2 Maccabees 6:13-15

New Catholic Bible

¹³ Indeed, it is a sign of great benevolence when sinners are punished promptly rather than having their wrongful acts escape retribution for a period of time. ¹⁴ In the case of the other nations the Lord waits patiently to punish them until they have reached the full measure of their sins. However, he does not deal with us in this way, ¹⁵ choosing to inflict punishment on us before our sins have reached their height so that he will not have to punish us more severely at that time.