Translation Please

[jtexas]

In this morning’s reading from the book of Wisdom (1:13-15) particularly verse 14 …“And there is not a destructive drug among them”

What would be the original text that was translated “drug”? I have never read this passage before and the whole reading struck me profoundly this morning. I was just curious as to why it was translated that way.

Read it again…over and over again!
Wisdom 1:13-15, 2:23-24

 

[Gorgias]

The Greek reads “φάρμακον ὀλέθρου”.

φάρμακον (‘pharmakon’) means “drug”, “potion”, “charm” or “spell”. ὀλέθρου (‘olethrou’) means “of destruction”. So, there you have “drug of destruction”.

The Knox Bible translates this as “[n]o breed has [God] created on earth but for its thriving; none carries in itself the seeds of its own destruction.”

The meaning, of course, is that creation is good as made by God. Sin and death are not His creation.