Wisdom 5 • The righteous vindicated and the ungodly judged — Greek text and reception

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Then the righteous person will stand with great boldness

before those who afflicted him

and those who disregarded his labors.

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When they see him, they will be troubled with terrible fear

and astonished at the unexpectedness of his salvation.

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They will speak among themselves in repentance,

and in anguish of spirit they will groan and say:

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“This was the one whom we fools once made a laughingstock

and a byword of reproach.

We reckoned his life madness

and his end dishonorable.

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How was he counted among the sons of God,

and how is his portion among the saints?

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So we strayed from the way of truth,

and the light of righteousness did not shine upon us,

and the sun did not rise upon us.

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We were filled with paths of lawlessness and destruction,

and traveled through trackless deserts,

but the way of the Lord we did not know.

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What did arrogance profit us?

And what did wealth with boasting contribute to us?

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All those things passed like a shadow

and like a report rushing by;

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like a ship passing through surging water,

whose trace cannot be found after it has crossed,

nor the path of its keel among the waves;

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or as, when a bird has flown through the air,

no sign of its passage is found:

the light air, lashed by the beat of its pinions

and split by the force of the rushing wings,

was traversed,

and afterward no sign of its passage was found in it;

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or as, when an arrow is shot at a target,

the air that was cut immediately flows back into itself,

so that its course cannot be known:

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so we also were born and vanished,

and had no sign of virtue to show,

but were consumed in our wickedness.”

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For the hope of an ungodly person is like dust borne by wind,

and like fine frost driven by a storm;

like smoke it is dispersed by wind,

and like the memory of a guest who stayed one day it passes away.

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But the righteous live forever,

and their reward is with the Lord,

and the Most High takes care of them.

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Therefore they will receive the royal crown of splendor

and the diadem of beauty from the Lord’s hand,

because with His right hand He will cover them

and with His arm He will shield them.

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He will take His zeal as full armor

and make creation into weapons to repel His enemies;

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He will put on righteousness as a breastplate

and place impartial judgment upon Himself as a helmet;

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He will take holiness as an invincible shield,

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and sharpen stern wrath into a sword;

the world will fight together with Him against the senseless.

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Well-aimed bolts of lightning will go forth,

and from the clouds, as from a well-curved bow, they will leap at the target;

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and hailstones full of fury will be hurled from a catapult;

the water of the sea will rage against them,

and rivers will flood over them relentlessly.

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A mighty wind will oppose them

and winnow them away like a storm;

lawlessness will lay the whole earth waste,

and wrongdoing will overturn the thrones of rulers.