密祭礼，或仪式怪诞的狂欢宴会。
For while they celebrate either child-slaying sacrifices or clandestine mysteries, or frenzied carousals in unheard-of rites, 14:24 谁也不顾及生活与婚姻的纯洁，遂彼此陷害残杀，以奸淫加害于人。
They no longer safeguard either lives or pure wedlock; but each either waylays and kills his neighbor, or aggrieves him by adultery. 14:25 于是，混乱到处丛生：流血、杀人、盗窃、欺骗、缺德、失信、暴乱、违约、
And all is confusion-blood and murder, theft and guile, corruption, faithlessness, turmoil, perjury, 14:26 陷害忠良、忘恩负义、玷辱灵魂、同性淫乱、婚姻混杂、通奸淫乱。
Disturbance of good men, neglect of gratitude, besmirching of souls, unnatural lust, disorder in marriage, adultery and shamelessness. 14:27 崇拜虚无的偶像，实是万恶的起源、由来和结局。
For the worship of infamous idols is the reason and source and extremity of all evil. 14:28 这些人行乐发狂，预言虚妄，生活邪辟，妄发虚誓，
For they either go mad with enjoyment, or prophesy lies, or live lawlessly or lightly forswear themselves. 14:29 因为他们信赖无生命的偶像，自以为妄发虚誓，不会受罚。
For as their trust is in soulless idols, they expect no harm when they have sworn falsely. 14:30 但是，正为了这两件事，他们必受公义的处罚：因对天主没有正确的认识，因而崇拜偶像；又因诡计多端，妄发虚誓，因而轻视圣洁。
But on both counts shall justice overtake them: because they thought ill of God and devoted themselves to idols, and because they deliberately swore false oaths, despising piety. 14:31 因为，那常追击不义者违法行为的，并不是「赖以发誓者」的力量，而是天主对犯罪者的惩罚。
For not the might of those that are sworn by but the retribution of sinners ever follows upon the transgression of the wicked.