1
Or imagine this: A man is preparing for a trip. He's about to board a ship that must sail through rough waves. So the man cries out for protection to a little piece of wood that is even more flimsy than the boat that will carry him.
2
Desire for profit led to the ship's planning, and wisdom was the artisan who built it,
3
but your watchful guidance, Father, pilots the ship. You made a way in the sea, a sure path through strong waves.
4
You have shown us that you can rescue us from anything, so that even those who have no skill can put out to sea.
5
Your will is that the works of your wisdom be fruitful. This is the only reason in the end why humans can entrust their lives to cheap pieces of wood and can reach land safely by riding the breaking surf on a ship that is no more than a raft.
6
Near the beginning, at a time when proud giants were being destroyed, the hope of the world escaped on just such a raft. This was how the genetic character of a new generation survived for the world to come. They were steered the whole way by your hand.
7
Praised be the wood by means of which it has now become possible for us to do what is right!
8
But idols made by human hands are cursed, as are those who make them. Those who make them are cursed because they make them. The idols are cursed because, though made of corruptible material, people call them gods.