Read & explore together
The creator’s power is expressed through patient mercy
This passage from Wisdom of Solomon, in the Catholic additional books, joins two ideas that are often separated: God’s immense power and his patient mercy. The speaker praises the Lord as strong, loving, preserving, and corrective.
Understanding the passage
Listening in context
These verses are written as wisdom and direct address to God, not as a fresh narrative event. The passage moves in order from God’s unbeatable strength, to the world’s smallness before him, to his mercy toward sinners, his care for all he has made, and his gradual correction of those who go astray.
Wisdom of Solomon 11:21–12:2Main takeaway
In this passage, God’s great power is shown not only in rule over creation but also in sparing, preserving, and patiently correcting people so that they may turn to him.
Look closely at the words
Open a card to explore the full explanation and its Bible references.
01No one can resist his strengthThe opening words state that great strength belongs to God at all times. The question, ‘Who could withstand the might of your arm?’
Explanation
The opening words state that great strength belongs to God at all times. The question, ‘Who could withstand the might of your arm?’ expects the answer no one. The next verse explains this with pictures: before God, the whole world is like a grain on a balance or a drop of morning dew.
02Mercy comes from power, not weaknessThe passage then says God has mercy on all because he has power to do all things. He overlooks people’s sins to the end that they may repent.
Explanation
The passage then says God has mercy on all because he has power to do all things. He overlooks people’s sins to the end that they may repent. In these lines, mercy is not set against strength. Instead, the one who can do all things chooses patience for a purpose.
03The maker loves and preserves what existsThe writer explains that God loves all things that are and does not hate the things he made.
Explanation
The writer explains that God loves all things that are and does not hate the things he made. If he had hated something, he would not have formed it. The argument continues: anything that endures or is preserved does so because God has willed it and called it.
04He spares, reminds, and admonishesGod is called the Sovereign Lord who loves the living, and his incorruptible spirit is said to be in all things.
Explanation
God is called the Sovereign Lord who loves the living, and his incorruptible spirit is said to be in all things. Therefore he convicts little by little those who leave the right way. He reminds them through the very areas where they sin, so that they may escape wickedness and believe in him.
Questions to explore
Pause, look back at the verses and talk together.
01What two comparisons show how small the world is before God?
Find the images used straight after the question about God’s mighty arm and state both of them.
02Why does this passage say God overlooks sins?
Keep your answer close to the stated purpose in the verse, especially the words about repentance.
03How does the passage connect God’s love for creation with his correction of people?
Trace the flow from loving and sparing all things to convicting and admonishing those who fall from the right way.
Read the Bible passages
World English Bible ClassicScripture quotation · Public domain
Wisdom of Solomon 11:21–26
21For to be greatly strong is yours at all times. Who could withstand the might of your arm?
22Because the whole world before you is as a grain in a balance, and as a drop of dew that comes down upon the earth in the morning.
23But you have mercy on all men, because you have power to do all things, and you overlook the sins of men to the end that they may repent.
24For you love all things that are, and abhor none of the things which you made; For you never would have formed anything if you hated it.
25How would anything have endured unless you had willed it? Or that which was not called by you, how would it have been preserved?
26But you spare all things, because they are yours, O Sovereign Lord, you who love the living.
Wisdom of Solomon 12:1–2
1For your incorruptible spirit is in all things.
2Therefore you convict little by little those who fall from the right way, and, putting them in remembrance by the things wherein they sin, you admonish them, that escaping from their wickedness they may believe in you, O Lord.