Wisdom 4:20-5:16
Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition
The Final Judgment
20 They will come with dread when their sins are reckoned up,
and their lawless deeds will convict them to their face.
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.
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
The Revised Standard Version of the Bible: Catholic Edition, copyright © 1965, 1966 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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