Then shall the just stand with great constancy against those that have afflicted them, and taken away their labours.

How boldly, then, will the just man appear, to meet his old persecutors, that thwarted all his striving!

Tunc stabunt justi in magna constantia adversus eos qui se angustiaverunt, et qui abstulerunt labores eorum.

These seeing it, shall be troubled with terrible fear, and shall be amazed at the suddenness of their unexpected salvation.

And they, in what craven fear they will cower at the sight of him, amazed at the sudden reversal of his fortunes!

Videntes turbabuntur timore horribili, et mirabuntur in subitatione insperatæ salutis;

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.

Inward remorse will wring a groan from those hearts: Why, these were the men we made into a laughing-stock and a by-word!

dicentes intra se, pœnitentiam agentes, et præ angustia spiritus gementes: Hi sunt quos habuimus aliquando in derisum, et in similitudinem improperii.

We fools esteemed their life madness, and their end without honour.

We, poor fools, mistook the life they lived for madness, their death for ignominy;

Nos insensati, vitam illorum æstimabamus insaniam, et finem illorum sine honore;

Behold how they are numbered among the children of God, and their lot is among the saints.

and now they are reckoned as God’s own children, now it is among his holy ones that their lot is cast.

ecce quomodo computati sunt inter filios Dei, et inter sanctos sors illorum est.

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

Far, it seems, did our thoughts wander from the true path; never did the ray of justice enlighten them, never the true sun shone.

Ergo erravimus a via veritatis, et justitiæ lumen non luxit nobis, et sol intelligentiæ non est ortus nobis.

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.

Weary it proved, the reckless way of ruin, lonely were the wastes we travelled, who missed the path the Lord meant for us.

Lassati sumus in via iniquitatis et perditionis, et ambulavimus vias difficiles: viam autem Domini ignoravimus.

What hath pride profited us? or what advantage hath the boasting of riches brought us?

What advantage has it brought us, all our pomp and pride? How are we the better for all our vaunted wealth?

Quid nobis profuit superbia? aut divitiarum jactantia quid contulit nobis?

All those things are passed away like a shadow, and like a post that runneth on,

Nothing of that but is gone, unsubstantial as a shadow, swift as courier upon his errand.

Transierunt omnia illa tamquam umbra, et tamquam nuntius percurrens,

And as a ship that passeth through the waves: whereof when it is gone by, the trace cannot be found, nor the path of its keel in the waters:

The ship that ploughs angry waves, what trace is left of her passage? How wilt thou track her keel’s pathway through the deep?

et tamquam navis quæ pertransit fluctuantem aquam, cujus cum præterierit non est vestigium invenire, neque semitam carinæ illius in fluctibus;

Or as when a bird flieth 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 hath flown through, and there is no mark found afterwards of her way:

The bird’s flight through air what print betrays? So fiercely lashed the still breeze with the beating of her pinions, as she cleaves her noisy way through heaven, wings flapping, and is gone; and afterwards, what sign of her going?

aut tamquam avis quæ transvolat in aëre, cujus nullum invenitur argumentum itineris, sed tantum sonitus alarum verberans levem ventum, et scindens per vim itineris aërem: commotis alis transvolavit, et post hoc nullum signum invenitur itineris illius;

Or as when an arrow is shot at a mark, the divided air presently cometh together again, so that the passage thereof is not known:

Or be it some arrow, shot at a mark, that pierces the air, how quick the wound closes, the journey is forgotten!

aut tamquam sagitta emissa in locum destinatum, divisus aër continuo in se reclusus est, ut ignoretur transitus illius:

So we also being born, forthwith ceased to be: and have been able to shew no mark of virtue: but are consumed in our wickedness.

So with us it was all one, our coming to birth and our ceasing to be; no trace might we leave behind us of a life well lived; we spent ourselves on ill-doing.

sic et nos nati continuo desivimus esse; et virtutis quidem nullum signum valuimus ostendere, in malignitate autem nostra consumpti sumus.

Such things as these the sinners said in hell:

(Such is the lament of sinners, there in the world beneath. )

Talia dixerunt in inferno hi qui peccaverunt:

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 passeth by.

Short-lived are all the hopes of the godless, thistle-down in the wind, flying spray before the storm, smoke that whirls away in the breeze; as soon forgotten as the guest that comes for a day, and comes no more.

quoniam spes impii tamquam lanugo est quæ a vento tollitur, et tamquam spuma gracilis quæ a procella dispergitur, et tamquam fumus qui a vento diffusus est, et tamquam memoria hospitis unius diei prætereuntis.

But the just shall live for evermore: and their reward is with the Lord, and the care of them with the most High.

It is the just that will live for ever; the Lord has their recompense waiting for them, the most high God takes care of them.

Justi autem in perpetuum vivent, et apud Dominum est merces eorum, et cogitatio illorum apud Altissimum.

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.

How glorious is that kingdom, how beautiful that crown, which the Lord will bestow on them! His right hand is there to protect them, his holy arm to be their shield.

Ideo accipient regnum decoris, et diadema speciei de manu Domini: quoniam dextera sua teget eos, et brachio sancto suo defendet illos.

And his zeal will take armour, and he will arm the creature for the revenge of his enemies.

Indignantly he will take up arms, mustering all the forces of creation for vengeance on his enemies.

Accipiet armaturam zelus illius, et armabit creaturam ad ultionem inimicorum.

He will put on justice as a breastplate, and will take true judgment instead of a helmet.

His own faithfulness is the breastplate he will put on, unswerving justice the helmet he wears,

Induet pro thorace justitiam, et accipiet pro galea judicium certum;

He will take equity for an invincible shield:

a right cause his shield unfailing.

sumet scutum inexpugnabile æquitatem.

And he will sharpen his severe wrath for a spear, and the whole world shall fight with him against the unwise.

See, where he whets the sword of strict retribution, and the whole order of nature is banded with him against his reckless foes!

Acuet autem duram iram in lanceam, et pugnabit cum illo orbis terrarum contra insensatos.

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.

Well-aimed fly his thunder-bolts, sped far and wide from yonder cloud-arch, never missing their mark.

Ibunt directe emissiones fulgurum, et tamquam a bene curvato arcu nubium exterminabuntur, et ad certum locum insilient.

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.

Teeming hail-storms shall whirl about them, the artillery of his vengeance; fiercely the sea’s waves shall roar against them, pitilessly the floods cut them off;

Et a petrosa ira plenæ mittentur grandines; excandescet in illos aqua maris, et flumina concurrent duriter.

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.

the storm-wind shall rise in their faces, and scatter them as the gust scatters chaff. The whole earth ransacked, and the thrones of the mighty pulled down, by their own disobedience, their own malignancy!

Contra illos stabit spiritus virtutis, et tamquam turbo venti dividet illos; et ad eremum perducet omnem terram iniquitas illorum, et malignitas evertet sedes potentium.