Wisdom of Solomon 18:20–25

Threat of Annihilation in the Desert

²⁰The experience of death touched also the righteous,

and a plague came upon the multitude in the desert,

but the wrath did not long continue.^*

²¹For a blameless man was quick to act as their champion;

he brought forward the shield of his ministry,

prayer and propitiation by incense;

he withstood the anger and put an end to the disaster,

showing that he was your servant.^*

²²He conquered the wrath^w not by strength of body,

not by force of arms,

but by his word he subdued the avenger,

appealing to the oaths and covenants given to our ancestors.^*

²³For when the dead had already fallen on one another in heaps,

he intervened and held back the assault

and cut off its way to the living.^*

²⁴For on his long robe the whole world was depicted,

and the glories of the ancestors were engraved on the four rows of stones,

and your majesty was on the diadem upon his head.^*

²⁵To these the destroyer yielded, these he^x feared,

for merely to test the wrath was enough.^*