Wisdom of Solomon 11:15

Deuterocanon

13 For when they heard that through their own punishments the righteous had received benefit, they perceived it was the Lord's doing. 14 For though they had mockingly rejected him who long before had been cast out and exposed, at the end of the events they marveled at him, when they felt thirst in a different way from the righteous. 15 In return for their foolish and wicked thoughts, which led them astray to worship irrational serpents and worthless animals, you sent upon them a multitude of irrational creatures to punish them, 16 so that they might learn that one is punished by the very things by which one sins.

Jude 1:10

New Testament

9 But even when Michael the archangel was arguing with the devil and debating with him concerning Moses’ body, he did not dare to bring a slanderous judgment, but said, “May the Lord rebuke you!” 10 But these men do not understand the things they slander, and they are being destroyed by the very things that, like irrational animals, they instinctively comprehend. 11 Woe to them! For they have traveled down Cain’s path, and because of greed have abandoned themselves to Balaam’s error; hence, they will certainly perish in Korah’s rebellion. 12 These men are dangerous reefs at your love feasts, feasting without reverence, feeding only themselves. They are waterless clouds, carried along by the winds; autumn trees without fruit—twice dead, uprooted; 13 wild sea waves, spewing out the foam of their shame; wayward stars for whom the utter depths of eternal darkness have been reserved.

 Notes and References

"... this is a standard phrase (Wisdom of Solomon 11:15; 4 Maccabees 14:14, 18; Josephus, C. Apion 2.213; Ant. 10.262) for the animals as contrasted with human rationality. (Compare Xenophon, Cyropaed. 2.3.9, quoted by Mayor and Windisch, for a similar comparison between what men and beasts know [ἐπιστάνται] by instinct [φύσει].) For the comparison of sin with the behavior of animals, compare 4 Ezra; 8:29–30 ..."

Bauckham, Richard Word Biblical Commentary: Jude-2 Peter (p. 63) Zondervan, 1983

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