Wisdom 5

¹ Then the virtuous man stands up boldly to face those who have oppressed him, those who thought so little of his sufferings.

² And they, at the sight of him, will shake with cowards’ fear, amazed he should be saved so unexpectedly.

³ Stricken with remorse, each will say to the other, say with a groan and in distress of spirit:

⁴ ‘This is the man we used to laugh at once, a butt for our sarcasm, fools that we were! His life we regarded as madness, his ending as without honour.

⁵ How has he come to be counted as one of the sons of God? How does he come to be assigned a place among the saints?

⁶ Clearly we have strayed from the way of truth; the light of justice has not shone for us, the sun never rose on us.

⁷ We have left no path of lawlessness or ruin unexplored, we have crossed deserts where there was no track, but the way of the Lord is one we have never known.

⁸ Arrogance, what advantage has this brought us? Wealth and boasting, what have these conferred on us?

⁹ All those things have passed like a shadow, passed like a fleeting rumour.

¹⁰ Like a ship that cuts through heaving waves – leaving no trace to show where it has passed, no wake from its keel in the waves.

¹¹ Or like a bird flying through the air – leaving no proof of its passing; it whips the light air with the stroke of its pinions, tears it apart in its whirring rush, drives its way onward with sweeping wing, and afterwards no sign is seen of its passage.

¹² Or like an arrow shot at a mark, the pierced air closing so quickly on itself, there is no knowing which way the arrow has passed.

¹³ So with us: scarcely born, we have ceased to be; of virtue not a trace have we to show, we have spent ourselves on wickedness instead.’

¹⁴ Yes, the hope of the godless is like chaff carried on the wind, like fine spray driven by the gale; it disperses like smoke before the wind, goes like the memory of a one-day guest.

¹⁵ But the virtuous live for ever, their recompense lies with the Lord, the Most High takes care of them.

¹⁶ So they shall receive the royal crown of splendour, the diadem of beauty from the hand of the Lord; for he will shelter them with his right hand and shield them with his arm.

¹⁷ For armour he will take his jealous love, he will arm creation to punish his enemies;

¹⁸ he will put on justice as a breastplate, and for helmet wear his undissembling judgement;

¹⁹ he will take up invincible holiness for shield,

²⁰ he will forge a biting sword of his stern wrath, and the universe will march with him to fight the reckless.

²¹ Bolts truly aimed, the shafts of lightning will leap, and from the clouds, as from a full-drawn bow, fly to their mark;

²² and the catapult will hurl hailstones charged with fury. The waters of the sea will rage against them, the rivers engulf them without pity.

²³ The breath of Omnipotence will blow against them and winnow them like a hurricane. So lawlessness will bring the whole earth to ruin and evil-doing bring the thrones of the mighty down.