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Wisdom 5
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
Wisdom 5
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
Chapter 5
1 [a]Then shall the righteous one with great assurance confront(A)
his oppressors who set at nought his labors.(B)
2 Seeing this, the wicked shall be shaken with dreadful fear,
and be amazed at the unexpected salvation.
3 They shall say among themselves, rueful
and groaning through anguish of spirit:
“This is the one whom once we held as a laughingstock
and as a type for mockery,
4 fools that we were!
His life we accounted madness,
and death dishonored.
5 See how he is accounted among the heavenly beings;[b]
how his lot is with the holy ones!(C)
6 We, then, have strayed from the way of truth,(D)
and the light of righteousness did not shine for us,
and the sun did not rise for us.(E)
7 We were entangled in the thorns of mischief and of ruin;
we journeyed through trackless deserts,
but the way of the Lord we never knew.
8 What did our pride avail us?
What have wealth and its boastfulness afforded us?(F)
9 All of them passed like a shadow
and like a fleeting rumor;(G)
10 Like a ship traversing the heaving water:
when it has passed, no trace can be found,
no path of its keel in the waves.
11 Or like a bird flying through the air;
no evidence of its course is to be found—
But the fluid air, lashed by the beating of pinions,
and cleft by the rushing force
Of speeding wings, is traversed;
and afterward no mark of passage can be found in it.
12 Or as, when an arrow has been shot at a mark,
the parted air straightway flows together again
so that none discerns the way it went—
13 Even so, once born, we abruptly came to nought
and held no sign of virtue to display,
but were consumed in our wickedness.”(H)
14 [c]Yes, the hope of the wicked is like chaff borne by the wind,
and like fine, storm-driven snow;
Like smoke scattered by the wind,
and like the passing memory of the nomad camping for a single day.(I)
15 But the righteous live forever,
and in the Lord is their recompense,
and the thought of them is with the Most High.(J)
16 Therefore shall they receive the splendid crown,
the beautiful diadem, from the hand of the Lord,
For he will shelter them with his right hand,
and protect them with his arm.(K)
17 He shall take his zeal for armor(L)
and arm creation to requite the enemy,
18 Shall put on righteousness for a breastplate,
wear sure judgment for a helmet,
19 Shall take invincible holiness for a shield,(M)
20 and sharpen his sudden anger for a sword.
The universe will war with him against the foolhardy;
21 Well-aimed bolts of lightning will go forth
and from the clouds will leap to the mark as from a well-drawn bow;(N)
22 and as from a sling, wrathful hailstones shall be hurled.
The waters of the sea will be enraged
and flooding rivers will overwhelm them;(O)
23 A mighty wind will confront them
and winnow them like a tempest;
Thus lawlessness will lay waste the whole earth
and evildoing overturn the thrones of the mighty.(P)
Footnotes
- 5:1–13 In contrast to their speech in chap. 2 the wicked now regret their assessment of life and righteousness.
- 5:5 Heavenly beings: lit., “sons of God.” These are the holy ones, members of the heavenly court, among whom the righteous are to be found. A bodily resurrection does not seem to be envisioned.
- 5:14–23 A picture of the reward of the righteous which develops into an apocalyptic description of the divine warrior’s destruction of evil. The author utilizes Is 59–62.
Wisdom 5
Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition
Wisdom 5
Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition
5 Then the righteous man will stand with great confidence
in the presence of those who have afflicted him,
and those who make light of his labors.
2 When they see him, they will be shaken with dreadful fear,
and they will be amazed at his unexpected salvation.
3 They will speak to one another in repentance,
and in anguish of spirit they will groan, and say,
4 “This is the man whom we once held in derision
and made a byword of reproach—we fools!
We thought that his life was madness
and that his end was without honor.
5 Why has he been numbered among the sons of God?
And why is his lot among the saints?
6 So it was we who strayed from the way of truth,
and the light of righteousness did not shine on us,
and the sun did not rise upon us.
7 We took our fill of the paths of lawlessness and destruction,
and we journeyed through trackless deserts,
but the way of the Lord we have not known.
8 What has our arrogance profited us?
And what good has our boasted wealth brought us?
9 “All those things have vanished like a shadow,
and like a rumor that passes by;
10 like a ship that sails through the billowy water,
and when it has passed no trace can be found,
nor track of its keel in the waves;
11 or as, when a bird flies through the air,
no evidence of its passage is found;
the light air, lashed by the beat of its pinions
and pierced by the force of its rushing flight,
is traversed by the movement of its wings,
and afterward no sign of its coming is found there;
12 or as, when an arrow is shot at a target,
the air, thus divided, comes together at once,
so that no one knows its pathway.
13 So we also, as soon as we were born, ceased to be,
and we had no sign of virtue to show,
but were consumed in our wickedness.”[a]
14 Because the hope of the ungodly man is like chaff[b] carried by the wind,
and like a light hoarfrost[c] driven away by a storm;
it is dispersed like smoke before the wind,
and it passes like the remembrance of a guest who stays but a day.
The Reward of the Righteous
15 But the righteous live for ever,
and their reward is with the Lord;
the Most High takes care of them.
16 Therefore they will receive a glorious crown
and a beautiful diadem from the hand of the Lord,
because with his right hand he will cover them,
and with his arm he will shield them.
17 The Lord[d] will take his zeal as his whole armor,
and will arm all creation to repel[e] his enemies;
18 he will put on righteousness as a breastplate,
and wear impartial justice as a helmet;
19 he will take holiness as an invincible shield,
20 and sharpen stern wrath for a sword,
and creation will join with him to fight against the madmen.
21 Shafts of lightning will fly with true aim,
and will leap to the target as from a well-drawn bow of clouds,
22 and hailstones full of wrath will be hurled as from a catapult;
the water of the sea will rage against them,
and rivers will relentlessly overwhelm them;
23 a mighty wind will rise against them,
and like a tempest it will winnow them away.
Lawlessness will lay waste the whole earth,
and evil-doing will overturn the thrones of rulers.
Footnotes
- 5.13 Vulgate adds (verse 14): “14 Such things as these the sinners said in hell.”
- Wisdom 5:14 Or dust
- Wisdom 5:14 Other authorities read spider’s web
- Wisdom 5:17 Gk He
- Wisdom 5:17 Or punish
Wisdom 5
Good News Translation
Wisdom 5
Good News Translation
The Regrets of the Wicked
5 On that day someone righteous, full of confidence, will stand before those who oppressed him and made light of his labors. 2 They will be amazed to see him safe and will tremble with terrible fear. 3 Then they will regret what they did, and groaning in anguish they will say to each other:
4 This is the one we made fun of. We thought he was a joke. What fools we were! We thought he was crazy to live the way he did, and when he died, we didn't honor him. 5 And now here he is, one of God's own children, with a place of his own among God's people. 6 We were the ones who wandered off the right road. We never lived in the light of righteousness; we never caught the first glimmer of its light. 7 All our lives we wandered across unmarked deserts, instead of following the road which the Lord wanted us to travel. And this lawlessness led us to ruin. 8 We were so proud of ourselves—we bragged about how rich we were—and now, what good has it done us? 9 All those things are gone now; they have disappeared like a shadow, like something you hear and then forget.
10 A ship sails across the waves of the ocean, but when it is gone, it leaves no trace. You cannot tell it was ever there. 11 A bird flies through the air, but leaves no sign that it has been there. It speeds along, riding through the thin air by the force of its wings, leaving behind no trace of its passing. 12 An arrow splits the air when it is shot at a target, but at once the air closes up behind it, and no one can tell where it passed. 13 It is the same with us—we were born, and then we ceased to be. We left no sign of virtue behind us; we were destroyed by our wickedness.
14 What hope do wicked people have? Only the hope of straw blown about in the wind, the hope of ocean foam[a] that disappears in the storm, the hope of smoke in the breeze. Their hope lasts no longer than our memory of a guest who stays one day and leaves the next.
15 But the righteous live on forever. The Lord will reward them; the Most High will protect them. 16 He will give them royal splendor and a magnificent crown. He will shield them with his powerful arm. 17 (A)He will go out into battle determined to defeat his enemies, and use the creation itself as a weapon. 18 Righteousness will be his armor, genuine justice will be his helmet, 19 holiness will be his invincible shield. 20 He will sharpen his stern anger into a sword, and the forces of nature will join him in battle against those who are foolish enough to oppose him. 21 Bolts of lightning will strike right on target, as if the Lord had made a bow out of the clouds and was shooting arrows. 22 Hailstones will beat down on his enemies with terrible force. The oceans and rivers will come rushing over them in a devastating flood. 23 Great windstorms will blow them away like straw. Lawlessness will be the ruin of the whole world. Evil actions will cause governments to fall.
Footnotes
- Wisdom 5:14 ocean foam; some manuscripts have frost.
New American Bible (Revised Edition) (NABRE)
Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.
Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition (RSVCE)
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Good News Translation (GNT) 
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New American Standard Bible (NASB) 
New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved.
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