Wisdom 5

NEW AMERICAN BIBLE	KING JAMES BIBLE
1 Then shall the just one with great assurance confront his oppressors who set at nought his labors.	1 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.
2 Seeing this, they shall be shaken with dreadful fear, and amazed at the unlooked-for salvation.	2 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.
3 They shall say among themselves, rueful and groaning through anguish of spirit: "This is he whom once we held as a laughingstock and as a type for mockery,	3 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:
4 fools that we were! His life we accounted madness, and his death dishonored.	4 We fools accounted his life madness, and his end to be without honour:
5 See how he is accounted among the sons of God; how his lot is with the saints!	5 How is he numbered among the children of God, and his lot is among the saints!
6 We, then, have strayed from the way of truth, and the light of justice did not shine for us, and the sun did not rise for us.	6 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.
7 We had our fill of the ways of mischief and of ruin; we journeyed through impassable deserts, but the way of the LORD we knew not.	7 We wearied ourselves in the way of wickedness and destruction: yea, we have gone through deserts, where there lay no way: but as for the way of the Lord, we have not known it.
8 What did our pride avail us? What have wealth and its boastfulness afforded us?	8 What hath pride profited us? or what good hath riches with our vaunting brought us?
9 All of them passed like a shadow and like a fleeting rumor;	9 All those things are passed away like a shadow, and as a post that hasted by;
10 Like a ship traversing the heaving water, of which, when it has passed, no trace can be found, no path of its keel in the waves.	10 And as a ship that passeth over the waves of the water, which when it is gone by, the trace thereof cannot be found, neither the pathway of the 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 beat of pinions, and cleft by the rushing force Of speeding wings, is traversed: and afterward no mark of passage can be found in it.	11 Or as when a bird hath flown through the air, there is no token of her way to be found, but the light air being beaten with the stroke of her wings and parted with the violent noise and motion of them, is passed through, and therein afterwards no sign where she went is to be found;
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 through-	12 Or like as when an arrow is shot at a mark, it parteth the air, which immediately cometh together again, so that a man cannot know where it went through:
13 Even so we, once born, abruptly came to nought and held no sign of virtue to display, but were consumed in our wickedness."	13 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 shew; but were consumed in our own wickedness.
14 Yes, the hope of the wicked is like thistledown borne on the wind, and like fine, tempest-driven foam; Like smoke scattered by the wind, and like the passing memory of the nomad camping for a single day.	14 For the hope of the Godly 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, and passeth away as the remembrance of a guest that tarrieth but a day.
15 But the just live forever, and in the LORD is their recompense, and the thought of them is with the Most High.	15 But the righteous live for evermore; their reward also is with the Lord, and the care of them is with the most High.
16 Therefore shall they receive the splendid crown, the beauteous diadem, from the hand of the LORD- For he shall shelter them with his right hand, and protect them with his arm.	16 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.
17 He shall take his zeal for armor and he shall arm creation to requite the enemy;	17 He shall take to him his jealousy for complete armour, and make the creature his weapon for the revenge of his enemies.
18 He shall don justice for a breastplate and shall wear sure judgment for a helmet;	18 He shall put on righteousness as a breastplate, and true judgment instead of an helmet.
19 He shall take invincible rectitude as a shield	19 He shall take holiness for an invincible shield.
20 and whet his sudden anger for a sword, And the universe shall war with him against the foolhardy.	20 His severe wrath shall he sharpen for a sword, and the world shall fight with him against the unwise.
21 Well-aimed shafts of lightnings shall go forth and from the clouds as from a well-drawn bow shall leap to the mark;	21 Then shall the right aiming thunderbolts go abroad; and from the clouds, as from a well drawn bow, shall they fly to the mark.
22 and as from his sling, wrathful hailstones shall be hurled. The water of the sea shall be enraged against them and the streams shall abruptly overflow;	22 And hailstones full of wrath shall be cast as out of a stone bow, and the water of the sea shall rage against them, and the floods shall cruelly drown them.
23 A mighty wind shall confront them and a tempest winnow them out; Thus lawlessness shall lay the whole earth waste and evildoing overturn the thrones of potentates.	23 Yea, a mighty wind shall stand up against them, and like a storm shall blow them away: thus iniquity shall lay waste the whole earth, and ill dealing shall overthrow the thrones of the mighty.