Wisdom 5:8-13
New Catholic Bible
8 Of what avail has arrogance been to us?
What advantage have we received from our vaunted wealth?
9 “All these things have passed like a shadow,
much like a fleeting notice;
10 [a]like a ship that sails through the surging waters
of whose passage—once it has passed by—no trace can be found,
no wake from its keel in the waves;
11 or like a bird that flies through the air
and no sign of its passage is left,
for the light air, whipped by the beat of its pinions
and cleft by the force of its speed,
is traversed by the flapping wings,
and afterward there is no sign of its passage;
12 or as when an arrow is shot at a target,
the air is parted but immediately comes together again,
and no evidence remains of its passage;
13 so we also, as soon as we were born, ceased to be
and had not a trace of virtue to exhibit
but were consumed in our wickedness.”[b]
Footnotes
- Wisdom 5:10 Some of the same images used here are found in Job 9:25-26; Prov 30:19.
- Wisdom 5:13 After this verse the Vulgate adds the words: “This is what the sinners say in hell” as verse 14, necessitating a change in the enumeration of the rest of the verses in the chapter.
