Wisdom 16:15-17:1

Revised Standard Version

¹⁵ To escape from thy hand is impossible;
¹⁶ for the ungodly, refusing to know thee,
were scourged by the strength of thy arm,
pursued by unusual rains and hail and relentless storms,
and utterly consumed by fire.
¹⁷ For—most incredible of all—in the water, which quenches all things,
the fire had still greater effect,
for the universe defends the righteous.
¹⁸ At one time the flame was restrained,
so that it might not consume the creatures sent against the ungodly,
but that seeing this they might know
that they were being pursued by the judgment of God;
¹⁹ and at another time even in the midst of water it burned more intensely than fire,
to destroy the crops of the unrighteous land.

²⁰ Instead of these things thou didst give thy people food of angels,
and without their toil thou didst supply them from heaven with bread ready to eat,
providing every pleasure and suited to every taste.
²¹ For thy sustenance manifested thy sweetness toward thy children;
and the bread, ministering^[a] to the desire of the one who took it,
was changed to suit every one’s liking.
²² Snow and ice withstood fire without melting,
so that they might know that the crops of their enemies
were being destroyed by the fire that blazed in the hail
and flashed in the showers of rain;
²³ whereas the fire,^[b] in order that the righteous might be fed,
even forgot its native power.

17 Great are thy judgments and hard to describe;
therefore uninstructed souls have gone astray.