Then shall the righteous man stand in great boldness before the face of such as have afflicted him, and made no account of his labours. Or as a bird that flieth through the air, and no trace of her passage is found; she beateth the light wind with her quills, and cleaveth the air with her swiftness, and with the vibrating of her wings doth she pass through; and after her passage no sign of her is found.

When they see it, they shall be troubled with terrible fear, and shall be amazed at the strangeness of his salvation, so far beyond all that they looked for. He shall sharpen his wrath for a sword, and the world shall fight with him against the unwise. The darts of the lightning shall go forth with a sure aim, and from the bow of the clouds, well-bent, shall they fly to the mark.

And they repenting and groaning for anguish of spirit shall say within themselves, This was he whom we had sometimes in derision, and a proverb of reproach:

We fools accounted his life madness, and his end to be without honour:

How is he numbered among the children of God, and his lot is among the saints!

Therefore have we erred from the way of truth, and the light of righteousness hath not shined unto us, and the sun of righteousness rose not upon us.

We wearied ourselves in the way of wickedness and destruction: yea, we have gone through deserts, where there lay no path: but as for the way of the Lord, we have not known it.

What hath our pride profited us? or what good hath riches with our vaunting brought us?

All those things are passed away like a shadow, and as a swift post that hasteth by:

Or as a ship that passeth over the waves of the water, which when it is gone by, no trace thereof can be found, neither the path of her keel in the waves:

Or as when an arrow is shot at a mark, it divideth the air, which immediately cometh together again, so that a man cannot know where it passed through.

Even so we in like manner, as soon as we were born, began to draw to our end, and had no sign of virtue to show, but were consumed in our own wickedness.

Thus said the sinners in hell.

For the hope of the ungodly is like dust that is blown away with the wind; like a thin froth that is driven away with the storm; like as the smoke which is dispersed here and there with a tempest.

But the righteous live for evermore; their reward also is with the Lord, and the care of them is with the Most High.

Therefore shall they receive a glorious kingdom, and a beautiful crown from the Lord’s hand: for with his right hand shall he cover them, and with his arm shall he protect them.

He shall take to him his jealousy for complete armour, and make the creature his weapon for the revenge of his enemies.

He shall put on righteousness as a breastplate, and true judgment instead of an helmet.

He shall take holiness for an invincible shield.

And his wrath shall cast down mighty hailstones; the waters of the sea shall rage against them, and the rivers shall run over with a mighty overflow.

A mighty windstorm shall rise up against them, and scatter them abroad; and thus iniquity shall lay waste the whole earth, and ill-doing shall overturn the thrones of the mighty.