Wisdom of Solomon Chap. V

(This excerpt is taken from The Apocrapha An American Translation by: Edgar J. Goodspeed. Vintage Books (A Division of Random House) New York. C. 1959. 1938.

1 Face to face with his oppressors

And with those who set his labors at nought.

2 They will be dreadfully dismayed at the sight, 

And amazed at the unexpectedness of his deliverance.

3 They will talk themselves in repentance, 

And in their distress of mind they will groan and say,

4 "This is the man we fools once laughed at,

And made a byword of reproach. 

We though his life was madness,

And his end dishonored."

5 How did he come to be reckoned among the sons of God,

And why is his lot among the saints?

6 Then we must have wandered from the true way,

And the light of uprightness did not light us,

And the sun did not rise upon us.

7 We were full of paths of lawlessness and destruction,

And traveled through trackless deserts,

But we did not recognize the Lord's road.

8 What good did our arrogance do us?

And what have wealth and ostentation done for us?

9 They have all passed away like a shadow,

And like a messenger running by;

10 Like a ship crossing the billowing water,

And when it is gone there is no track to be found

Or path of its keel in the waves;

11 It leaves no sign of its passage;

The light air, whipped by the beat of its wings,

And torn apart by the force of its speed,

Is traversed as its wings move,

And afterward no sign of its passage is found there.

12 Or as when an arrow is shot at a mark,

The air is pierced and immediately returns to itself,

So that its course is unknown;

13 So we also, as soon as we were born, ceased to be,

And had no sign of virtue to show,

But were consumed in our wickedness.

14 For the ungodly man's hope is like chaff carried by the 

wind,

And like hoarfrost driven away by a storm,

It is dissipated like smoke before the wind,

And passes by like the memory of a stranger who stays but

a night.

15 But the upright live forever, 

And their reward is with the Lord,

And the Most High takes care of them.

16 Therefore they will receive the glorious kingdom,

And the beautiful diadem from the Lord's hand,

For he will cover them with his right hand,

And shield them with his arm.

17 He will take his jealousy for his armor,

And will make creation his weapons to repulse his foes.

18 He will put on uprightness for a corselet,

And wear unfeigned justice for a helmet.

19 He will take holiness for an invincible shield,

20 And sharpen his stern anger for a sword;

And with him the world will go to war against the mad-

men. 

21 Well-aimed flashes of lightning will fly,

And will leap to the mark from the clouds, as from a well-

bent bow,

22 And from a catapult hailstones full of wrath will be hurled.

The water of the sea will be angry with them,

And the rivers will roll relentlessly over them.

23 A mighty wind will oppose them,

And winnow them like a tempest.

And lawlessness will lay waste the whole earth,

And wrongdoing overturn the thrones of princes.