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1 Then shall the just stand with great constancy against those that have afflicted them, and taken away their labours. 2 These seeing it, shall be troubled with terrible fear, and shall be amazed at the suddenness of their unexpected salvation. 3 Saying within themselves, repenting, and groaning for anguish of spirit: These are they, whom we had some time in derision, and for a parable of reproach. 4 We fools esteemed their life madness, and their end without honour. 5 Behold how they are numbered among the children of God, and their lot is among the saints.


6 Therefore we have erred from the way of truth, and the light of justice has not shined unto us, and the sun of understanding has not risen upon us. 7 We wearied ourselves in the way of iniquity and destruction, and have walked through hard ways, but the way of the Lord we have not known. 8 What has pride profited us? or what advantage has the boasting of riches brought us? 9 All those things are passed away like a shadow, and like a post that runs on, 10 And as a ship that passes through the waves: whereof when it is gone by, the trace cannot be found, nor the path of its keel in the waters: 11 Or as when a bird flies through the air, of the passage of which no mark can be found, but only the sound of the wings beating the light air, and parting it by the force of her flight; she moved her wings, and has flown through, and there is no mark found afterwards of her way: 12 Or as when an arrow is shot at a mark, the divided air presently comes together again, so that the passage thereof is not known: 13 So we also being born, forthwith ceased to be: and have been able to show no mark of virtue: but are consumed in our wickedness. 14 Such things as these the sinners said in hell:


15 For the hope of the wicked is as dust, which is blown away with the wind, and as a thin froth which is dispersed by the storm: and a smoke that is scattered abroad by the wind: and as the remembrance of a guest of one day that passes by. 16 But the just shall live for evermore: and their reward is with the Lord, and the care of them with the most High.


17 Therefore shall they receive a kingdom of glory, and a crown of beauty at the hand of the Lord: for with his right hand he will cover them, and with his holy arm he will defend them. 18 And his zeal will take armour, and he will arm the creature for the revenge of his enemies. 19 He will put on justice as a breastplate, and will take true judgment instead of a helmet. 20 He will take equity for an invincible shield: 21 And he will sharpen his severe wrath for a spear, and the whole world shall fight with him against the unwise. 22 Then shafts of lightning shall go directly from the clouds, as from a bow well bent, they shall be shot out, and shall fly to the mark. 23 And thick hail shall be cast upon them from the stone casting wrath: the water of the sea shall rage against them, and the rivers shall run together in a terrible manner. 24 A mighty wind shall stand up against them, and as a whirlwind shall divide them: and their iniquity shall bring all the earth to a desert, and wickedness shall overthrow the thrones of the mighty.

 

 

5:2 The damned, before the judgment day, will see the blessed in glory, in such a way as to know, not what that glory is like, but only that they are in a state of glory that surpasses all thought. This will trouble them, both because they will, through envy, grieve for their happiness, and because they have forfeited that glory. (St. Thomas Aquinas Sum Theo 98.9) 5:3 repenting: The sins of the demons and of men who are lost, cannot be blotted out by Penance, because their will is confirmed in evil, so that sin cannot displease them as to its guilt, but only as to the punishment which they suffer, by reason of which they have a kind of repentance, which yet is fruitless. Consequently such Penance brings no hope of pardon, but only despair. (St. Thomas Aquinas Sum Theo 86.1) 5:6 The way of truth and divine law is the Gospel of Christ, from which the wicked erred since they did not want to believe in it and obey it. (Rabanus Maurus) sun of understanding: Christ, the sun of justice, who rises on those who fear God’, as in Malachi 4:2 (Interlinear Gloss) 5:9-12 By presenting five kinds of likenesses, he laments that the labours disappear because of the fruitless penance of the reprobate, and he shows us the error of their fleeting life and of earthly realities. (Rabanus Maurus) 5:14 How did the author know they spoke like this in hell since he had never been there? It can be said that he knew this from

a revelation of the Holy Spirit because, according to Ambrosiaster Com 1 Cor 12:3, every truth spoken by someone through Scripture, is given at the prompting of the Holy Spirit. (St. Bonaventure) 5:15 Dust, that comes from a withered flower of grasses, of the flesh or bodily trouble is taken away quickly because ‘all flesh is grass’ Is 40:6. So smoke illustrates the vanity of earthly life, since, just as smoke is blown away by wind, so too is human life brought to an end by a change of circumstances. And so it is compared to a passing guest; because all of us here are guests and pilgrims, of which Ecclesiastes 1:4 says: ‘One generation passes away and another generation comes’. (Rabanus Maurus) 5:17 For the hand, the right hand and arm of God are so named because of the effective power of the only begotten Son of God; through whom all things were made. (Rabanus Maurus) 5:19-21 Created nature, His servant, for its part, is prompted to wrath by a wrathful God when He arouses and bids it all to do so. (St. Cyril of Alexandria Com Is 13:13) 5:22-23 This refers to the battle of Armageddon, and this passage in Wisdom parallels that of Revelation 16:18-21, especially where St. John mentions the flashes of lightning verse18 and the great hailstones verse 21. (John Litteral)