2 Maccabees 6:14-16

Good News Translation

¹⁴ The Lord does not treat us as he does other nations: he waits patiently until they have become deeply involved in sin before he punishes them, ¹⁵ but he punishes us before we have sinned too much. ¹⁶ So the Lord is always merciful to us, his own people. Although he punishes us with disasters, he never abandons us.