Wisdom of Solomon, 5

1. Then the just man will stand with confidence facing those who oppressed him, making light of his labors.

2. Seeing him they will be seized with a terrible fear, amazed to find him unexpectedly saved. Stricken with remorse and distress,

3. they will groan and say,

4. "He is the one we mocked, the one we reproached, fools that we were! We considered his life foolishness, and his death, the supreme humiliation,

5. but see: he is counted among the sons of God and is given his lot with the holy angels!

6. How far have we wandered from the truth! The light of the upright did not enlighten us nor did its sun rise for us.

7. We trod the paths of injustice and death, traveling, more than enough, through trackless deserts, but we were unable to know the Lord's ways.

8. What good has our pride been? What profit in the wealth we boasted about?

9. All that has passed away like a shadow, like a fleeting rumor.

10. Like a ship cutting the sea, leaving no trace of its course, and the mark of its keel - not seen in its wake;

11. like a bird flying across the sky leaving no trace of its flight; it beats the light air with its pinions, cleaving a way by the force of its wings but without a sign of its passing;

12. or like an arrow shot at a target, with the displaced air closing in on itself and no one knowing what way it passed.

13. It is the same for us; scarcely born we have disappeared. What sign of virtue are we able to show, spent as we are in our own wickedness?"

14. The hope of the godless is like chaff blown in the wind, like a light frost melted in the storm, like smoke dispersed by the wind; it fades like the memory of a guest of a single day.

15. But the upright live forever, their reward is with the Lord, and the Most High has them in his care.

16. This is why they receive, from the hands of the Lord, a royal crown, a splendid diadem. He will shelter them with his hand and his arm will be their shield.

17. God's jealous love will display his weapon; he will arm all creation to punish his enemies.

18. He will put on justice as his breastplate and right judgment as his helmet,

19. invincible holiness will be his shield,

20. implacable anger his sword, and the universe will march with him against the foolish.

21. Well-aimed bolts of lightning will strike the target; the clouds will be a curved bow shooting arrows.

22. The hailstones of his fury will rain on them, the ocean will rage against them and the rivers engulf them without mercy.

23. A powerful wind will rise against them and blow them away like straw. In this way lawlessness will bring the whole earth to ruin, and evildoing topple the thrones of the mighty.